Jefferson City Ward 3 candidates discuss affordable housing ahead of April 8 election

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Affordable housing has been a recurring topic in Jefferson City politics ahead of the April 8 election.

Candidates for Jefferson City's City Council Ward 3, Erica Choinka and Derek Thomas, similarly have plans for improving infrastructure, if elected. They are running for the seat currently held by Councilman Scott Spencer.

A 2022 housing study for the city found that Jefferson City's vacancy rate was around 5.5%. While this is a healthy level, a majority of the vacancies were for rental properties and ownership. That year the National Association of Realtors ranked Jefferson City's housing market as the 12th-tightest in the nation.

The study also found that the city saw growth in lower-wage employment in industries like health care and food services. The overall market is also dominated by single-person households.

A reason for this gap is both increasing costs as well as the 2019 tornado that cost the city a large number of available rental units. The study shows that about 95% of the 152 housing units that were destroyed were rental units.

"Jefferson City is definitely facing a housing crisis right now, not just affordable housing, but housing at every level," Choinka said. "We need to have apartments available for young professionals that want to move here so that they don't have to live in Columbia or Ashland, because that's the only place where apartments are available for them right now."

Thomas added that another cause of the housing gap is issues in the development process.

"I have met with Jefferson City realtors, I've met with builders, I've met with developers, and there are roadblocks that we need to figure out how to get out of the way," Thomas said. "We need attainable housing across all levels."

If elected, both candidates plan to focus on affordable housing, with Choinka putting a focus on other infrastructure projects and Thomas wanting to streamline development projects.

"Pretty much every proposal that's come through with the intention of increasing housing development has been approved almost unanimously, I think," Choinka said. "We really are just trying to attract more people, attract more developers who want to come and invest in our community so that we can provide those housing options for families."

"We need to get together, work as a team and as I say, develop a can do attitude," Thomas said. "I'm hearing about inspection difficulties, I'm hearing about delays in getting plans approved, I'm hearing about where we do and do not have sewage lines installed and other related issues."

View the whole interview with Choinka here.

View the whole interview with Thomas here.