Two persons spoke at a public hearing on fair housing on Thursday night at the Unified Government Commission meeting, and public comments on a draft report will be accepted during the next 30 days, according to officials.
According to UG officials, Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., joined with four other communities, including Blue Springs, Independence and Kansas City, Mo., as well as Leavenworth, Kan., to have the Mid-America Regional Council do a fair housing assessment.
Frank Lenk, director of research services for MARC, said the draft report has nine goals that address barriers, and strategies for each goal. The barriers being addressed include: address discrimination; limited access for people of color and low-income households to live in opportunity areas; limited resources to help low-income and elderly homeowners maintain their properties and their independent living; lack of quality affordable rental housing in neighborhoods with concentrations of persons of color and poverty; limited supply of affordable accessible housing; limited access to economic opportunity and quality education; limited access to community resources; limited transportation access to jobs and community services; address discrimination and community opposition.
Richard Mabion and Marvin Robinson spoke at the public hearing.
Mabion, with the Kansas City, Kan., NAACP, said at the public hearing that it should be mandatory that anyone who is doing this sort of public research should speak to the president of the NAACP here, and the NAACP was not contacted for its input. He said he was afraid the results it receives in those surveys could be leaving out a lot that should be taken into consideration.
Robinson discussed homeless veterans and how they affect the area. He said 200,000 veterans are coming out of the active duty military every year.
Commissioner Jane Philbrook said in working with the homeless initiatives, she has found that people can be totally committed to working for the best of the community, but also realizing the problems and issues are endless. But working with everyone is enlightening, she added, and there is a lot they can do as a whole community, and there is a lot that can be done to help people obtain better jobs.
Commissioner Gayle Townsend asked what could be focused on to attack some of the problems. “It’s like one thread that you pull and everything else unravels,” she said. There are many reasons for the demographics, and maybe they can start with one thing, and other improvements could come along as a result.
Commissioner Harold Johnson said they are dealing with issues that are complex and generational. They need a long-term plan, as well as smaller goals to show progress.
Wilba Miller, UG community development director, said the draft plan will be submitted to Housing and Urban Development by Nov. 4. The plan is for a five-year period, and the local government will have to report on their progress on the goals each year for the next five years, she said.
“We have a housing crisis in Wyandotte County,” Mayor Mark Holland said. “We have housing that is affordable not because it’s affordable housing, but because it’s deplorable. We have a dilemma with workforce housing.”
Much of the affordable housing is designed for people who don’t have a job, he said. When they get a job, they go somewhere else. “Until we have housing stock that will retain our employees, we’re going to continue to chase this chicken and an egg about how we improve the quality of our community,” he said.
The plan will integrate with the UG’s strategic plan it is implementing for blight reduction, he said.
“Of our 55,000 residential properties in Kansas City, Kan., nearly 17,000, almost a third of those, are rental housing,” Mayor Holland said. “That’s an astonishingly high percentage in a community. And when you look at the median value of a residential property, if you look at owner-occupied housing, our median house is about $98,000 in value. But if you look at residential property, and include our rental properties, the median value of our residential properties drops down to $67,000, which means that half of all residential properties in Wyandotte County are valued under $67,000. Compare that to Johnson County – it’s at $210,000, more than three times.”
“Our residents deserve to live in quality housing, affordable housing, that they can be proud of and come home to and can help build up our community,” he said.
The fair housing strategies are outlined in detail in the draft report. The draft report was posted online and it may be found at www.wycokck.org/uploadedFiles/Departments/Development/11-Goals-and-Strategies.pdf. Information also is online at www.marc.org/Regional-Planning/Housing/Related-Projects/Affirmatively-Furthering-Fair-Housing-Assessment.
Public comments on the fair housing draft plan are being accepted at the Community Development Department, 701 N. 7th St., Room 823, Kansas City, Kan., 66101. The public comment period ends Sept. 26.