Effingham addresses housing needs in community meeting

Apr. 26—The City of Effingham and Illinois Housing Development Authority are teaming up to address the city's ongoing affordable housing shortage. This week, they asked local residents for input.

Several city officials and Effingham residents gathered at Effingham City Hall Wednesday evening to discuss the city's housing needs and its future development. The community meeting was led by Kris Walton, a community revitalization planner with the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA).

The city has been working with the Illinois Housing Development Authority for the past two or three years to develop what Walton calls a "community revitalization plan." He emphasized that community input will be crucial to this process.

"This is not a plan that IHDA made, this a plan that IHDA conducted with Effingham," Walton said. "At the end of this, there's going to be a full plan, a housing needs assessment."

A significant portion of this housing needs assessment will be based on a housing stock survey, for which the city and the IHDA examined about 10,000 parcels in Effingham, and a community needs assessment survey conducted about two years ago that garnered responses from 358 residents, according to Walton.

"It's been quite a project," said Effingham Economic Development Director Todd Hull.

In the community needs assessment, 71.2% of respondents said there aren't affordable homes in Effingham for households earning certain levels of income.

"The cost of renting has gone up in Effingham, but the wages have not kept up," one survey respondent said.

"We've seen that across every city in Illinois, pretty much every city in the United States," Walton said.

The city's affordable housing issue isn't anything new, and one of the residents at the meeting said he and his wife have been unable to find a house because the prices for homes in the city are "crazy."

"My wife's family is from here. We both found jobs in the area," he said. "I've been looking for a house for two years, since I moved here."

Housing isn't the only need discussed in the survey. Walton said the "big ask" from the residents who took the survey is for improvements to public transportation, more affordable housing, increased access to child care, indoor recreation and youth services.

"Those were the big things," he said.

According to the housing stock survey, which Hull said took several months to conduct, 75% of the city's buildings are residential, while the majority of the other buildings in the city are commercial or public. Most of the residential structures in the city are standalone single-family homes, and Walton noted that there aren't many 20+ unit residential buildings or townhouses in the city.

The housing stock survey also revealed that 98% of the homes in the city are occupied, and Walton noted that there are several vacant homes in the city as well.

"Some of those vacant homes and those parcels is an opportunity to kind of take a look and see where those are, and maybe there's some room for redevelopment there," he said.

Additionally, he said most of the homes that were surveyed were in "excellent condition" and called Effingham a "well kept community."

"This is one of the better housing stock surveys that I've seen, personally," Walton said.

Walton also said that 19% of the lots in the city are vacant and noted that there are several side yards that could be repurposed for residential use as well.

Another way he said the city could help spur the development of affordable housing is by utilizing programs like the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit through the Illinois Housing Development Authority.

"It's a longer term process, but ultimately, the goal is to, with this plan, attract developers to Effingham," Walton said. "Planning takes time."

Effingham City Commissioner Hank Stephens noted that there are currently incentives for residential development available in the Effingham/Effingham County Enterprise Zone.

"That is really just getting kicked off now," Stephens said. "That's been huge. And it has kind of triggered several different housing developments recently."

Also during the meeting, residents took part in a new survey which asked them what they would like to see the city start doing, stop doing or continue doing.

Among the things attendees would like see in the city, in addition to more affordable housing, is more affordable child care, more local events and increased community engagement with local news and the city's government.

"Continue investing in informing the city youth," one attendee said in response to one of the survey questions Wednesday. "If the youth doesn't know what's going in the community, then it won't spread as fast."

Additionally, Several residents, in both the community needs survey and the meeting Wednesday, recognized a need to make more activities available in the city that cater to its younger residents and increase the likelihood that these residents will stay in the city when they get older.

"We've had conversations with communities about resident retention a lot," Walton said.

Attendees also listed some of the city's strengths in the survey, citing its parks, trails, and small town feel as examples.

"I think we're really lucky here because we're kind of a smaller town. We're a pretty safe community, but because of our location, we have so many amenities, way more restaurants, way more things to do than any town our size," said Effingham Economic Development Specialist Sasha Althoff.

Walton said residents should still be able to access the survey attendees participated in Wednesday for the remainder of the week, and those looking to respond to it can do so by going to menti.com and entering the code: 2256 3414.

Nick Taylor can be reached at nick.taylor@effinghamdailynews.com or by phone at 618-510-9226 or 217-347-7151 ext. 300132.