DES MOINES REGIONAL WORKFORCE HOUSING STRATEGY

City of Des Moines, IA

can future housing production match projected employment and household growth?

SUMMARY

In 2019, czb developed a workforce housing strategy for a multi-organization committee from the Polk County Housing Trust Fund, City of Des Moines, and the Capital Crossroads regional strategic planning initiative. The group was concerned that the region might be unable to produce a future housing supply matched to the growing workforce, especially in specific locations such as downtown.

The strategy identified single earner, low-wage households as the most at-risk for housing challenges and recommended actions that would help to balance housing and job mixes in the region’s most important communities.

DES MOINES REGIONAL WORKFORCE HOUSING STRATEGY

Focus on Downtown Des Moines

In 2019, over a quarter of Downtown Des Moines housing units were income restricted, but new market-rate units were being added much faster than new affordable units, and many previously affordable units were being converted to market-rate. Without intervention, Downtown Des Moines was at risk of losing its affordable housing supply.

The strategy recommended that the City of Des Moines link economic development incentives with inclusionary housing requirements and that the Polk County Housing Trust Fund use its resources to subsidize affordable units in new development.

Responding to the Shifting Geography of Housing and Employment

In the Des Moines region, 21st century job growth has disproportionately occurred in the suburbs, while low-cost housing has concentrated in the older urban neighborhoods of Des Moines. As a result, low-wage service workers are increasingly "reverse commuting" out of the city, deprived of access to better resourced school districts or the opportunity to live near work, if they so choose. Restoring worker choice means committing to changes in land use policy, economic development incentives, and the allocation of regional affordable housing dollars.

Read the full report to learn more.