REPORT FAULTS HOUSE QUALITY

There is plenty of affordable housing in Cape Girardeau, but many of the homes available to low-income families are unlivable, says a report that evaluates housing in the city.

"The report came as no surprise to us," said Nancy Jernigan, executive director of the Area Wide United Way, which commissioned the $2,500 study by Hagar-Mace & Associates of Jefferson City, Mo. "The biggest need is the improvement of existing housing."

The report, released Thursday, cites 2000 census data. The report says the total number of housing units within the city limits was 15,827, 91 percent of which were occupied. Of that number, 57 percent are owner-occupied, a number that is well below county, state and national averages, the report said.

The average home costs $90,000, well above the affordability level of low- and moderate-income households in Cape Girardeau, where the average annual income is $29,793. Average rent is $400 a month, which is more than many families can pay.

The vacancy rate for rental units in the city is 11.3 percent, which has continually climbed over the years, the report said.

That is telling to Jernigan, who also co-chairs the United Way's Housing Needs Coordinating Committee.

"We don't feel we don't have enough in the number of units, it's the condition of those units," she said. "If you take the number of units of livable versus the nonlivable ones, then there is a shortage. So there really is a shortage of clean, safe and affordable housing."

The report recommends looking at stronger city code enforcement or new codes, helping landlords find federal funding to repair dilapidated housing, or the city itself seeking grant money to buy homes, repair and sell them to increase home ownership.

Denis Rigdon is co-chair with Jernigan of the United Way committee looking into the problem and is coordinator of the welfare-to-work program Project Hope.

"There were some pretty amazing facts," Rigdon said. "This is really the first housing assessment done directed at Cape Girardeau."

Making renters owners

Rigdon is particularly interested in the 57.3 percent owner-occupancy rate.

"We've got to do something to shoot that up," Rigdon said. "People who own their own homes feel a real ownership to the community. If there are drug issues or whatever, people who rent just dream of the day they can move out instead of facing the issue and making it better."

Rigdon said the report arms them with figures that may help get as much as $1 million in grants to help improve blighted areas in southeast Cape Girardeau.

"These homes are either boarded up, or they're out of sight pricewise," he said.

Rigdon suggested the grant money be used to buy and rehabilitate homes that could be sold to low-income families. As the families repay the loan, that money could be put into a pot to buy other homes, he said.

The money could be used to educate people on how to take care of their homes as well, he said. The money could be available as early as January, he said.

"I think it's going to mean the difference of being rated at the top instead of rated at the bottom," he said.

Often applies for grants

City manager Michael Miller said the city frequently applies for federal housing grant money and has received substantial funding in the past. "It's something we're always looking at," Miller said.

Miller also said that he was aware there is some substandard housing.

"I know there are some, and I know some of it is perception," he said. "This report is really about trying to quantify what's out there and help us determine what the needs are."

Jernigan sees the report as an informational tool that will help the committee try to figure out other ways to deal with the problem. The committee has been meeting more than a year, Jernigan said.

"We've got service groups and landlords and everyone interested in housing," she said. "We've just been trying to learn from one another."

They hope to use the information to formulate a plan at a Sept. 20 committee meeting.

"We want to prioritize and bite off a piece at a time," she said. "We want to figure out how to attack the problem. That's what can change the community around."