St. Joseph faces growing housing shortage as residents struggle to find affordable homes  

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV)-- Residential land in St. Joseph makes up 38.5% of the city, according to a comprehensive plan provided by the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce. 

However, while residential land makes up a large portion of the city, the number of housing units actually decreased between 2010 and 2020. 

St. Joseph is also seeing part of a national trend: more people are renting.

According to the plan, renter-occupied housing increased by 151 units between 2010 and 2019. 

At the same time, vacancy rates have gone up. The total number of vacant housing units increased by 515 between 2010 and 2020. 

Natalie Hawn, president and CEO of the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, said housing is one of the biggest issues employers are bringing up as the city works on a new economic development strategy. 

“It has come up numerous times from the employers as one of the reasons they can’t attract workforce here is because of appropriate and affordable housing,” she said.  

Hawn said housing is one of the top three challenges employers are hearing about. She also pointed to a housing study the Chamber conducted with the city. 

One of the biggest gaps is housing for people earning between $50,000 and $100,000 a year.

Hawn said St. Joseph needs more housing across the board, but there is a particularly significant shortage of workforce and missing-middle housing — a problem communities across the country are also facing.  

“There are a lot of reasons for this to happen. The most significant reason is cost of construction, or the cost of new builds to build housing,” Hawn added.  

With construction costs so high, Hawn said it can be difficult for developers to make a return on their investment while still creating housing that people can afford. 

For people already struggling to find a place to live, the shortage is having an even more direct impact. 

Shaylee Burchett, director of a Shelter in St. Joseph, said the lack of affordable housing is closely connected to homelessness in the city.  

“We don’t have landlords and other entities that are willing to lower rent, which is understandable from a business aspect of it, but the gap comes into play when we have people ready to make that next step,” she said.  

The same shelter also told KQ2 in a statement that it is seeing people who are working, receiving benefits or actively trying to improve their circumstances, but still cannot find housing they can afford. 

Burchett said people come into the shelter every day looking for housing. On average, about eight people a month meet the requirements to move into housing and maintain a stable household, she said.  

“Monthly, about eight people that reach their requirements to actually move on to housing and keep a steady household,” she added.  

Burchett acknowledged how difficult and unfortunate the situation is, especially with so few housing options available. 

For Jeana Richardson, who has been living at the shelter and searching for housing for 11 months, one of her biggest challenges came when she got sick shortly after arriving.  

“I was getting better and learning to feel comfortable with opening up and being more vulnerable and feeling safe, which they made me feel,” she said.  

Every morning, she gets up at 5 a.m. and starts her day by doing her chores. She then spends some quiet time by herself, praying, reading or listening for nearly two hours. 

Afterward, she makes an effort to spend time with the other people staying at the shelter.  

“We have class after that, which has helped me tremendously and every day it gets better for me and also for everybody else there too,” she said.  

For Jamie Beatie, the situation is a little different. He has also been searching for housing for nearly 11 months, but unlike some others, he has a job. 

For Beatie, having stable housing means simply having a proper home of his own — a place where he can live like everyone else around him.  

“Not living any lower than how you are living here. We don’t have bugs and anything else but a lot of housing does have that,” he said.  

He works overnight, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and relies on a friend to give him a ride each day so he can catch the bus. 

For him, one of the biggest challenges has simply been not giving up.  

“I have rented a lot in my life, you know, and this time I am dreaming of something that I want and I really don’t want to rent here and move in five or six months,” Beatie said.  

He said he is prepared to handle whatever comes his way, but he hopes he won’t have to see disappointment on other people’s faces. 

Hawn said addressing the housing shortage will take a community-wide effort. City and county officials, elected leaders, housing agencies, builders and developers will all need to work together to find solutions. 

She said no single person or organization can solve the problem alone.