Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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beautyfromashes
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

Post by beautyfromashes »

And gentrification is going to happen. It’s impossible to stop at this point. Might be able to slow it down, but the East Side will change dramatically in the next decade or two. The goal should be to push ownership so current residents aren’t pushed out when it happens.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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beautyfromashes wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 7:24 pm And gentrification is going to happen. It’s impossible to stop at this point. Might be able to slow it down, but the East Side will change dramatically in the next decade or two. The goal should be to push ownership so current residents aren’t pushed out when it happens.
Why would you want to slow down gentrification. Kansas City needs gentrification on a massive scale. Very few cities in the US have been hit as hard as Kansas City by transfer of wealth to the suburbs. I realize there are human issues that come along with gentrification but the vast majority of KC south of the river should not have to remain low income forever.
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beautyfromashes
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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Highlander wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 7:40 pmI realize there are human issues that come along with gentrification but...
Yes, these “human issues” would be the downside of gentrification. We must find ways to advance without hurting the people who have historically lived in these neighborhoods.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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“Human issues” has to be one of the most unsettlingly clinical phrases I’ve ever heard
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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TheLastGentleman wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 8:11 pm “Human issues” has to be one of the most unsettlingly clinical phrases I’ve ever heard
That's pretty much my reaction when I hear gentrification referred to as a bad thing. It may have downsides but without gentrification Kansas City south of the river is trapped in a positive feedback of loop of decay dependent on a 1% earnings tax to make ends meet. Property tax rises that adversely impact everyone are more of a result of lack of gentrification than from anything else. This forum has been up and active for around 20 years and across that time, while there has been some real growth in downtown and the downtown population via apartments, there's been almost no gentrification to KC's neighborhoods (except for minor gentrification on the West Side and in the Beacon Hill area). The question is how to deal with the problems it creates but certainly not to oppose it.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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beautyfromashes wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 7:23 pm
FangKC wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 6:36 pm There is a program to help low-income residents who receive Section 8 vouchers with buying their own homes.

http://www.hakc.org/resident_services/s ... ogram.aspx

And grant programs for down payment assistance.

https://www.beyondhousing.org/lift
Can the city administer these programs or must all applications and information come from individuals? For example, could the city buy homes, get the grant and federal money and sell them to those in vouchers?
Technically, they already are through the city's homesteading program, where the city and county owns houses in the land trust (usually properties taken for back taxes, or through abandonment). They often put those up for sale.

https://www.kcmo.gov/programs-initiati ... -authority

The City does administer a down payment program for low-income residents seeking to buy homes in KCMO. The grant expires after the resident lives in the property for 10 years. Otherwise, if they sell before that, they have to pay a pro-rated amount of the down payment grant back to the program.

The Housing Authority (independent agency that administers HUD programs) runs the Section 8 Homeowner Program. Applicants are already Section 8 renters who go through a home ownership training program, financial education, credit score maintenance, etc. and then are guided through a mortgage application process. There are banks that work with low-income residents to get mortgages. Then the Housing Authority pays for a portion of their mortgage just like they would their rent in an apartment or rental house. They do this as long as the parties are eligible for housing assistance based on their income. If they get a better job, for example, and their income rises to the point they are no qualify for housing assistance; then the party is responsible for paying the entire mortgage themselves. This program can be combined with the City's down payment grant program to provide more money for a down payment, and thus lower the amount they need to borrow.

To further answer your question, yes, I think the City could combine the homesteading program with the City's down payment assistance program to help people buy these homes. And yes, they could work with the Housing Authority to direct Section 8 renters to these programs. But no, I don't think there is a specific City office that does all this for people right now. The houses for sale through homesteading are usually in very rough shape, and most low-income buyers aren't equipped to take on that big of a project.

Here is another link that explains some of these programs, but it through one of the banks that works with first-time homeowners.

https://enterprisebank.mymortgage-onlin ... tance.html

https://kcfirsttimehomebuyer.com/missouri-buyers/

I think there are some local realtors that know about these programs and help first-time homeowners through the process of applying for these grants and loans.

