The Wichita Journalism Collaborative hosted a community listening session on affordable housing on Feb. 26, where panelists discussed the need for increased housing units, a greater variety of housing units and recommendations for young people on housing.
The panel, hosted at the Kansas Leadership Center, featured local housing experts from the following organizations: City of Wichita, United Way of the Plains, Wichita Habitat for Humanity and Wichita State Center for Real Estate.
The Wichita Journalism Collaborative, a cooperation between 11 news outlets and community partners, has focused on exploring housing challenges in the Wichita area as part of its series.The Sunflower is a part of the collaborative as well.
The panel was moderated by Bonita Gooch, the editor-in-chief of The Community Voice. Mayor Lily Wu also attended the event.
Housing positives
The panelists highlighted collaboration and ongoing discussions to address housing as strong points for the housing situation within Wichita.
Danielle Johnson, executive director of Wichita Habitat for Humanity, said Wichita has “great community partners” working to expand affordable housing as well as the City having conversations on how to incentivize more housing within the city.
“So having the buy-in and the partners willing to do the work is half the battle,” Johnson said.
Peter Nájera, the president and CEO of United Way of the Plains, said that the restoration and maintenance programs on housing also help “ensure our current stock of housing is taken care of.”
Sally Stang, director of housing and community services for the City of Wichita, said the City does well on sharing its information on housing resources, but “sometimes it can feel siloed.”
She said it’s important to ensure people understand the options available, such as the home repair program that the city “did a great overhaul” of.
“How are we all ensuring that folks understand that there’s opportunities for you to have home repair?” Stang said.
Housing priorities
The moderator next asked what areas the community should prioritize to advance housing accessibility and quality.
Johnson highlighted the need to ensure a “livable wage job” so people can afford housing. She also touched on the need to provide access to land and build inclusionary zoning areas.
“How are we going to tangibly solve these issues via third government, private, public partnership because it is going to take partnership to be able to do that,” Johnson said.
Stanley Longhofer, director of the Wichita State Center for Real Estate, reiterated the need for collaboration. He said the “private sector is actually well on the things it’s capable of addressing” and should not be expected to solve issues on its own, but it can work with partners.
Longhofer emphasized the need the importance of creating “long-term sustainable solutions.”
“We’ve come up with a good quantity housing stock that is high quality, very affordable,” Longhofer said. “What are we doing to make sure that it stays that way?”
Systemic impact
The moderator asked what systemic issues keep people from getting quality, affordable housing in Wichita.
Nájera said Wichita was the “third most redlined city in America.” According to Wichita Habitat for Humanity, redlining is a racially discriminatory practice where government entities, banks, and businesses deny loans to those who live in certain areas.
KMUW reported that racial disparities between white and Black homeownership still persist in Wichita from redlining, with 64% of white households owning a home compared to about 35% of Black households.
“What are we doing to infill those areas and reinvest back in those areas and build the density of housing that we need?” Nájera said.
Nájera said the number of housing vacancies should also be considered, along with the higher cost of living.
“As you look at it holistically, people are employed (but) don’t have enough money to cover housing and can’t save to prevent an eviction,” Nájera said.
Stang said housing has at a lower cost in certain parts of the Wichita area.
“We need to make changes to make sure that we’re building up neighborhoods so that all neighborhoods feel that their homes are increasing in value,” Stang said.
Longhofer also mentioned zoning issues and advocated for the ability to build smaller homes, so more units can be placed on a smaller lot and reduce the entry level cost.
Longhofer said there is also a systemic issue of encouraging every student to go to a four-year university “when we need people in the trades” and other forms of labor. The crowd gave a loud round of applause.
“Building homes and renovating them is a real challenge, and you can make really good money without incurring nearly the level of debt as you might get with having a university (degree),” Longhofer said.
Later in the panel, Nájera discussed how based on an upcoming United Way of the Plains report, many employed Wichita community members cannot afford housing.
“About 45% of our population cannot afford housing,” Nájera said. “They pay the rent. It’s 50% of their income, so they don’t have $400 in their savings account. So … we need more inventory to make things more affordable.”
Mayor Lily Wu expressed a similar sentiment when asked to share her thoughts on housing. Wu said housing should be thought of as a “supply and demand issue,” and housing units should be increased so others can move into new spaces.
“How can we encourage more individuals in our communities to think, ‘Okay, if housing at this level gets created, well, maybe somebody else can move into that housing, which creates a space for somebody else,’” Wu said.
Housing recommendations for young people
An audience member asked what young people and seniors can do when it comes to owning homes. According to a 2016 American Community Survey, the median age of owner-occupied homes is 37 years.
Nájera shared that his 26-year-old could afford to pay $1,500 for a 400-square-foot studio apartment in Los Angeles, but once moving to Wichita, his income could not cover an apartment.
Nájera said some people at Wichita State “cannot afford the apartment across the street unless they have a roommate.”
Johnson said more younger people and “aging folks” have been living together as roommates, a solution that Longhofer called “viable” in many instances.
“Is that necessarily a problem? Roommates, when I was going to college, that was just understood and what you did in order to help cover the costs because things were expensive,” Longhofer said. “And that is the most rapid way to be able to increase your household income is to increase your household size with another person who is earning income.”
Stang said there should be other options besides a single-family home, such as condos, to suit different needs. Increasing the varied amount of housing units as well as more housing inventory in general were both common talking points during the panel.
“I’m a firm believer in home ownership, definitely helps build generational wealth, but there are people who don’t want to own,” Stang said. “We’re seeing a lot in Gen Zs and millennials who want to be mobile, don’t necessarily want to get into mortgages or lose money because they’re moving after only two years.”
None of the panelists offered advice on how young people who want to own homes can do so.
Other topics of conversation included the need to incentivize private developers, what Wichita can learn from other cities regarding housing solutions, and the City of Wichita’s housing programs.
More information about the Wichita Journalism Collaborative can be found at wichitajournalism.org.
