Chamber Supports Housing Programs

There has been a lot of conversation recently regarding housing in Manhattan. Several proposals will be in front of the Manhattan City Commission over the next few weeks including two RHID proposals.

?

The Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce recognizes that the rising cost of housing is preventing our community from growing at a level to sustain the quality of life our residents expect.

?

The issue has been studied multiple times in recent years. Through that process, three things have become apparent: 1) As interest rates and development costs have increased, Manhattan is attracting less speculative investment in single family homes; 2) The decrease in students attending Kansas State University in person has created a scenario where Manhattan has to begin shifting its housing to be less college-student oriented to young professionals, families and retirees; 3) Manhattan has hinderances to expansion with flood plains, Kansas State, Fort Riley and rivers preventing or making difficult expansion of services at a reasonable price.

?

To begin addressing this challenge, the Chamber has adopted the following for which to advocate in the community:

?

• Advocate to increase density in the core to allow for redevelopment of problem properties that otherwise will continue to deteriorate and be noncontributing to our housing challenge. Additionally, it helps the conversion of college rentals into single family homes available to a variety of families for ownership.
• Advocate and work to fill expanded construction trade classes at Manhattan Area Technical Center. Local homebuilders have identified lack of talent as part of the rising cost factor for homes in the community.
• Take advantage of all local, state and federal programs to encourage housing, particularly in the workforce housing sector which the Chamber defines as 60 percent to 120 percent area median income.

?

Communities across the country are grappling with similar problems facing Manhattan. Much like jobs projects, the competition for capital in addressing these problems has become enormous. Manhattan cannot afford to take a passive approach while communities that are working to attract our young professionals invest in appropriate housing.

?

Because the State of Kansas recognized this challenge, the legislature and administration created Reinvestment Housing Incentive Districts (RHID) to allow governing bodies to invest future revenues to address these challenges.

?

The Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce supports the use of RHID for community housing projects. As with all incentive opportunities, we would encourage the commission to apply “but-for” principles which include not just a “but for” the incentive, would the project occur, but also would the incentive drive down costs for homeowners and create more housing for working families and retirees, among others.

?

While we recognize this is a difficult decision, it can’t be overstated how important being proactive in creating opportunities for working families to live in our communities is to our long-term quality of life. Every goal we have and every amenity we would like relies on our ability to be welcoming to people of all incomes.