Members of the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation continue a series of community engagement sessions to gather input on the state of housing in Kansas.
Nearly two dozen residents and stakeholders participated virtually Tuesday from across northeast Kansas, including Manhattan. Individuals were paired divided into two breakout sessions to share input. Executive Assistant Abigail Phillips says her group discussed rural housing incentive districts, code enforcement and the fact that so many homes are dilapidated.
“One of the big challenges facing smaller communities is they can’t afford to have people focus solely on code enforcement, because there just isn’t enough work in the smaller communities to keep people busy. Some of the folks in our group suggested having regional inspectors that can cover larger areas,” she said.
Pottawatomie County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Jack Allston says smaller communities like Onaga and Westmoreland have properties that aren’t up to code and need to be demolished. With the Society of St. Pius X constructing its new $30 million Immaculata in St. Marys, he says the housing market of rural Pottawatomie County is likely to get squeezed further.
“The projection could be anywhere from 50 to 150 families a year, moving into that area between St. Marys and Silver Lake and Wamego. Not right now, nobody’s doing anything about it,” he said.
Communications Director for Kansas Housing Emily Sharp says a key point brought up at the breakout session by those from Manhattan is a vulnerable college student population lacking affordable, quality housing.
“We are seeing continued challenges with landlords who maybe don’t always have the tenants best interest in mind and the tenants not having a lot of recourse when they have problems, and making sure that everyone has access to safe, quality housing,” she said.
Sharp says discussion also presented challenges of housing availability, particularly in smaller communities trying to recruit families for employment.
“We also talked about making sure that senior citizens are able to age in their homes and maybe wanting to downsize which would free up some of the existing housing stock for those growing families, but making sure that’s really quality comfortable housing to support those transitions,” she said.
Officials hope input from Tuesday’s listening session and others will aid in the development of a statewide housing plan, which could be unveiled in December.
Two additional forums are planned in May, with one also scheduled Wednesday evening. For more information visit kshousingcorp.org.
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