Edmond is 'a great place to grow' in Oklahoma. But as it expands, the city is facing an identity crisis

EDMOND — Excellent schools, low crime rates, high-caliber city services and businesses offering plenty to see and do are helping this community live up to its slogan — "A great place to grow."

But at the same time, Edmond is facing an identity crisis.

Some city leaders and residents want to the see the community grow with additional businesses and more housing options for people who work in Edmond. Others are concerned about depreciating property values that might come with additional multi-family housing developments.

For Edmond leaders, it has become its quintessential question. How big is too big?

In 2020, U.S. Census Bureau data showed Edmond was the fifth-largest city in Oklahoma with a population of 94,428.

As it's grown, people working for some of its schools and businesses have found it increasingly difficult to find affordable places to live.

A lack of affordable housing handcuffs recruitment efforts for Edmond's major employers and makes it more difficult to lure new businesses to town, economic development and chamber of commerce leaders fear.

It also worries elected city leaders, who rely upon on sales taxes generated by a thriving community to provide quality city services.

Edmond City Council members recently accepted a housing study that showed a teacher making $44,000 to $50,000 a year only could afford to buy a home worth about $150,000. Even a nurse in a dual-income home making $84,000 a year could only afford to buy a home worth about $251,000, the study showed.

The average price for a home in Edmond, according to Zillow, is more than $335,000.

It's not just about finding affordable places to buy. Even finding affordable places to rent inside of Edmond are challenging for some like barista Rylee Dean, 23, an Edmond native whose mother and grandparents still live in the community.

More: Report: Oklahoma not doing enough to help residents find affordable housing

Dean and a roommate were living near Interstate 235 and Wilshire in an apartment costing $700 a month before recently moving to one at NW 122 and State Highway 74, costing nearly $1,200 a month. Neither address is in Edmond.

"I can't go anywhere near Edmond prices," said Dean, adding she would if possible because "it would be easier to spend time with them (her grandparents and mother), and I wouldn't have to drive as far to get to grocery stores and restaurants I like to visit."

Edmond's struggles to make more affordable housing available aren't unique. Cities and towns across Oklahoma and the nation are seeing a shortage of affordable housing amid rising rents and record-high interest rates for mortgages.

Oklahoma's Legislative Office for Fiscal Transparency recently talked about the Oklahoma's Housing Finance Agency's efforts to address the issues. The agency recently spent millions in federal funds to create nearly 10,000 housing vouchers to help an estimated 25,250 people find affordable housing.

LOFT said 26,291 Oklahomans continue to wait for rental assistance.

The agency also is developing plans to spend more than $200 million in state appropriated dollars to create a programs encouraging developers to build homes for sale through low- or zero-interest loans.

Affordable housing is defined by the federal government as a living arrangement where someone pays no more than 30% of their income on that expense, including utilities.

Young Edmond professionals say help is needed, others not so sure

Savannah Whitehead, program director at the Edmond Fine Arts Institute, led a young professionals focus group as part of the housing study and told council members three-quarters of young professionals under the age of 35 can't afford to buy even an average-priced home in the city.

Apartment options are limited, too, because only one a handful of those types of developments have been approved within the community over the past decade, she said.

School teachers, hospital employees, police, firefighters and recent UCO graduates need affordable places to live in Edmond, and some community members don't understand how that impacts businesses, Whitehead said.

"These are some of the most active and involved people in the community, but we can't call Edmond home. A person should not have to work for 10-plus years and be in a dual-income household to be able to live in the city," she said.

Veteran Megan Lee Schmidt, 38, told council members she and her husband count themselves among lucky ones able to acquire a home in Edmond during the Great Recession in the late 2000s when housing prices were not so extreme.

The same opportunities didn't exist just five years ago for one of her relatives, a married military veteran who returned to the United States after serving overseas. Today, that relative and his family are living with parents because they can't afford to own their own home in Edmond, she told council members.