The City did try in the past to buy (through an independent housing agency) or take abandoned houses on Beacon Hill, and renovate them to sell, but was badly administered and the cost of renovating exceeded what people were willing to pay for the finished house.


https://kcrag.com/viewtopic.php?t=799


https://www.thepitchkc.com/six-ways-th ... rk-anyway/
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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Highlander wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 8:27 pm
TheLastGentleman wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 8:11 pm “Human issues” has to be one of the most unsettlingly clinical phrases I’ve ever heard
That's pretty much my reaction when I hear gentrification referred to as a bad thing. It may have downsides but without gentrification Kansas City south of the river is trapped in a positive feedback of loop of decay dependent on a 1% earnings tax to make ends meet. Property tax rises that adversely impact everyone are more of a result of lack of gentrification than from anything else. This forum has been up and active for around 20 years and across that time, while there has been some real growth in downtown and the downtown population via apartments, there's been almost no gentrification to KC's neighborhoods (except for minor gentrification on the West Side and in the Beacon Hill area). The question is how to deal with the problems it creates but certainly not to oppose it.
You all are right. This is a complex problem. The City needs to increase the tax base and revenues to fix many long-term problems with decaying infrastructure that even low-income people need to use. It's not in the City's best interest to allow properties to just continue to deteriorate, and devalue, because it affects the value of the properties on the block that owners have maintained and are worth more. But because they sit next to a ramshackle rental property(ies), their house is valued 30-50 percent less.

Yet, KCMO has a significant percentage of low-income residents who suffer when rents and property taxes go up too fast. Their incomes don't keep pace for obvious historic reasons to do with race, inequality, politics (failure for government to raise the minimum wage for years), and loss of traditional jobs (factories, etc.). There is also a significant aging population on fixed incomes who cannot pick up and move, and cannot take on a second job to pay increases in property taxes or rents.

So we have to figure out a way for neighborhoods to improve, while protecting long-time residents who are more vulnerable.

I think one of the solutions is to fix homeowners' property tax burden based on their income. We also have to change how an assessor makes decisions about home values. Just because someone builds a $400,000 new, modern contemporary house next door to a 100-year-old two-bedroom, unrenovated bungalow, should not suddenly raise that property's assessed value 40 percent.

The same needs to apply to raising a old home's assessed value, and taxes, just because the homeowner has painted it, or put a new roof on it. This is simply maintenance, not home improvements. Many homeowners won't do anything to improve the exterior appearance of their houses because they fear their property taxes will go up. For the same reason, many landlords allow their rental houses to look like crap because they don't want to pay more property taxes.

I mentioned once to an older homeowner that the City had a program where she could get free paint for her house. I also mentioned there was a local group in the neighborhood that had volunteers who would paint her house for her. She didn't want it because she was afraid her property taxes would go up if she did it. We have to figure out how to solve these types of problems.

https://www.kcmo.gov/city-hall/departme ... nt-program

https://www.jerusalemfarm.org/homeowners.php
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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FangKC wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 11:35 pm The City does administer a down payment program for low-income residents seeking to buy homes in KCMO. The grant expires after the resident lives in the property for 10 years. Otherwise, if they sell before that, they have to pay a pro-rated amount of the down payment grant back to the program.

To further answer your question, yes, I think the City could combine the homesteading program with the City's down payment assistance program to help people buy these homes. And yes, they could work with the Housing Authority to direct Section 8 renters to these programs. But no, I don't think there is a specific City office that does all this for people right now. The houses for sale through homesteading are usually in very rough shape, and most low-income buyers aren't equipped to take on that big of a project.
Thank you for all the information! I think instead of the city giving incentives to everyone with conditions, they should find those who already have met the conditions and skip the bureaucracy. Why give incentive for someone to move here from somewhere else and stay for 10 years? This seems to stack the deck in favor of gentrification instead of the opposite. Reward those who have stayed and are rooted in the neighborhood. Give them the down-payment and remodeling assistance.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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Thanks for bringing that perspective up. It is not something that I have thought of before.

Assuming a $1500 per month payment, 30 years.

November 2018
4.87% interest = $355,000 house

December 2020
2.68% = $464,000

So the drop in interest rates nets you 30% more house "for free."


