Scattered across Wyandotte County are more than 12,000 vacant lots, a figure driven in part by past demolition, white flight and westward expansion of Kansas City, Kansas. Kansas lawmakers want to build homes on some of those lots again. The Kansas Senate passed a bill last week that would expand the state’s Rural Housing Incentive District program to cities with at least 60,000 residents, a group that includes Wichita, Kansas City, Kansas, and Overland Park, among others. The legislation, approved on a bipartisan 30-6 vote, would allow cities to issue bonds and divert future tax revenue to help pay for the development of up to 100 houses a year. The measure, Senate Bill 34, now heads to the Kansas House, where state Rep. Pam Curtis, a Kansas City Democrat, says housing needs in her urban district are just as great as in rural areas. Jobs paying between $60,000 and $80,000 a year are available in and near the county, she said, but there are not enough houses for those workers.
Source: Wichita Eagle
