Want to keep Johnson County a great place to live? Then help solve affordable housing

Johnson County residents increasingly face limited options in the housing market that are attainable for raising a family and aging in place. If you are a person past retirement age, a teacher, a policeman or a business owner seeking to hire entry-level employees, you do not need to be convinced that a problem exists in Johnson County.

This is an affluent county with a rapidly growing population. Yet attainable housing options have moved further out of reach for many over the past decade. In 2008, former Johnson County Board of Commissioners Chair Annabeth Surbaugh formed a communitywide housing task force to address the growing housing challenges, and I was an appointee. The task force produced an affordable housing action plan, but unfortunately it was never implemented.

In 2019, during my first year in office, I brought forth to the commissioners board a request to take that 2008 housing task force’s work off the shelf and help fund a current housing study. In January of 2020, with support from Johnson County government and all cities within the county, United Community Services of Johnson County began a housing needs assessment. The assessment resulted in the 2021 Johnson County Housing Study, an in-depth analysis of current and future housing needs. In April of this year, upon receiving the results of the housing study and task force, Commissioners Shirley Allenbrand, Jeneé Hanzlick and I were appointed to a subcommittee by the commission to identify possible opportunities to impact housing needs in the county.

Affordable housing options continue to be a top concern for my constituents. In fact, Overland Park residents advocated to include affordable housing in their ForwardOP strategic plan, launched in 2018. Prairie Village recently formed a task force to address housing affordability, and Mission worked with a developer to ensure affordable units in a proposed 161-unit apartment complex.

Increasingly, I am seeing more attention to solving housing challenges as community leaders and advocates raise awareness that a diverse continuum of housing options beyond apartment complexes is needed. Housing that is affordable to workers spurs economic development, and in turn enhances a community’s appeal to residents.

Johnson County’s elected leadership at all levels of government must be willing to work together with residents toward attainable housing solutions. Without such willingness, the challenges for people trying to afford to live within the county will only grow worse over time.

Yearly population increases make it difficult for Johnson County to “build itself out.” A more realistic goal is to balance new construction with renovating itself out of the affordability crisis. There are many older homes across the county built before and after World War II that are blighted, dilapidated and in need of repair. Current housing rehabilitation programs offered by Johnson County through city partnerships assist only a small number of homeowners as funding sources have been stagnant for years. The good news is that recent federal COVID-19 relief money can be used to assist homeowners with repairs to preserve and rehabilitate their home.

Strategies to make Johnson County more livable cannot be realized by county government alone. The county’s coordination with its cities is vital for many strategies to be successful. Public and private partnerships are also essential to leveraging all possible resources, and regional cooperation with the Kansas City metropolitan area is imperative to making gains.

People living and working in Johnson County want to find solutions to housing challenges. A lack of safe and affordable housing options is a complex problem and will not go away on its own. The time is now, so let’s get going.

Becky Fast represents the 1st District on the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners.