Frequently Asked Questions

1. How does The James and luxury condos make housing attainable in Kirkwood? 

More supply—at any price point—helps reduce competition for existing homes and slows rent growth across the market. They allow people to move into a luxury home rather than tearing down a small house to build a McMansion. As new homes like The James are built, older buildings like Station Plaza have to reduce rents to beat out newer, nicer buildings for tenants. More available homes give renters and home buyers more options and thus more leverage in negotiations.

2. Why do we need additional housing in Kirkwood? Aren’t we good enough as we are?

• Anyone who has recently tried to buy or rent a home in Kirkwood knows there are simply not enough housing options available, and that competition over existing homes pushes prices up and out of reach for working people. For example, only about 20% of Kirkwood City employees live in Kirkwood. With the current status quo, people are priced out of the more affordable homes, and the teardowns will continue. When there are not enough homes, the wealthy will always outbid working people, and everyone else is forced to move farther away. 
• We need a variety of housing types so people who grew up here can live here, senior residents can downsize, and working people can live where they work. Because seniors can’t find an affordable alternative that better meets their needs without leaving Kirkwood, they are currently stuck in homes that are too big, too hard to care for, and challenging to move around in. 
• Allowing more options like townhouses and apartments in our community means shorter commutes and more affordable places to live for local employees of our business.
• Starter homes build solid foundations of economic stability and opportunity. The current average age for first-time home owners is now 40 years old, up from 33 just five years ago. At the rate we are going we’ll soon be a retirement community. 

3. How do we add attainable housing without changing the character of Kirkwood?

Our current city rules demand that we build all new affordable housing in our downtown area. We believe Kirkwood should change the rules to allow additional types of homes that blend into Kirkwood:

• Create more affordable starter homes by allowing the building of smaller homes on smaller lots. 
• Amend the regulations to make it easier to convert an existing basement or garage into an apartment for a family member, caregiver, or a young working family. 
• Amend the regulations so we can build nice-looking townhomes throughout Kirkwood. 
• Allow the construction of small 2, 3, and 4-family condos that blend in with existing single-family home neighborhoods

4. In a built-out community like Kirkwood, where would attainable housing even go?

There should be more choices throughout our community. Modest, affordable housing options like condos, townhomes and ADUs enable ordinary people to put down roots, build wealth, and provide a solid foundation of economic stability and opportunity. By creating more housing throughout Kirkwood, we prevent urban sprawl, save trees, and reduce our environmental impact while avoiding overburdening any one neighborhood.

5. What is attainable housing?

Housing that allows homeowners to spend 30% or less of their income on housing.

6. How do you add housing without negatively affecting traffic and parking?

When housing is added in the right places and paired with better mobility options, traffic doesn’t spike—sometimes it even improves. The key is avoiding sprawl-style development that forces every trip to be a car trip.

7. Won’t more housing overcrowd our schools?

Currently ,young families can’t afford to live in Kirkwood, and birthrates are decreasing. This has resulted in a loss of enrollment for our schools and the projections are that they will continue to drop, so the Kirkwood School District has plenty of room to expand.

8. How do we make sure we are not over-run with Section 8?

Kirkwood’s high land costs mean that Section 8 vouchers typically aren’t enough to cover the cost of renting in most of Kirkwood. Our affordable housing will have to be market-driven.

9. How do we make sure multi-family homes are well-managed and taken care of?

Kirkwood’s existing building code holds all landlords to strict maintenance regulations.

10. Won’t multi-family homes or rentals near me lower my property value?

Adding flexibility to Kirkwood’s land-use rules means that your property will be more valuable even if you decide to keep it as-is due to its increased potential. Kirkwood’s current strict rules are actually artificially lowering your home’s value.

11. Will out-of-state investors (private equity) come in and buy everything, making it even more expensive to live here?

This is already happening. Private equity firms know that if they can purchase all the existing homes, municipalities like Kirkwood will protect that investment by preventing additional homes from being built, thus creating a monopoly on homes and driving up prices. By allowing more choices in the types and quantity of homes available in Kirkwood, we can restore leverage to regular families looking to buy and sell. Without options, the wealthy will always win and working people will lose.

12. Why can’t we preserve older homes (buildings) and prevent teardowns?

Blocking teardowns is both legally and morally dubious, as it would mean reducing the value of Kirkwood’s existing homes, which serve as most residents’ single largest source of savings and investment. Additionally, because most of Kirkwood’s housing costs are tied to the value of the land rather than the cost of the home itself, banning large homes would fail to meaningfully improve affordability. When more people want to live in Kirkwood than we allow homes to be built, the wealthy will outbid the working class. Allowing luxury condos and apartments to be built allows those who want a high-end lifestyle an alternative to tearing down a smaller home.

13. Will this strain the city’s emergency services, sewers, water, power grid, and other services?

By allowing land to be put to its highest and best use and allwowng more people to afford to live and work in Kirkwood, the city will realize higher tax revenue growth to pay for additional services. Additionally, providing services to multifamily homes is more efficient thanks to economies of scale. This means they generate more tax revenue to the city than they cost in terms of additional services, thus saving resources. In 1970, the Kirkwood infrastructure supported a population of 31,679, and today we only have 29,300.

14. How does the community benefit from attainable housing?

• Keep our kids close by: Our young adult children can’t afford the big, expensive homes being built in Kirkwood — McMansions and luxury condos. It is almost impossible to find an affordable starter home, townhouse, or condo, to get a foothold.
• Keep our parents in the community: Seniors are stuck in houses that are too big, too hard to care for, and challenging to move around in, but they can’t find an affordable alternative that better meets their needs without moving far away.

15. How does Kirkwood benefit from more housing options?

• Modest, affordable housing options like condos and townhomes enable ordinary people to put down roots, own their own home, build wealth, and provide a solid foundation of economic stability and opportunity.
• Allowing more options like townhomes and apartments in our communities will mean shorter commutes and more affordable places to live for local workers that communities rely on, and help business owners find local employees.
• Only 17-25% of Kirkwood City employees live in Kirkwood. This means the majority of people you rely on (police, fire, etc.) are not fully invested in the community because they do not live here.