116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Plan would close most of southeast Iowa City to affordable housing funding
Gregg Hennigan
Jan. 31, 2011 7:01 pm
Southeast Iowa City would be closed to certain types of affordable housing funds under a model supported by the City Council Monday night.
There also would be pockets of excluded areas in other parts of town, most prominently in eastern Iowa City and west of the river in the neighborhood near Roosevelt Elementary School and around Pheasant Ridge Apartments. (See map below.)
The model, which the council discussed at a work session, provides guidance on what has been a hot-topic in the city in recent years. Southeast Iowa City in particular has been a focus because of the amount of the affordable housing there and issues with student poverty in elementary schools and crime.
“I'd just like to put this (model) out there for a year and see how it works. … This is the most data we've ever had,” council member Mike Wright said.
A resolution formalizing the policy is expected to be before the council at its Feb. 15 meeting. The model will not be static, however, said Jeff Davidson, the city's director of planning and community development
“It will be a dynamic thing,” Davidson said. “We will update it every year on Dec. 1.”
The model will be used to guide decisions on the location of housing that is funded with the $2 million a year the city gets in federal Community Development Block Grant and HOME money. Section 8 funds are not included because the city has no control over where those tenants live.
The data considered were:
- Locations of existing subsidized and assisted housing
- Locations of a year's worth of police calls on drugs, alcohol offenses, property crimes and personal injuries
- Median household income by census tract
- Student mobility rates, standardized test scores and free and reduced-price lunch rates at elementary schools
- Change in residential sale prices. (See maps below.)
Staff then assigned a weight to each item, with existing housing locations and the school items accounting for 70 percent.
In using the data, the city tried to take an objective approach to an issue that often produces strong emotions because of the negative effects concentrations of low-income housing can have on schools, crime and home prices.
“It seems rational and logical to me,” Mayor Matt Hayek said.
The model would apply to all block grant and HOME assisted rental housing projects that include new construction or property acquisition.
Some council members did express concerns that the staff's recommendation that the policy not include the rehabilitation of existing rental housing would allow funding to continue to go to some projects in the closed-off areas.
That could effect projects like a pending proposal to award $900,000 in block grants to Southgate Development Co. to buy the units it doesn't already own in a Broadway Street apartment complex to consolidate ownership and renovate the entire property.
Daily Newsletters