A couple of reports on the status of local housing have been released recently, providing data on the relationship between supply and demand in Champaign County.
First of all, Michael Howie wrote an article in Sunday’s News-Gazette breaking down the 2010 Census’ housing vacancy rates for Champaign, Urbana, and Rantoul.
Secondly, the Champaign County Regional Housing Study report, prepared by Vogt Santer Insights of Columbus, Ohio, was posted on the City of Urbana’s website earlier this week.
The N-G article found that “Urbana, with the biggest increase in vacancies in the area, is feeling the effects of a building boom and now is overbuilt with apartments, according to a city official.” Urbana had 2,129 vacant housing units (a vacancy rate of 11%) in 2010, compared to 984 vacant units (6% vacant) in 2000. Over the same period, vacant housing in Champaign increased from 5% to 6%.
Meanwhile, the housing study report identifies a significant deficit of affordable housing in both Champaign and Urbana, even with the student renter population removed from the calculations. For example, there are 1,643 renters in Urbana with incomes less than $15,000 per year, and only 339 units available in a price range that people at that income level could afford.
Although the worst deficit exists for low-income renters, the report states that “The City of Urbana has a deficit of affordable housing units for every income bracket,” and the picture for Champaign is only slightly rosier. Between Champaign and Urbana, a total deficit of more than 6,000 housing units is calculated.
I’ve only had a chance to read the executive summary (pdf) of the Vogt Santer report thus far, so I’m not entirely sure what to make of the discrepancies in the data. The census report seems to indicate that there’s entirely too much housing available in C-U (including rental properties) at this time, while the housing study says there’s too little. Please share your thoughts in the comments, and I’m looking forward to digging into this in more detail.