Group addresses city housing

By Robby Lewis

Published Oct. 19, 2007

Homebuilders, realtors, residents of Columbia and staff from the offices of Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., came to a roundtable discussion on affordable housing held by First Ward Councilwoman Almeta Crayton on Thursday morning. The discussion was held at St. Luke United Methodist Church. More than 40 people attended the meeting.

"We all sat down and came to the conclusion that we need more affordable housing," Crayton said. "We had the people who do it every day come out and tell us what they do."

Crayton said she was happy with how many people came to voice their opinion.

She said she feels developers need to shift their focus.

"The developers got to building a lot of student housing, but there is not enough housing for small families," Crayton said. "We need to build more affordable housing for these small families."

Several council members attended to show their support for Crayton and the importance of affordable housing.

Crayton said Third Ward Councilman Karl Skala, Fourth Ward Councilman Jerry Wade and Fifth Ward Councilwoman Laura Nauser attended the meeting.

Crayton used to work with several housing organizations but has not had the time to in recent years, she said.

Skala said it is important for people who aren't often in contact with one another to have a chance to talk.

"I think it's always great for people who don't spend a lot of time together to meet with one another," Skala said. "Usually what happens is you find out you agree on more things than you thought you did."

Skala said he feels the issue still needs to be discussed and will have a debate on the issue on his television show, "Counterpoint." On "Counterpoint," panel members have their chance to voice their opinions on various debatable issues while Skala moderates. The Oct. 23 show will air on local station, CAT-3.

Thomas Lata, coordinator for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development, who attended the first part of the roundtable discussion, said it was informative.

"It dealt with just about everything that deals with housing," Lata said. "From what I saw, it was very organized. Almeta Crayton spoke about how she sees affordable housing, and she had various speakers talk about their programs."

Another topic involved the possible closing of Ed's Mobile Home Park and Sunset Mobile Home Park. The owner of the parks has requested that the parks be rezoned.

Nauser said people are jumping ahead when they assume the parks are already set to close.

"This might be a misconception," Nauser said. "The owners are asking for rezoning from their current zoning. To my knowledge, nothing has been confirmed."

Nauser said the Columbia City Council will make a decision on the policy later this year.

"As a council, we are waiting for the Affordable Housing Policy Committee to commit their final decision on this," Nauser said. "They have been working on this for about a year, and they've done a lot of work. They are getting ready to finalize their recommendations."