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"Life doesn't look the same as it did in the 1970s," Schmidt said.

But not everyone who lives in Edmond shares their concerns.

The local market has changed over time because living in Edmond is so desirable, said longtime resident Robert Semands, 74.

He suggested that people who want to live in Edmond but can't afford it either should undergo additional training or choose careers that pay better.

"I totally believe in promoting and protecting our place here because it's special; it's very special. I don't want to see anything happen here that could diminish ... our investments in this community as individual residents here," Semands said. "I can tell you, I worked my butt off to get here."

What's driving the housing problem? Edmond recruits outside help to study issues

The study, led by St. Louis-based Development Strategies, collected data on residents' incomes and ages and information about recent home sales. It included surveys and focus groups.

It showed Edmond doesn't have enough available housing, driving prices for what is available higher, and recommended the community double the numbers of building permits it issues annually to add at least 8,900 new places to live over the next 10 years.

It also showed 64% of Edmond's residents can't afford to buy an average-priced new home in the community and that more than three quarters of Edmond's workers live in other communities.

It also showed some residents who live in older Edmond homes can't afford to improve them, despite city efforts to make that easier, and, that Edmond's current market trends are unusual compared to most communities.

The study recommended Edmond allow more diverse types of developments, including multi-family projects, and create a housing taskforce to address challenges using educational and financial programs.

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Edmond residents say company who conducted study had 'hidden agenda'

When Edmond's elected council members received a final study report this summer, some residents said city leaders had brought in a company with a hidden agenda to force outside points of view on their community, adding they felt ignored or marginalized when they tried to participate in the process.

Others said they don't understand why Edmond is concerned about making more affordable housing available after it created tax incentives to encourage the clearing of blocks of some of the community's oldest and cheapest homes for new, higher-density projects.

Like Semands, some told council members they had worked hard to be able to afford living in Edmond and encouraged others to do the same.

"A lot of us have invested a lot of money in our homes. In many cases, that's the biggest asset we have. We can't afford to have those assets depreciated on us because of what goes on around us," said Steve Curry, 76. "Don't forget those of us who have worked hard to get to where we are, and the values that we've created from working hard. I hope these young people do the same."

While a homebuilder, a Realtor and a chamber of commerce executive also came forward to tell council members they have seen problems the study revealed first-hand, Semands told council members it isn't Edmond's responsibility to address outside economic influences that have pushed both construction and financing costs for new homes much higher over the past 40 years, especially since the COVID-19-related shutdown prompted a massive infusion of federal dollars into the economy.

"That's the textbook definition of inflation — too much money chasing too few things, and there's nobody in this room that can do anything about that," Semands said.

Feedback from Semands, Curry and others during a recent presentation about the study left at least one member of the city council frustrated.

Councilwoman Christin Mugg told audience members Development Strategies, the company that led the study, is a professional, reputable firm whose business is to objectively study housing issues and propose potential solutions.

It is unreasonable to expect people will indefinitely be willing to commute to get to and from their Edmond jobs, she said.

"We are not here with an agenda. There's no motive here, other than to make Edmond a great community," Mugg said.

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Council members accept study's findings

Before voting with colleagues to accept the final study, Councilman Barry Moore said Edmond's housing issues caught his attention recently as he attended a young professionals meeting organized by Whitehead where only a half dozen of the 40 people there rose their hands when asked if they lived inside of Edmond.

He reminded those critical of the study incomes don't define the value of next-door neighbors, explaining he himself had experienced a hardscrabble childhood where his mother raised six kids by herself and depended on governmental assistance to help keep the family fed.

"When people say affordable housing, I don't actually know what that means. I know that people try to do what they can to put a roof over the head," Moore said. "If all you can only afford is a $140,000 house, that doesn't make you less human than someone who lives in a $2.5 million house. We have got to figure this out. Let's look at this as we can, as a community."

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Edmond residents, leaders disagree on issues tied to affordable housing