The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has released “Making Room: Perspectives on Housing in the Tenth District,” a report that offers a picture of the housing landscape across the Tenth District in the words of developers, investors, government and elected leaders, labor, landlords, tenant advocates and others. The Kansas City Fed’s community development team deployed the survey in 2021 to gather opinions about housing from diverse stakeholders. We learned which housing challenges were having the biggest impact and what innovative solutions people would most like to try.
The survey was intended to provide insight on the complex issue of housing. The survey helped identify the elements of the housing system that are most important to Tenth District stakeholders. We reviewed all the results and paid special attention to innovative solutions people said they most wanted to try. Over the next year, we plan to publish articles on solutions related to these topics:
- Alternative types of construction with lower costs, and how to encourage their use.
- Rehab of existing housing stock, making rehab accessible to lower-income homeowners, landlords and governments in urban and rural areas.
- Creative ways to make mortgages affordable, such as land trusts and shared equity ownership models.
- Options for providing subsidies and incentives to developers of housing for low- and moderate-income people, including creative options such as public banking, social justice bonds and impact notes.
Know of promising solutions?
Our goal is to provide practical information that our communities can use to help get people into safe, decent and affordable places to live. If you know of a success story related to any of the four topics, we’d appreciate hearing from you.
Send information about promising solutions to jennifer.wilding@kc.frb.org. Here is what we need:
- A paragraph or two explaining your personal connection to the success story and how you know it’s successful. Brief is good – 100 or 200 words is plenty.
- A link to a website, report or other information that provides more information.
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