Affordable housing: The Star Opinion team advises voters on KC ballot measure

Affordable housing continues to be a major issue for Kansas City, where roughly 30% of renters spend more than 30% of their monthly income on housing. And at the same time, rent costs keep rising.

In February, the city reported an affordable-housing shortage of 64,000 homes.

Those are the kind of problems that have contributed to the rapid increase in evictions and homelessness across the city, and why Kansas City this year reported that it is investing $1 million to increase affordable housing through its Kansas City Housing Gateway Program.

That’s great, but something more needs to be done to increase the affordable house stock in this city effectively.

In August, the city is asking voters to decide on whether to support $100 million in general obligation bonds to finance affordable housing through rehabilitation, renovation and new construction. Money would also be spent to remove blight.

We think Kansas City voters should say yes to this. We agree with Kansas City 6th District Councilman Johnathan Duncan, who said supporting affordable housing in this city under this measure is “a no-brainer.”

City officials said approving the bonds would put new resources into Kansas City’s Housing Trust Fund. Since the fund was set up in 2018, more than $61 million has been awarded to help create nearly 3,000 affordable housing units. Duncan, a former organizer for the citywide tenant union KC Tenants, was elected to the City Council in 2023 on with his “truly affordable housing” campaign platform.

He said this ballot measure proposed by the city “is the best way we have in the city to produce and protect affordable housing. It is not a tax. These are bonds the city holds and pays back over time. ” Duncan also said he has seen no misuse of funds in the Housing Trust Fund, and he trusts that if voters say yes to the $100 million, it can truly make a difference.

Kansas City 3rd District Councilwoman Melissa Patterson Hazley agreed with Duncan’s assessment and said Kansas City’s Housing Trust Fund is working as expected. That’s also what the Kansas City Business Journal reported last year, adding that the challenge the fund faces is expanding and sustaining the program for the long term.

This proposed measure does appear to be a step in that direction.

According to information provided by the city, a second round of bond funding would extend the program and could generate nearly 5,000 additional units — although it’s not clear how long the extension would last.

“This is how we take care of our own,” said Patterson Hazley, who has made improving the affordable housing stock in Kansas City a focus of her work in her district.

She told The Star that supporting another round of bond funding for affordable housing in this city should be a fairly easy decision for voters, since it alone won’t cost KC residents additional dollars. The measure would not increase taxes. Passage of the measure requires a four-sevenths majority.