Why do a study?
Housing affordability and availability is a concern throughout Johnson County and a crucial component of keeping a community strong.
As part of its comprehensive planning, economic development and other planning initiatives, the County has contracted for a housing assessment study that will begin in late April 2025 and is expected to be completed by November 2025.
The study will provide needed detail on housing issues in the non-metro area and point the way toward solutions that work.
Who will lead the study?
Johnson County's Planning, Development and Sustainability Department, along with the Social Services Department, issued a request for proposals as directed by the Board of Supervisors. Ten proposals were received, two finalists interviewed, and the selected firm is CommunityScale.
CommunityScale has experience with housing studies in both large and small communities, including counties like ours that have a mix of urban-rural housing. In addition, Iowa City is currently working with a different consultant on a housing study of the metro area. Taken together, the studies should significantly help our community overall.
Will the public be able to contribute?
There will be several opportunities for the general public to share their stories, ideas and questions. There will be a survey in multiple languages plus community workshops held in person and online.
Local governments in the smaller towns will have the opportunity for one-on-one meetings with the consultants.
There will be special meetings for stakeholders such as housing advocates, developers, residents of manufactured home parks.
All input will be summarized and used to create recommendations specific for our area.
CommunityScale will be building a website just for Johnson County. We will provide that link as soon as the site is ready (likely, May 2025).
What data, information and issues will be studied?
The study Request for Proposals (which closed in December 2024) details the many data and review aspects that will be covered. To highlight a few here:
Housing, demographic and community information and data including cost burdens for housing, needs of people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, building conditions and vacancies,
Special attention to manufactured home parks
Information from other housing-related reports and plans
Existing policies, initiatives and codes and how they might be used or altered to advance housing goals
Public and municipal input as described above
What will the study provide?
There will be an digital and print report that includes recommendations as well as a digital map to help with planning. A website will help share the results.
The report will include the following sections:
- Growth trends
- Housing needs and demands
- Expected production targets and gap analysis of what type of housing is missing
- Policy and regulatory issues
- Recommendations that are immediate and impactful, and which the Board of Supervisors can prioritize.
To learn more
This backgrounder provides more details on activities to date and includes a budget summary.