Johnson County commissioners on Thursday OK'd a proposal to spend $950,000 in federal pandemic relief money toward a unique Habitat for Humanity development of 20 yet-to-be-built homes in Olathe that will be available to low-income buyers for 99 years and beyond.
It’s one of a slate of new measures the county is trying to enact to chip away at persistent housing affordability concerns.
Building affordable homes in Olathe
The Habitat Olathe Pathway project at 159th Street and Blackbob Road will allow eligible applicants to own and collect partial equity on their home structures, while the land remains in a trust so that the homes can continue to be offered at below-market rates to future applicants.
The project was made possible by the Pathway Community Christian Church’s sale of land at below-market rates.
Advocates for affordable housing hope the project will be a bellwether for future efforts to put homes within reach for everyone in a county that has seen a continuing spike in real estate values.
Hanna Jeffrey, of the Good Faith Network, said housing prices have increased 37% since 2017.
“The people who serve our community are being priced out of our community,” she told the commission Thursday.
Commissioners voted unanimously to support the project, although there were a few cautions from Commissioners Charlotte O’Hara and Michael Ashcraft.
O’Hara questioned whether nearby neighbors had been adequately consulted.
“Are you telling me the neighbors surrounding this have no idea what’s coming in?” she said.
The project, however, has been through the city of Olathe’s rezoning and preliminary development steps, which included a public hearing, said county Planning, Housing and Community Development Director Jay Leipzig.
Ashcraft warned that the small development would not begin to solve all the county’s housing needs.
“I don’t want us not to be supportive of this, but I don’t believe it’s the necessary panacea to address the broader, deeper issue,” he said, adding that metropolitan home builders have often mentioned regulation as a key reason for high home prices.
Other commissioners expressed excitement at what they called an innovative idea.
Commissioner Jeff Meyers acknowledged it won’t solve all problems with affordability, but “doing something is better than doing nothing.”
The county’s contribution will go toward infrastructure in the development.
Three more housing affordability items also approved
The Habitat project was one of four items related to affordable housing the commission approved.
Representatives of the interfaith Good Faith Network, which has been pushing for housing affordability to be a priority for the county, spoke in support of each item.
Commissioners also approved pilot programs for incentives to pay landlords to accept low-income renters who have housing vouchers and to reimburse landlords for damages from those renters.
The landlord incentive program budgets $200,000 in coronavirus relief funds to pay landlords on the signing of a one-year lease.
Vouchers to help pay for housing for eligible renters have often gone unused because landlords are reluctant to accept them, according to a staff study.
Details on that program are being worked out.
The commission approved that measure 6-1, with O’Hara the lone dissenter.
They also greenlit a “risk mitigation” program for landlords that sets aside $50,000 from general fund reserves to reimburse for damages or lost rent from low-income tenants.
In that 5-2 vote, O’Hara and Ashcraft voted no.
A final item asking county staff to explore the possibilities for creating a countywide housing trust fund also was approved.
Land trusts are flexible arrangements using a variety of methods to preserve existing affordable housing or create more of it. The commission asked only for an assessment of land trust options and did not specify what uses of the trust should be pursued.
O’Hara said the county would do better to look at cutting property taxes, which drive up home and rent prices.
Ashcraft said he was concerned about using countywide support money and that the county might miss other opportunities by focusing narrowly on a land trust.
Both he and O’Hara voted against the land trust measure in a 5-2 vote.
This story was originally published on the Shawnee Mission Post.
