Iowa City receives grant to explore increasing housing diversity across the city

IOWA CITY — The city of Iowa City received a grant to explore housing policy and potential changes to zoning code to encourage housing diversity across the city.

Iowa City will work with the cities of Henderson, Nev., and Eau Claire, Wis. The collaborative grant will look at zoning code in each of the three cities and how to increase different types of housing, such as duplexes and town homes.

“We want to look at how other cities have addressed increasing diversity of housing,” said Tracy Hightshoe, Iowa City’s director of Neighborhood and Development Services. “Where's it appropriate? Where's it not? And how do they go about doing that?”

The grant is from the Reinvestment Fund, “a mission-driven financial institution committed to making communities work for all people.” The group focuses on issues such as education, affordable housing, access to health care and access to healthy food.

The organization announced $173,000 in grant awards last month to cities as part of the Invest Health initiative, which began in 2016. Invest Health is a partnership between Reinvestment Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that supports projects in small and midsized cities that improve health and well-being in neighborhoods.

Six collaborations representing 16 cities will receive up to $33,000.

Iowa City, Henderson and Eau Claire will work with a housing policy consultant to learn more about how to incorporate and incentivize missing middle housing — such as duplexes, town homes and multifamily buildings — in new and existing neighborhoods.

The Iowa City Council last year adopted a non-traditional type of zoning for 900 acres of undeveloped land in the South District. The zoning known as “form-based code” prioritizes physical form instead of the separation of property uses like traditional zoning does.

One of the goals of the form-based code is to allow a variety of housing types besides single-family homes and mid- to high-rise apartments.

The three cities are working together because they all wanted to focus on housing. Hightshoe said Eau Claire has housing prices similar to Iowa City and a similar demographic with it being a college town.

Henderson wants to focus on getting different housing types right outside its downtown, Hightshoe said.

The consulting firm, Colorado-based Logan Simpson, will look at each city’s zoning code and make suggestions on changes and possible incentives for developers.

There will be a meeting at Fort Collins, Colo. in May to meet with the consulting firm, tour developments and meet with a housing nonprofit. Fort Collins adopted form-based code a few years ago, Hightshoe said.

While zoning code doesn’t control housing prices, Hightshoe said a diversity of housing types could bring different price points since single-family housing is typically more expensive than duplexes and town homes.

With a diversity in housing types, “you're trying to accommodate all your residents at whatever life stage they're at to find housing that's appropriate and affordable to them,” Hightshoe said.

“A healthy housing market has housing for everyone,” Hightshoe added.

After the trip to Colorado in May, city staff will present the findings, observations and recommendations to the City Council later this year, likely in August or September, Hightshoe said.

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