I used Bankrate to make these calculations. $1,500 solely towards interest and principal repayment.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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Helping people own homes isn't always a solution. Not all residents are prepared to do so. They don't have a history of stable economic conditions in their life. They might have enough income to pay the mortgage, but they don't have enough to maintain the home over time. They buy the house, and later there is a roof leak they can't afford to repair. The house gets mold, and they abandon it and it goes back to the bank.

The solution for them must be providing enough lower-cost rental housing. The Section 8 program is often not enough to handle this. There are often years-long wait lists to get a Section 8 voucher. There are not enough property owners/landlords who will participate in the program.

I've started to come around to the concept of minimum guaranteed income programs where low-income citizens receive direct payments instead of having to apply for Section 8, or living in public housing complexes. This allows them to choose their own housing without having to be on wait lists, or limited to landlords who are willing to sign up for the program.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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FangKC wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 9:51 pm I've started to come around to the concept of minimum guaranteed income programs where low-income citizens receive direct payments instead of having to apply for Section 8, or living in public housing complexes. This allows them to choose their own housing without having to be on wait lists, or limited to landlords who are willing to sign up for the program.
Why this over a federal jobs guarantee?
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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For a several reasons. They may have a job, or jobs, and just don't earn a living wage.

Depending on the economy, there just aren't enough jobs to employ everyone. Yes, the federal government can invent jobs to put people to work. However, depending on where you live, there might not even be enough tasks to invent jobs. Plus, you need Congress to fund jobs programs and one party is frequently hesitant to support that. OR, and this is a big one, the govt. jobs would compete with private sector jobs/union jobs.

Sometimes the available jobs aren't where they live, or they can't reach them.

Not all low-income residents are still employable. They might be seniors, or disabled people. Seniors might be raising their grandchildren, and disabled people have children, or are caring for live-in parents. They can't take on part-time jobs. Disability income is based on a percentage of what they once earned. If you only earned minimum wage and barely-survived when you were fully-employed, living on a percentage of that former income is still not enough. Disability doesn't replace your entire former income. It provides a certain percentage of your former income. Disability, like Social Security retirement income, is capped. Once your reach a certain amount, it is capped no matter how much you earned in your career.

Yes, they might get food stamps, and their kids/grandchildrens are on Medicaid, but that is still not enough to sustain them. Food stamps are severely under-funded in Missouri/Kansas. It's not just that there is not enough funding for the number of people in need of them. It's that the amount of money given to a family is still not enough to prevent hunger, or provide food sufficiency. Most food stamp recipients still have to go food banks. Most food banks don't have enough food for everyone who comes. They run out. Even then, there are many families who still go without meals with food stamps, with food banks, and while working one or two jobs.

So jobs programs, or guaranteed jobs, don't help this population.

Many senior women fall into poverty when their retired spouses die. Especially if the wife never worked outside the home. Say they get $2,500 a month in SS income. That is based on her husband's earning level, and provides for both of them. When he dies, the widow might get $1,500 a month. That might not be enough to sustain her while maintaining their home, her health costs, heat bill, and perhaps raising a grandchild.

I wish many of these problems would be solved simply by paying people a living wage/raising the minimum wage to appropriate levels. That doesn't solve the problem for low-income seniors/disabled though. You would need additional assistance for them.

You'd be surprised how many occupied houses you drive by in KCMO don't have the water turned on, or may have water, but no hot water. Or the furnace is broken, and they heat with space heaters. This is because they can't repair things when they break.

That is why the KC school district provides showers and laundry facilities for their students in some schools. That is why some schools still feed kids breakfast and lunch during summer months when school isn't in session.

