Council to hold special meeting, work session Monday night
Members to review Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis
The Joplin City Council will hold a special meeting and work session Monday night.
During the work session, members will review the final draft of a Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis prepared by Urban Partners of Philadelphia.
According to the Analysis, the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) reported a total population of 50,386 for the Joplin, an increase of 1.9% from 2010
Also, from 2000 to 2010, the City’s population increased by 8.5%, likely a result of both population growth combined with the City’s annexation of formerly unincorporated land.
The draft includes some interesting facts and figures. Among these, almost 27 percent of households in the city earn less than $25,000 annually and just over 18% of city residents are living below the poverty level, a decrease of over 4% since 2010. Joplin’s poverty rate exceeds that of Jasper and Newton Counties.
According to the ACS, 13.9% of owner-occupant households in the City of Joplin pay more than 30% of their income toward housing costs (and thus are “cost-burdened”), and 47.5% of renter households are cost burdened.
The survey reports that five industrial sectors experienced robust job growth from 2002 to 2018.Those include Administrative & Support, Waste Management/Remediation; Transportation & Warehousing; Accommodation & Food Services; Retail Trade; and Health Care & Social Assistance.
Also, the City of Joplin in 2019 has a higher educational attainment level of residents over the age of 25 than both Jasper and Newton Counties. Over a quarter of the residents aged 25 and above in Joplin have bachelor’s or graduate/professional degrees as the highest educational attainment, up 31.4% from 2010.
The Analysis suggests five strategies the city should employ:
- Strategy #1: Encourage development of a variety of senior housing units;
- Strategy #2: Promote housing development in Downtown;
- Strategy #3: Continue support for improvements in older housing. (Census data show that 38.6% of all housing units in Joplin were built before 1970.) and;
- Strategy #4: Ensure long-term availability of homes within reach of low-and-moderate income
The special meeting and work session get underway at 5:45 p.m. in Council Chambers of City Hall at 602 S. Main Street.