housing

The city of Wichita created a land bank in 2021 to ease affordable housing development in the center of the city. But four years later, city staff have suggested dissolving it, saying it faces too many obstacles.

Kansas has a lack of housing in both rural and urban areas. The bill would focus on areas with “minimal building activity.”

The Housing Trap event was held on January 28 with Charles Marohn at the Kansas Leadership Center. Marohn offered suggestions to create affordable housing options to 175 people who attended.

The program manager estimates around 50 landlord-tenant cases in Sedgwick County had been mediated as of late September, more than a year after the program begun. Meanwhile, the county typically sees around 5,000 eviction filings, or more, per year.

The city’s much-awaited multiagency center is meant to include a shelter for people experiencing homelessness as well as on-site and nearby long-term affordable housing.

Short-term rentals that have not acquired a license or taken steps to get one could face criminal charges, city officials say.

Wichita lacks a women-only shelter, and one was supposed to open this year. However, that did not happen due to lack of funding.

Landlords, tenants and housing assistance nonprofits say inflation, rising rents and the end of pandemic assistance contributed to the increase in filings.

The law went into effect July 1 after passing nearly unanimously in the 2024 legislative session.

Sedgwick County will no longer allow long-term camping at Lake Afton, out of concern that the park was turning into a residential instead of recreational setting.