As climbing prices intensify the City of Lawrence’s need for more affordable housing, city leaders are interested in looking to a new option: the dozens of houses sitting vacant in Lawrence neighborhoods. City staff recently recommended the creation of a vacant structure ordinance to the Lawrence City Commission, among several other potential policy changes, and a few commissioners indicated Tuesday they were interested in further exploring the idea. The local nonprofit Tenants to Homeowners recently began piloting a program that seeks to repair and rent out vacant homes, and representatives said such an ordinance would be significant for affordable housing. Housing Administrator Lea Roselyn later told the Journal-World that vacant structure ordinances are common tools that a lot of municipalities use, not only to benefit affordable housing but neighborhoods overall.
Source: LJWorld