We have military families on food stamps.

https://www.rd.com/article/military-fam ... od-stamps/

Minimum income guarantees solve a lot of these problems, and do it in a manner in which people don't have to apply for multiple programs,or states then don't even have to administer multiple programs.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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Interesting that in the last few years the local conversation about segregation has almost disappeared and been replaced by conversations about gentrification. I can't tell if it's because of an assumption that white people will tend to buy their way into wherever they want to be and protections for longtime black residents will by default create integrated neighborhoods - or if people have just decided that gentrification is a bigger problem. But given the hypersegregation that exists in KC, anti-gentrification initiatives would appear to reinforce existing racial boundaries. It's a strange and uncomfortable conundrum for lefties like me.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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chaglang wrote: Wed May 12, 2021 8:33 am Interesting that in the last few years the local conversation about segregation has almost disappeared and been replaced by conversations about gentrification. I can't tell if it's because of an assumption that white people will tend to buy their way into wherever they want to be and protections for longtime black residents will by default create integrated neighborhoods - or if people have just decided that gentrification is a bigger problem. But given the hypersegregation that exists in KC, anti-gentrification initiatives would appear to reinforce existing racial boundaries. It's a strange and uncomfortable conundrum for lefties like me.
It's a proxy for housing costs.

If we could find a way to maintain existing residents while bringing new jobs, retail and lower crime change would likely be welcomed.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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KC is no longer one of most segregated cities. There are clearly still large areas that are dominantly one race but that's the case with nearly all metros, less so in KC area now. Search 'segregation maps' for large cities and you might be surprised that many larger cities are much more segregated than KC.

On gentrification, depends on how defined but many struggling KC neighborhoods need investment and the best balance is mid-range market rate mixed with affordable and KC does a fairly decent effort. Is impressive how much investment is going on in E Side. Need an infusion of mixed income in these neighborhoods to attract biz and retail. It might push a few people out but the net effect will likely be broader demographic mix rather than say, entire stretches of Section 8. If that's gentrification many KC areas need it. Midtown will likely get many upgrades that will push some out but probably not enough to be a concern, should actually create broader demo mix.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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That's good news, but it's worth pointing out that (judging from the maps in the article) a lot of the gains appear to be coming in non-KCMO parts of the metro.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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chaglang wrote: Wed May 12, 2021 10:18 am That's good news, but it's worth pointing out that (judging from the maps in the article) a lot of the gains appear to be coming in non-KCMO parts of the metro.
This is going to continue.

This is NKC HS 2019-20 demographics

1573 students

38.4% White
21.4% Black
19.7% Hispanic
10.5% 2+ races
7.6% Asian
2.1% Native American or Pacific Islander

94%+ graduation rate.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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earthling wrote: Wed May 12, 2021 10:13 am KC is no longer one of most segregated cities. There are clearly still large areas that are dominantly one race but that's the case with nearly all metros, less so in KC area now. Search 'segregation maps' for large cities and you might be surprised that many larger cities are much more segregated than KC.

On gentrification, depends on how defined but many struggling KC neighborhoods need investment and the best balance is mid-range market rate mixed with affordable and KC does a fairly decent effort. Is impressive how much investment is going on in E Side. Need an infusion of mixed income in these neighborhoods to attract biz and retail. It might push a few people out but the net effect will likely be broader demographic mix rather than say, entire stretches of Section 8. If that's gentrification many KC areas need it. Midtown will likely get many upgrades that will push some out but probably not enough to be a concern, should actually create broader demo mix.
I would go further and say that desegregation in Jackson County KC is practically impossible without gentrification. Desegregation works both ways. If Kansas City has large area of near 100% minority, it's still segregated even though minority population is increasing in the suburbs. I agree with your comments on gentrification. It's imperative that the city increase its tax base; ultimately it is in everyone's best interest. Even if some are displaced.

One thing about gentrification in KC, while some will be displaced in the transitional neighborhoods, google maps reveals some pretty substantial neighborhoods in KC where many if not most of the pre-existing housing stock has been torn down leaving a lot of vacant space for new building.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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Segregation will eventually disappear on its' own--or at least be less obvious. Younger people don't emphasize race differences like the older generations have in the past. They are more likely to have bi-racial marriages and children.

The best way to allow the gentrification is to figure out a way to increase the incomes and wealth of low-income residents in those neighborhoods so they don't get displaced; or, protect them from spikes in rents and property taxes.
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Re: Home prices across KC neighborhoods

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I suspect that if incomes and wealth were widely increased among folks that currently inhabit low income, amenity and resource deprived neighborhoods like the East Side, they would hightail it out of there on their own volition. Forced displacement wouldn’t be much of an issue.
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