Study: apartments, senior living could open up housing supply

Apartments are in short supply in Rice County. In fact, they usually are all rented out before the building is even complete.

The Rice County Housing Study is being updated with fresh data about the demographics, shortcomings and trends within the county’s workforce and housing market. The first draft of updates were presented by engineering and architectural firm WiDSETH Principle Planner Logan Tjossem to the Rice County Board of Commissioners during a Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting Tuesday morning.

Rice County Housing Director Joy Watson mentioned that the housing study isn’t only important to county government officials.

“Just as a reminder, this is what we use our own work internally here at Rice County,” she said. “But this is also something that developers will look at when they’re looking at, you know, ‘Is there a need to build here in the county?’ Other nonprofits, like Three Rivers, will use it, the CAC, so many other agencies besides the Housing Authority use this document.”

The study examines current demographics, housing challenges and possible solutions.

Tjossem said the part that stuck out to him was the poverty level. From 2018 to 2020 the population at or near extremely low income jumped from 19% to 52%.

“Keep in mind, the 2020 Census came out right during the COVID,” he said. “That was perhaps harder for everybody, so I don’t know if these numbers are skewed or not. But that was the data at the time.”

Generally, rent is considered affordable if it is 30% or less of the area median income. In Rice County, an affordable rent is $535, according to the study.

Given the generational wealth that owning a home can provide, Tjossem was happy to see the county’s Twin Oaks project — the county-led development near the future Public Safety Center meant to help first-time homebuyers who earn a low-to-moderate income.

“I’ve never been a part of a project like that before,” he said. “It was exciting to actually see that, ‘Hey, we understand that there’s this need for single-family homes for people to build generational wealth or whatever it might be. And then to have an HRA that actually takes the initiative to go do something about that is exciting.”

Rice County saw an influx in people moving to the county, who outnumbered those who moved out. This metric is true among both domestic and international immigration.

There are nearly 25,000 housing units in Rice County. Of that, over 17,000 are owner-occupied and most of those homeowners are white. No minority group even owns a full percentage point of the houses.

About 70% of the houses are single-family detached homes, which the study says is a problem. It recommends focusing efforts on adding more medium-to-high-density residential districts in cities that have very little, like Lonsdale.

Throughout Rice County, there is a 7% rental vacancy rate, according to the study. Homeowner vacancy rates are much lower at 0.02%.

The study makes a number of recommendations, some of which are already being done by the county. Providing monetary incentives to developers and rental assistance for low-income households are among the recommendations.

Commissioner Steve Underdahl asked about seniors moving out of their homes and into an apartment, which Tjossem noted is less common nowadays.

“Maybe there’s an elderly group that has a nice 1950 house that would be affordable for a young family with kids,” Tjossem said. “… So getting people to relocate to a new apartment or something with amenities, where they don’t have to do as much work, that opens up your housing stock for others. It’s kind of a domino effect in a way.”

Commissioners requested that 10-year comparisons of the data be added to the final draft. Tjossem said he can add comparisons, though he noted some Census data points have changed so some comparisons won’t be exact.

To view the full first draft of the 2024 Rice County Housing Study, visit t.ly/PKu3S online.