Housing the Population

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  I know that my co-workers especially get tired of me referencing this, but the more life experiences that I have, the more this theory seems to hold true. 

The basic premise of Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs is that people have to have their basic needs met first before they can consider fulfilling more complex needs.  For instance, someone needs to have food for their family before they can worry about painting a mural downtown.  I translate it this way, if someone is homeless, than a new park for their children isn’t something that they can worry about as easily as someone who has a home.  If someone cannot afford enough to eat, than they probably aren’t going to be downtown supporting retail businesses as often as someone who is well fed.

Did you know that Republic County actually has a housing shortage? Many of our cities have done a great job of cleaning up blighted properties in the past few years, but that has led to glaring holes in the housing infrastructure.  The City of Belleville alone has been instrumental in tearing down over seventy blighted houses since 2000.  Smaller communities like Scandia, Courtland, Munden, and Cuba (and others) have also done a good job.

Republic County currently has a 21% housing vacancy rate.  This is for structures that are currently on the real estate market.  But what about that houses that are now gone because of clean up or are not suitable to live in?

In 2000, Republic County had 3,113 housing units.  Just ten years later in 2010, the number of housing units in the County fell to 2,877 houses.  That is a loss of 236 houses. 

In this same period from 2000 – 2010, Republic County’s population fell by 855.  If each of these 236 houses housed four people each, than more than half of the loss in population (472 people) could be attributed to not having housing for these people to live in, even if they wanted to return.  We have to be able to meet people’s basic needs before they can move here.

Recent successes in business development for Republic County have brought the housing issue even more to the forefront.  Between current and possible future projects, there could be need for an excess of 60 – 150 new workers in County in the coming years in just one sector of our economy.  This doesn’t even account for growth in the health care sector, agriculture sector, or other sectors.  We are going to need a viable place for these people to live.

What can you do to help?

1. Republic County is in need of developers to develop housing additions, spur renovations of current housing, to develop apartments, and/or to construct duplexes.  Could you use the Neighborhood Revitalization Program, which offers five years of partial property tax rebates for those who increase the appraised value of a property by more than $30,000, to do some development programs?  Do you know someone, even if they aren’t living in Republic County, who could be a developer for these projects?
2. Do you own a downtown building in one of the towns in Republic County?  Are you a downtown business owner who is looking for another source of income to supplement your retail business?  Many downtown buildings in each of the towns in Republic County have former apartments already upstairs.  There are programs and ways to develop these for housing again.
3. Do you already own a property that you might consider making into a rental property?  Could you be a landlord?
4. Do you own an empty lot in one of the towns in Republic County?  Would you like to donate the lot, so that it can be used in development?

Please contact Economic Development with any input, questions, or concerns.  Republic County Economic Development is here to serve you.  Please contact Jenny Russell or Luke Mahin at rcedc@nckcn.com or 785-527-2310 if we can be of any assistance.  Also, join our Facebook initiative by searching Republic County Economic Development, now at 474 people strong.