BOARD RECOMMENDS PUBLIC HOUSING

A citizens committee Wednesday recommended the Cape Girardeau City Council take steps to appoint a public housing authority.

The Housing Assistance Task Force has met since June, talking with housing officials and touring public housing in area cities.

The group Wednesday toured substandard housing in Cape Girardeau before meeting and making its recommendations.

"(When) a community the size of Poplar Bluff has 600 units, I find it hard to believe that our community is somehow different," said task force member Denise Essner, "that our community doesn't have a need."

Capt. Elmer Trapp of the Salvation Army, also a task force member, made a motion affirming that, based on data collected by the group, there is a need for 100-125 "scattered site" public housing units in Cape Girardeau.

Trapp's motion was approved by an 8-1 vote, with task force chairman Bob Bohnsack dissenting.

Bohnsack contended that although there is a need for low-income housing in the community, he questioned whether federally subsidized public housing is the answer.

"We looked at cities with 100 public housing units, and their waiting lists (to get into the housing) were as long as ours," he said. "I think public housing is a perceived need, and no matter how much we build, we'll still have waiting lists."

Bohnsack said that although it's likely that public housing could work in Cape Girardeau, he disagreed with the task force "saying we have definitely found a need."

Following the meeting, he said he objected to public housing in general because it forces taxpayers to foot the bill for housing subsidies.

"The committee as a whole never really addressed the philosophical issue," Bohnsack said. "Personally, I have philosophical objections to the whole concept."

Task force member Brenda Dohogne asked if there was some other way to provide low-income housing short of public housing.

"I think we have low-income housing in the city that needs to be replaced," she said. "Is there some way you can provide low-income housing without going the way of public housing?"

Bohnsack said: "You can't afford to build houses and rent it for $250 a month unless you have some type of incentives -- either tax breaks or a federal subsidy."

Task force member Debra Willis said the information the group has studied over the past five months shows a clear need for public housing in Cape Girardeau.

Steve Williams, the city's housing assistance coordinator, told the board that the new Mississippi River Bridge route has removed 69 homes from the city's housing stock -- primarily homes for low- to moderate-income residents.

Also, the flood this summer damaged 120 homes, of which 30 or so are likely to be demolished. And since 1990, 186 structures have been demolished in the city -- many decayed homes of low-income residents, Williams said.

He also said very little of the city's new housing construction is the past several years is for low- to moderate-income residents.

"Most of the houses being built are in north Cape and west Cape, and the cheapest are $69,000-$70,000 and up," he said.

Williams also gave the task force a copy of a report by Southeastern Financial Planning Consultants of Cartersville, Ga., that surveyed Cape Girardeau's housing market.

The report's author, Jerry W. Braden, concluded: "It is very likely that the Cape Girardeau area would support a new 100-unit elderly complex or 100-125 family units, all with rents under $250 per month."

Willis said: "I couldn't imagine any harder numbers than 186 homes lost, a drop in single-family houses since 1980 and 300 people on a waiting list for housing assistance."

But Bohnsack asked how the housing situation today is any different from in the past when the city chose to dismiss public housing.

Cape Girardeau voters have three times defeated referendums on public housing, in 1970, 1968 and 1962. The issue has resurfaced several times since, but a housing authority appointed in the late 1960s has long since disbanded.

When the housing authority was formed, public housing was seen as temporary housing -- a safety net for the poor while they got back on their feet. In practice, though, the concept was quite different, and in many big cities, high-rise public housing complexes have fallen into decay.

But task force members emphasized that high-rise housing complexes aren't the answer for Cape Girardeau. They said scattered, single-family or duplex sites would work in Cape Girardeau, along with some elderly apartment complexes.

Williams said that if the council appoints a housing authority, the city's first application for federal housing funds would be for 25-50 units, with 100-125 total units over time.

The task force's recommendation will be on the agenda at the council's Dec. 20 meeting.

"I think the council will take a serious look at this recommendation," said Councilman Melvin Gateley, who served as the council's representative on the task force.

Gateley, who also is a mayoral candidate in the spring municipal elections, said he believes there is a housing shortage in the city. But he also said he wouldn't oppose putting the issue to another city-wide vote.