Housing needs in and around Solon have been a topic of discussion approached from various angles such as affordability, the need for various types of housing, where to put new housing, and impacts, both positive and potentially negative, to the community. A study commissioned by Johnson County may help guide future discussions on housing needs in Solon and the rural areas of the county.
Sarah Thompson, Economic Development Coordinator with Johnson County Planning, Development, and Sustainability (PDS) explained planning for the study, the first to focus exclusively on the rural communities and unincorporated areas, began a few years ago.
“We talked about the need for figuring out what’s going on out in the rural communities and how they’re changing and growing. It’s usually the metro and they might tag on one of the smaller communities. So, we really wanted to focus on the communities that weren’t part of the metro, and also the manufactured housing communities, even if they are in the metro, because they also don’t get counted a lot when the metro does,” she said.
CommunityScale, a consulting firm specializing in urban planning based in Boston, has been conducting this study, commissioned by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. Information gathering meetings were held this summer, the firm met with the Board last week, and held two public input sessions Wednesday, Sept. 10 in Solon and Lone Tree. The Sept. 10 meetings showcased what data points had been collected so far with participants being able to provide feedback such as where future development should occur.
A final report is due in November, however Thompson stressed it is only a guide to communities like Solon.
“This is not us coming in and telling anybody what they should do, but we want to be able to give them the information that they can use for themselves, if they want to. So, if it seems that Solon could use more single family detached (a traditional standalone home) or more single family attached (duplex, townhouse), that’ll be in the report. Solon can then decide whether or not they want to pursue that, or not.”
What the County will not do, she said, is tell the communities what to do.
“We’re not going to go to Lone Tree and say, ‘You need to build 50 more houses,’ we’re going to say, ‘Hey, would you like to build 50 more houses? We would like to help.’”
How would JoCo ‘help?’
“There are different mechanisms,” Thompsen said. “Currently there are no programs through the County that the cities can use to create a housing project but we’re looking at ways that maybe we could help facilitate that . The County has quite a bit of bonding capacity that would take time and lawyers to work out, but I think there could be a mechanism in the future where the County could maybe help spur the beginning and then maybe get paid back later by the City.”
The role of county government, Thompsen said, is to look out for the rural areas and the small towns, but ultimately decisions about development rest with the towns.
“If they do want to do something, but they don’t have any money, I feel like the County could help provide that because it is benefitting the whole county. When you put more houses in Solon that means more people can move here, maybe out of Iowa City, which opens up housing in Iowa City. If you put more houses in Swisher there’d be more people that want to support Swisher and that will increase their tax base so its only a good thing for the county.”
The findings, so far
Jeff Sauser, co-founding principal of CommunityScale, explained to the dozen or so attendees the multi-faceted nature of the report, which includes looking at existing housing stock, what ‘affordability’ means in Johnson County and what the income levels are, if people are able to access the housing they need, and if housing (or the lack of) is an obstacle to other economic development goals.
The study shows the population of Johnson County as a whole is growing at a steady pace.
“We would anticipate a 6-7% increase in the household population over the next decade,” said Sauser. He noted the non-metro area is seeing rapid aging in its population with an increase in people 65 and older. This, he said, could indicate a significant change in housing needs.
“People are aging in these communities and the homes they’re living in. We need to be cognizant of strategies to help people stay in their homes and age gracefully in their communities.”
Looking at the housing stock in the smaller towns, Sauser said most homes are 3-4 bedrooms with “few smaller homes,” while the general trend is a shrinking of the typical household. For example, more seniors in homes with 1-2 occupants.
“Are there enough smaller units available to meet the needs of people who might not need a large house anymore?”
Most of the homes are single family standalone (detached) while the market, especially on the lower income side, are looking for other alternatives, which Sauser said indicates a lack of options for all incomes in the non-metro areas. Economic data, he said, shows growth in the upper and lower income levels with a shrinking in the middle. Sauser said one view would be that the middle class is “shrinking,” however others interpret it as the middle class is actually moving up the income ladder. The median income in Solon, Sauser showed, is $115,000, a 47% increase over the past decade.
The study is showing fewer families with children in the non-metro areas over the past ten years and more single-occupant households including seniors living alone, and more adults with roommates. This, Sauser said, necessitates a look to see if there is housing to meet the changing demand.
“Generally, we would say non-metro Johnson County is ‘relatively affordable,’ the typical home is affordable to somebody earning the median income. But its getting a lot tighter and anyone below can’t afford the typical home, and there are plenty of homes above the typical price. It’s not a complete picture but one take-away is that the market is tightening up and fewer and fewer people can afford to move to Johnson County, just from a home ownership perspective.”
In addition, the number of new homes being built has dropped from 1000s per year to 100s. Sauser said with the right policies, there is growth potential in the non-metro areas.
“Our recommendation is that the County pursue building 950 new housing units over the next decade within the non-metro area. That would help keep up with growth, reverse some of these trends in some of these communities that are losing folks.”
Sauser acknowledged it is an ‘ambitious’ goal, but feels it is achievable though it would look different from city to city in the implementation.
Barriers to development
Water and sewer infrastructure are key, Sauser said.
“Its hard to build if you don’t have that, if you’re outside the range of those services, that has challenges.”
Increases in the cost of construction and land value are also nationwide factors impacting the number of new housing developments, he said.
“There’s a lot of competition for land, and between the agricultural industry and cities and the real estate industry. The County wants to find the right balance between those two concerns (Ag land and development). This isn’t about steamrolling agricultural land to add a bunch of houses, it’s about taking an incremental and surgical approach to find new opportunities for new housing that are consistent with the overarching goals and mandates for supporting agriculture.”
Transportation is also a barrier in the non-metro areas, Sauser said.
“If you don’t drive, if you don’t want to drive, you really don’t have very many choices. It’s hard to deliver transportation service across the whole non-metro area, it’s just too big.”
Having the same level of amenities and services in the non-metro areas as in the metro is also a challenge, he said. For example not every town has a grocery store, or a doctor’s office, he noted.
“Specific to home ownership we see that prices are up, interest rates are up, and supply is down, and that’s a national story that’s really squeezing the market.”
‘Affordable’ vs. ‘affordability’
“A lot of people perceive affordable housing as a service to the greater good,” said Sauser, “when in reality its also that the people who already live here need more options.”
Sauser pointed out challenges to building ‘affordable’ housing including regulations, structural challenges and requirements, and the cost of building.
“You can want and plan and hope for as many affordable units as you want to but there are only so many programs out there that can make it happen. Without financial feasibility, it’s never going to happen.”
A major challenge, he said, is making affordable housing feasible.
“Get the regulations out of the way where you can get some partnerships involved. Many of these housing units require a lot of creativity to make them affordable to people.”
Survey now open
A housing survey for the non-metro areas of Johnson County is available online at https://communityscale.github.io/JohnsonCounty/.
For more information go to www.johnsoncountyiowa.gov/housing-assessment-study-2025.