BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) — The city of Bloomington brought “missing middle housing” to the attention of the Committee of the Whole to address the housing crisis.
“We’ve been working on ways to increase the housing stock within the city. Recent studies suggest that anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000 more homes are needed here. We’re trying a lot of different approaches,” said City Manager Jeff Jurgens.
Middle housing refers to dense housing, like townhomes and duplexes. These homes are cheaper to build, can house more people and are more affordable.
“We’re not seeing a lot of because of the cost of construction right now and the interest rates. We’re not seeing a lot of single-family homes subdivision comes up,” said Jurgens. “This type of housing works best when it’s in a walkable location within about 10 minutes to other transit or to other amenities.” So this type of housing is not, you know, is not going to go all over our community.”
With more middle housing in Bloomington, it could solve the housing crisis that has been affecting the city for years. Since so many big companies are in Bloomington, more people from around the nation are coming here to work. Without more affordable housing, they will not have anywhere to live.
“We’ve got a lot of not only local people, but we’ve also got, you know, some that have maybe graduated, some young people, professionals, graduated from Illinois Wesleyan, Illinois State University. We also have Rivian in the area,” said Tracy Patkunas, the president of the Mid Illinois Realtors Association.
The number of homes for sale should be between 500 to 600 this time of year. Right now, only 16 out of 140 homes for sale in Bloomington are less than $150,000, which is considered affordable. With more middle housing, more people will be willing to sell their homes, because there are more homes to buy, which will help the market.
“That’s not enough to, you know, for our clients, for our buyers out there,” said Patkunas.
No plans have been made for these new homes, and city officials are working to make plans to bring more middle housing to the Bloomington area.
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