{"id":15830,"date":"2026-01-05T07:34:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T07:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=15830"},"modified":"2026-01-05T07:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T07:34:07","slug":"a-3-point-plan-to-achieve-more-accessible-and-affordable-housing-the-lawrence-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=15830","title":{"rendered":"A 3-point plan to achieve more accessible and affordable housing \u2013 The Lawrence Times"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Note:<\/strong>\u00a0The Lawrence Times runs opinion columns and letters to the Times written by community members with varying perspectives on local issues. These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Times staff.<\/p>\n

Would you like to send a letter to the Times? Great!\u00a0Here\u2019s how to do it.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The need for accessible and affordable housing is national news. Locally, about 49%<\/a> of all renters are housing cost burdened. The unaffordability of housing is a direct cause of homelessness, hurts our local economy, and has detrimental impacts on the health and well-being of our community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will be discussing the proposed Affordable Housing Incentive Policy, which includes incentives to increase accessibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Related news article:<\/b>
\u2022<\/b> Lawrence City Commission to discuss new affordable housing policy draft<\/u><\/a>, Jan. 4, 2026 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Although many believe that only a small portion of the U.S. population has accessibility needs, more than 1 in 4 American adults<\/a> experiences some type of disability. Nationwide, about 4 in 10 households that include one or more disabled people live in housing that lacks basic accessibility features, according to HUD\u2019s 2019 Housing Survey<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While organizations such as Lawrence Habitat for Humanity, Tenants to Homeowners, the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority, and Independence Inc. work diligently to increase accessible, affordable housing, the need greatly outweighs the housing available. Although current programs make significant accessibility improvements, they cannot modify enough existing housing to meet the growing need.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Local data, including data from the City of Lawrence 2018 Housing Market Analysis, makes clear that Lawrence needs more housing that is both affordable and<\/em> accessible. Accordingly, a key goal<\/a> of Lawrence\u2019s Affordable Housing Advisory Board is to \u201cincrease affordable and accessible housing for persons with disabilities.\u201d A similar goal is reflected in A Place for Everyone<\/em>, a plan adopted by the city and county to end chronic homelessness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Accessibility in Affordable Housing Workgroup was created after the adoption of that plan. Our group identified three policy points to increase affordable housing that is accessible:<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Accessibility must be recognized as a cornerstone of affordable development.<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> The limited amount of the city\u2019s affordable housing trust funds must be utilized to provide funding for projects that meet community <\/em>needs.<\/em> Taxpayer dollars should go toward affordable housing projects that serve in the best interests of the community, not private developers.<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> Housing must be affordable in perpetuity to ensure community investments increase housing affordability for generations. Projects limited to the current 30-year affordability standard risk displacing vulnerable community members once that period ends, as developers are then free to raise rents to market levels to maximize profit.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s strategic plan includes a goal<\/a> for Lawrence to have \u201cstrong, welcoming neighborhoods\u201d in which all people have \u201copportunities to lead healthy lifestyles with access to safe and affordable housing and essential services that help them thrive.\u201d An essential activity to achieve this vision is to assure basic accessible, affordable housing for those who require it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Addressing the three points above \u2014 accessibility, wise use of affordable housing trust funds, and a guarantee of long-term affordability \u2014 is a critical step in this direction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2014 Accessibility in Affordable Housing Workgroup:
<\/em>Daniel Brown (he\/him), Lawrence, Independence, Inc.
Mariel Ferreiro (she\/ella), Lawrence, Kansas Association for Social Housing (KASH), Sanctuary Alliance
Mo Horowitz (they\/she), Lawrence
Bob Mikesic (he\/him), Lawrence
Dot Nary (she\/her), Lawrence<\/p>\n

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\n by<\/span> Irene Ratzlaff Soderstrom<\/a><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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\u201cLawrence city commissioners should increase the age limit for youths to be eligible for free access to recreation facilities from 17 to 26,\u201d Irene Ratzlaff Soderstrom writes in this letter to the Times.\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt is important in the current conversations about developments along the South Lawrence Trafficway \u2026 to have a better appreciation of what the Wakarusa Valley represents to the larger community of wildlife,\u201d Ken Lassman writes in this column.\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

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For 35 years, La Prima Tazza has functioned as a coffee shop, community gathering place and a \u201clittle tugboat\u201d helping Liberty Hall move forward in the turbulent waters of Massachusetts Street, Tom Harper writes in this column.\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

MORE \u2026<\/mark><\/a><\/p>\n

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Click here to find out how to send a letter to the Times<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Share this post or save for later Note:\u00a0The Lawrence Times runs opinion columns and letters to the Times written by community members with varying perspectives on local issues. These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Times staff. Would you like to send a letter to the Times? Great!\u00a0Here\u2019s how to do it. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/A-3-point-plan-to-achieve-more-accessible-and-affordable-housing.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15830"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15832,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15830\/revisions\/15832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}