Housing Accelerator looks to KC’s Washington Wheatley neighborhood first
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The relatively small Washington Wheatley neighborhood is getting a lot of attention from Kansas City’s Housing Accelerator program.
It’s already put out Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for how to redevelop 47 vacant lots in the Washington Wheatley neighborhood. Councilwoman Melissa Patterson-Hazley started the initiative after growing up not far away and seeing the open land often as an adult.
“The Housing Accelerator really came from me driving from home to work at UMKC and I counted about 14 vacant lots,” Patterson-Hazley said.
About 20% of the entire neighborhood is vacant land, bringing tall grass, litter, and crime.
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“As a homeowner, it’s really disheartening to see all the vacant lots that we have in our neighborhood,” said resident and Washington Wheatley Neighborhood Association member Robin Humphrey.
The Housing Accelerator Program streamlines the process to get the land into developer’s hands by letting successful bids buy each land for $1. The hope is that it will lead to more affordable housing at a time when housing costs are generally trending up.
“It’s intended for multiple, intensive housing development to happen in a compressed period of time so we do give proposals 18 months to be completely vertical and finished,” Patterson-Hazley said.
The first signs of progress are still months away and the first finished projects don’t have to be done for more than a year and a half in a community in the heart of historical redlining. Still, Humphrey says these early stages are encouraging.
“Knowing that our neighborhood has been with 90 acres of vacant lots for many years, I think we’re ok,” Humphrey said. “We’ve been patient so we can be a little more patient just a little bit longer to see things happen.”
There are two educational workshops to learn about the Accelerator program.
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Monday, May 13 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Gregg/Klice Community Center (1600 E 17th Ter., Kansas City, MO 64108)
Wednesday, May 15 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Seton Center (2816 E 23rd St, Kansas City, MO 64127)
