93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
Columbia’s city manager says housing is one of the biggest issues our community is facing, particularly affordable housing.
The median home value in Boone County is now about $350,000. City manager De’Carlon Seewood discussed the issue on 939 the Eagle’s “CEO Roundtable.”
“If you listen to the (Columbia) Realtors Association, they’ll tell you it’s just not enough product in our community. And so if there’s not enough high-end housing then you don’t have people moving up, and so then they stay in homes that could be going to affordable housing. And so then that only increases our issues with affordable housing,” Seewood says.
Central Bank of Boone County president Ed Scavone says the median home value in Boone County is now about $350,000. Mr, Scavone says that for years, housing costs were lower in Columbia than in St. Louis and Kansas City. He says that’s not the case now.
The city council voted to approve Mr. Seewood’s proposed new city housing department in September. He updated listeners on the status of the department, during a recent interview on 939 the Eagle’s “CEO Roundtable” program. Mr. Seewood tells host Fred Parry that the department is budgeted and that they’re currently in the process of hiring a department director. Mr. Seewood says the long-term goal is to create a housing resource center to make housing a priority, and to create a place where housing developers and those looking for homes have access to the city.
