“Home is the nicest word there is.”
A dusty sign bearing her simple words sits outside the replica of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s little house on the prairie near Independence. Experiencing swarms of grasshoppers, brutal blizzards and frequent moves during her lifetime, Laura understood the necessity and captured the beauty of home.
In my role leading Kansas Housing Resources Corporation, the state’s housing finance agency, I see the value of home everywhere, from the little girl proudly showing off the vivid purple walls of her new bedroom at a Habitat for Humanity dedication to the heartwarming note from the senior homeowner expressing that her home is comfortable in the winter for the first time thanks to our weatherization services. Like you, I treasure my own home and the stories and memories it holds. While KHRC administers housing programs and funds development, we ultimately “unlock home” for those we serve.
Housing study forum highlights housing needs in Manhattan, northeast Kansas
Members of the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation continue a series of community engagement sessions to gather input on the state of housing in Kansas.
Nearly two dozen residents and stakeholders participated virtually Tuesday from across northeast Kansas, including Manhattan. Individuals were paired divided into two breakout sessions to share input. Executive Assistant Abigail Phillips says her group discussed rural housing incentive districts, code enforcement and the fact that so many homes are dilapidated.
“One of the big challenges facing smaller communities is they can’t afford to have people focus solely on code enforcement, because there just isn’t enough work in the smaller communities to keep people busy. Some of the folks in our group suggested having regional inspectors that can cover larger areas,” she said.