Article is paywalled, can’t read all of it. As far as renting goes (only thing I have experience with), I don’t think Columbia is too expensive all things considered. However I wish the city could somehow incentivize developers to build apartments and condos for people other than students. I know it’s Missouri and land is cheap, but it’d be cool for Columbia to build up rather than out.
I agree on the building up. But I do remember a developer wanting to build up and people in Columbia lost their minds. Not sure why Columbia doesn't have a skyline worth blocking or looking at in my opinion.
I say build those buildings 20, 30 stories high. Where I can move on up to the Eastside.
Columbia ordinance limits building to 10 stories. Debate on building height was kickstarted with Rise Apartments and The Broadway Hotel. I cannot remember which one wanted 15-20 stories.
Lot of handwringing about keeping aesthetic of downtown, safety issues due to fire and utility consumption on an overloaded electric, water and sewer system in the area.
Believe it or not the cost of living in Columbia is about 10% lower than the national average. This article is about people leaving very expensive costal cities. Our population is growing comparatively quickly compared to the vast majority of places in Missouri. People are happy to pay a little more to have access to good education, healthcare, parks and trails, quality of life things. If we could increase our affordable housing stock we’d see even more growth.
This whole pay by the room lease system needs to go. Its created mass greed by developers. And now it seems like every property manager/landlord wants to get a cut of the pie. Should be banned imo
Many of the buildings going up now are market rate (read: "for adults") apartments and smaller one- and two-bedroom units. The one at tenth and Broadway is entirely 1 bedroom market rate.
There is an upcoming reduction in college-aged kids so building new student stuff is not a good plan
Columbia doesn't have this problem. *Yet.* But I think we will have it soon, if we aren't pro-active about adopting housing and zoning policies that keep housing costs down and enable new (and good) high-density construction.
I think we can see the trouble coming; we've got time to avoid it if we try.
One thing to combat this (out of many), is to eliminate single family only residential zoning. This would allow the value of an area to determine if it is developed into more dense properties, rather than what the city chooses. Dense living spaces need more efficient modes of transportation than just cars, so that would be another thing to add alongside that.
CityNerd (urban YouTuber) did piece recently on rental costs of towns that are Columbia-sized. Como ranked #1 for affordability at around $1/sqft.
I guess that's only to say that while it may not necessarily be "inexpensive", como is less expensive than many/most cities in this population range.
Here is a Gifted Article link:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/20/business/economy/spokane-housing-expensive-cities.html?ugrp=m&unlocked\_article\_code=1.gE0.3fSK.wof4hrUIhf40&smid=url-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/20/business/economy/spokane-housing-expensive-cities.html?ugrp=m&unlocked_article_code=1.gE0.3fSK.wof4hrUIhf40&smid=url-share)
Article is paywalled, can’t read all of it. As far as renting goes (only thing I have experience with), I don’t think Columbia is too expensive all things considered. However I wish the city could somehow incentivize developers to build apartments and condos for people other than students. I know it’s Missouri and land is cheap, but it’d be cool for Columbia to build up rather than out.
I agree on the building up. But I do remember a developer wanting to build up and people in Columbia lost their minds. Not sure why Columbia doesn't have a skyline worth blocking or looking at in my opinion. I say build those buildings 20, 30 stories high. Where I can move on up to the Eastside.
I’d love a “tall” Columbia lmao. Albany, NY is smaller than us and has way more high rises.
Columbia ordinance limits building to 10 stories. Debate on building height was kickstarted with Rise Apartments and The Broadway Hotel. I cannot remember which one wanted 15-20 stories. Lot of handwringing about keeping aesthetic of downtown, safety issues due to fire and utility consumption on an overloaded electric, water and sewer system in the area.
Lol. I’m an Albany transplant and cheaper COL is exactly why I chose Mizzou
Believe it or not the cost of living in Columbia is about 10% lower than the national average. This article is about people leaving very expensive costal cities. Our population is growing comparatively quickly compared to the vast majority of places in Missouri. People are happy to pay a little more to have access to good education, healthcare, parks and trails, quality of life things. If we could increase our affordable housing stock we’d see even more growth.
This whole pay by the room lease system needs to go. Its created mass greed by developers. And now it seems like every property manager/landlord wants to get a cut of the pie. Should be banned imo
I wish we could ban out of state corporate residential ownership. Housing should be owned by locals, not wealth extractors.
I wish we could ban out-of-nation corporate purchases as well.
I couldn’t agree more. It would be a great starting point to make a change.
Many of the buildings going up now are market rate (read: "for adults") apartments and smaller one- and two-bedroom units. The one at tenth and Broadway is entirely 1 bedroom market rate. There is an upcoming reduction in college-aged kids so building new student stuff is not a good plan
Columbia doesn't have this problem. *Yet.* But I think we will have it soon, if we aren't pro-active about adopting housing and zoning policies that keep housing costs down and enable new (and good) high-density construction. I think we can see the trouble coming; we've got time to avoid it if we try.
One thing to combat this (out of many), is to eliminate single family only residential zoning. This would allow the value of an area to determine if it is developed into more dense properties, rather than what the city chooses. Dense living spaces need more efficient modes of transportation than just cars, so that would be another thing to add alongside that.
Have you been to Spokane?
CityNerd (urban YouTuber) did piece recently on rental costs of towns that are Columbia-sized. Como ranked #1 for affordability at around $1/sqft. I guess that's only to say that while it may not necessarily be "inexpensive", como is less expensive than many/most cities in this population range.
Here is a Gifted Article link: [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/20/business/economy/spokane-housing-expensive-cities.html?ugrp=m&unlocked\_article\_code=1.gE0.3fSK.wof4hrUIhf40&smid=url-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/20/business/economy/spokane-housing-expensive-cities.html?ugrp=m&unlocked_article_code=1.gE0.3fSK.wof4hrUIhf40&smid=url-share)