Iowa City discusses affordable housing location

The City Council Monday night indicated it will take a data-driven approach to the often emotionally charged issue of affordable housing.

Meeting in a work session, the council kicked off what will be a multipart discussion on where certain types of affordable housing should be located in the city.

Specifically, the council has been asked by city staff to give guidance on where housing that is funded by federal Community Development Block Grant and HOME money should be placed.

The council asked staff for more information before it makes a decision, including data showing economic diversity and crime stats in neighborhoods and where affordable housing is located now.

The city gets about $2 million annually in block grant and HOME funds that go toward affordable housing and human service agencies. Section 8 funds, often a source of debate, are not included in those two programs, and the city has no control over where Section 8 tenants choose to live.

The current discussion follows a divided council's decision earlier this year to not approve an affordable housing project on the east side to be funded with federal money distributed by the city. A majority of council members said there was too much subsidized housing on that side of town and that such a concentration had a negative effect on nearby schools.

The Housing Fellowship, a nonprofit organization that planned the project, accused the city of housing discrimination as a result of the decision.

While the council's focus will be on those block grant and HOME funds, its broaching of the topic in some ways touches on the philosophical debate on location of affordable housing in general.

“This is something that has become an issue on a variety of fronts,” said Jeff Davidson, the city's director of planning and community development.

That includes the school system, housing market and crime, for example – and all of those can be intertwined.

Take southeast Iowa City. The amount of affordable housing there has been linked by some to problems with crime, although that may be improving. Schools in the area also have high numbers of low-income students.

Council member Connie Champion said just a perception of problems can hurt a whole neighborhood. Council member Susan Mims agreed, saying when there are concentrations of poverty in an area, there is a perception that the neighborhood and schools are of a lower quality, people don't want to move there and housing prices fall.

“It starts becoming a rock rolling downhill and you can't stop it,” she said.

Council members said they want the school officials in on the discussion.

Davidson reminded the council that ultimately, the question staff wants answered is what to do with the block grant and HOME funds. The next funding cycle for those programs is in mid-December, so a decision will need to come relatively quickly.