Regional Housing Partnership
There is growing consensus the Kansas City region faces an affordable housing challenge only exacerbated by the global pandemic. For some, it has reached crisis levels. Community leaders and research recognize that housing integrally connects to health factors, lifespan, student performance, job opportunities, wealth building and stability. For many, high housing costs preempt homeownership, threaten financial security and impede the ability to meet changing family circumstances. When race and ethnicity are factored in, people of color experience disparities across all of these aspects. For everyone, the supply of quality housing, location and pricing limits our region’s ability to advance economic growth and opportunity. Currently, no comprehensive framework exists to address this regional issue and build from the work underway at the local level.
Housing that is stable, affordable, safe, healthy, and near jobs and services affects our entire region.
Metropolitan Kansas City needs at least 50,000 housing units that are affordable to families earning less than $20,000 annually.
Convened and supported by the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) and Greater Kansas City Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the RHP will focus on housing creation and preservation and seek to foster a thriving housing system that produces and sustains a sufficient supply of quality, diverse housing options to meet the challenge. The housing system would be one in which people from every sector, and those impacted by this challenge, can join together to educate themselves about the problems and issues, and to explore, advocate and execute innovative approaches on financing, capacity and policy. By building relationships and gaining a common understanding of both problems and possible solutions, the RHP will encourage and support actions to address these regional housing challenges.
RHP Strategies will focus on the following:
- Data and Analysis: This element involves generating accessible, reliable, current data to empower local government leaders, elected officials, advocates, lenders and developers to identify solutions and meet ever-shifting needs.
- Networked Leadership: The partnership will create an affordable housing community by developing platforms to enable stakeholders from all sectors to connect, learn promising practices, share current work and engage builders, advocates, officials and planners.
- Financing Tools: The RHP will identify and disseminate information about current and potential models of financing options that broaden housing development, rehabilitation and homeownership opportunities, especially for people of color.
- Production Capacity: This element will focus on building the capacity of local non-profit and for-profit affordable housing developers, and if necessary, attract non-local developers with strong track records; assist local developers in scaling up housing production throughout the region; build a strong, capable housing construction workforce; and identify and bring in housing models that reduce the costs of new construction and rehabilitation.
- Rental and Homeowner Resources: The RHP will work to improve coordination and accessibility of resources to prevent housing insecurity and homelessness, reduce the incidence of eviction and foreclosure, and increase resources for first-time buyers.
- Public Policy: This element centers on encouraging adoption of public policies and practices at all levels that foster affordable housing through effective planning and zoning, income supports, incentives and regulations, public-private partnerships and fair housing practices.
- Public Engagement: The partnership will work to enhance public, stakeholder and leadership awareness of affordable housing issues and provide engagement and advocacy opportunities focusing on housing, health, economic prosperity and family wealth building.
Current Regional Housing Partnership RFP
RFP's are not open at this time. Please check back for updates
Download the Regional Housing Partnership one-pager here.
The Regional Housing Partnership‘s mission is to foster a thriving housing system that produces and sustains a sufficient supply of quality, diverse housing options to meet the challenge.
Affordable housing is in short supply all over the country, and the Kansas City area is no exception. As stakeholders work to find remedies, Regional Housing Partnership (RHP), convened and coordinated by the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) and LISC Greater Kansas City is equipping them with information to help with the task.
