Tulsa city councilors got an update Wednesday on a downtown and near downtown housing study that's underway.
A final report isn’t due for a couple more months, but consultants shared some initial findings, such as a great need for affordable housing. City Housing Policy Director Becky Gligo said about 90 percent of people need something in the $700 to $1,500 per month range.
"For anybody making above $50,000 to maybe approximately $90,000, we’re thinking $1,200 to $1,500 a month, And then that $700 is really probably more for our minimum wage kinds of earners, and even then, we’d be talking about a razor-thin margin," Gligo said.
Those ranges aren't set in stone.
"There’s always asterisks to this, right? So, things like child care costs, medical costs, number of people in your family, irregularity of your job hours," Gligo said.
Overall, Tulsa is lagging behind comparable cities in downtown housing units built over the past decade, with 830, while Lousiville has built 860, Knoxville 1,420, Oklahoma City 2,020 and Omaha 3,230.
Consultants say the demand for "upscale" or "luxury" units in and around downtown is low, but the market encourages developers to build them.
One possible solution is to make homeownership more affordable for existing buildings. The consultants propose the city find funding that could go toward low-interest loans to help low- and moderate-income buyers move into existing neighborhoods, or to help current homeowners fix up their houses.
City Councilor Phil Lakin said he’s wary because of recent legal hangups with Vision funding allocated to private entities.
"If we can’t give money to a nonprofit, I don’t know how in the world we’d make an unforgivable loan to an individual resident for his or her residence," Lakin said.
The consultants said proceeds from the sale of the Laura Dester site could fund the program.
