Kansas City Trying New Approaches to Affordable Housing

The Kansas City Neighborhoods and Housing Services Department recently released a plan to address the city's lack of affordable housing.

The draft Five-Year Housing Policy [pdf], "includes the creation or preservation of 5,000 single or multifamily units, a $75 million housing development trust fund and $15 million rehabilitation loan fund, and the potential of inclusionary zoning," reports Emily Nonko.

According to Nonko's explanation of the recent history of housing policy in the city, any unifying vision or planning agenda was lost while the city was in receivership as a result of a "2004 scandal regarding lack of financial accountability and oversight."

Since the city left receivership in 2013, the Missouri Housing Development Commission voted to cut all funding for state low-income housing tax credits. With the future of that program still up in the air, the city is looking for new ways to "think bold" about affordable housing in the city.

Thus, the City Council tasked the Neighborhoods and Housing Services Department to a new plan at the end of 2017, culminating in the release of the Five-Year Housing Policy draft in September.