Edmond permits illustrate workforce housing crisis

By: Kathryn McNutt//The Journal Record//April 6, 2022

EDMOND – Building permits issued last year in Edmond show the average cost of a new single-family home is $421,325.

“That is the beginning of what we would call a workforce housing crisis,” Josh Moore said Wednesday during a presentation at the Edmond Area Chamber of Commerce.

“The cost of homes increased 33% since 2011, while the average household income went up only 11%,” David Chapman said.

Moore and Chapman – both developers and Edmond City Council members –prepared the presentation to help educate people about the issue.

“As a council, we have a responsibility to provide housing for everyone,” Moore said.

The U.S. Census shows Edmond is the fastest-growing city in Oklahoma. It grew by 16% in the past decade and today has a population of about 96,000, he said.

That growth has increased the number of Edmond residents in the labor force to about 50,000. More than half of them work in service industries like health care, education, hospitality, automotive services, cosmetics and landscaping, while another 11% work in retail – jobs that don’t pay enough to afford a $400,000 home.

“We need workforce housing, and the percentage of workforce housing needs to grow as well,” Moore said.

The presentation points to a lack of starter homes, duplexes, patio homes and, especially, apartments. It shows more than 6,000 single-family homes have been built in Edmond since the last apartment complex was completed in 2012.

Two new multifamily projects were blocked by citizen referendum petition in 2021. The Spring Creek Mansion Block Homes project was withdrawn after voters decided to buy the land. The other – a proposed apartment complex near Interstate 35 and Memorial Road – will be decided by a vote of people likely in November, Chapman said.

Affordable housing stock is the longest ongoing issue facing Edmond and it’s getting worse, Chapman said. Residents who object to multifamily development cite the “same tired pathetic narrative” every time, he said.

Concerns about overcrowded schools, crime rate going up and property values going down are not borne out by data, he said.

Increased traffic is a legitimate concern because traffic will grow with the population. Chapman said that can be controlled by mixed-use development that puts retail centers in neighborhoods, so residents don’t have to drive across town to shop.

One example of a mix-use project is The Campbell, being developed by Rader Building Co. west of the University of Central Oklahoma campus with completion expected in summer 2023. It consists of two multistory buildings containing retail, restaurant, office and 61 living spaces.

However, those apartments won’t be affordable to many workers, Chapman said.

“The best hope we have now for affordable housing is overlay districts,” he said.

Edmond city staff has identified three areas around downtown that could be designated overlay districts and give property owners the right to develop more affordable housing types currently not allowed by the building code, Chapman said. Final approval of those districts isn’t certain and could be a long time coming, he said.

Edmond permits illustrate workforce housing crisis | The Journal Record