Families move into Columbia Housing Authority Kinney Point low-income homes; housing waitlist hits more than 1,200

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Housing Authority’s Kinney Point low-income housing project is complete, and families have moved into all 34 homes, as more than 1,257 households remain on the agency’s waitlist, according to CHA.

Previous reporting shows the list stood at about 800 households in September.

Randy Cole, CEO of the Columbia Housing Authority, said the waitlist includes households enrolled in Section 8 who rely on housing vouchers for low-income housing. The agency has not accepted new applications for nearly nine months and does not expect the waitlist to open until 2027.

Cole said the number of people on the waitlist that are considered homeless is about 87%. The Kinney Point Project is located Garth Ave and Sexton Road in central Columbia, costing a total of $13 million.

CHA received $2 million from the city, along with $1.3 million from the Veterans United Foundation, $5 million in tax credits and an additional $3 million in funds from the Missouri Department of Economic Development, according to Cole from previous reporting.

Asia Long, a mother of two, recently moved into a three-bedroom home at Kinney Point after qualifying for low-income housing due to her income and her 6-year-old son’s disabilities.

"I think it can be somewhat intimidating, but it also feels good," Long said. "They purposely are investing a good property into you to that you can do great things,"

She said she waited two-to-three months to secure low-income housing and was surprised, noting that people typically wait years to get off the waitlist. Long gives credit to her caseworker at Boone County Family Resources with making the process possible and recommended others seek help from a caseworker.

"She got me on the list, and she got me here and whenever I was challenged with something else she reported that and she was just on it," Long said.

Long found herself down on her luck while going through a divorce, turning to a one-income household and her art studio at Orr Street Studios catching fire, taking away a source of income.

"I reached out to my caseworker and was like, 'I can't do this no more, I can't, I can't,'" Long said. "I work in mental health and I'm about to have a mental issue, I can't do it."

At the time, she was living in an apartment in Columbia that she says was too expensive, leading to an eviction which she says made applying for low-income housing necessary.

"Not having a place to stay means so much. Stability and foundation, physically, mentally, spiritually," Long said. "The eviction, once you're notified with the eviction, it's traumatic. Like, you're going to be evicted, it's a reality you're not willing to face,"

Long's home at Kinney Point offers a one story floor plan with, with three-bedrooms, a kitchen with a dishwasher and a washer and dryer.

She said the home brings stability for her two children especially its one floor layout for her son who is deaf and blind.

"The walkways are clear. He really needs a clear path to be able to get to or from the car, or he needs room and space to be able to judge, because distance is hard for him," Long said. "It all starts here, so I'm glad they are provided again. I think they were very intentional. Everything's flat, everything's one level, everything flows very well,"

When it comes to low-income housing, Long said she wishes more people understood that those in certain situations did not choose to be in them.

"When someone comes to the point of needing housing assistance, a culmination of of things happened for them to end up at this point," she said. "I think certain people see the end result and then they just judge the end result of how... you're on housing assistance. But, there's always a story or something going on in the background that brought you to this point."

Looking toward the future, Long said she hopes to own a home and go back to school.

Kinney Point will have a resource center onside to help connect residents to basic needs to programming and employment or referral., It will also offer space for nonprofits.

CHA is working on other low-income housing projects. Providence Walkway and Blind Baron and will offer 50 units. Those projects are expected to break ground next year and will be completely sometime in 2027.

Work to upgrade the Park Avenue Apartments has begun, with the first phase of the project expected to be completed before the end of this year, with several units expected to be available in May and June. The second phase is scheduled for completion in 2027.