(Radio Iowa) – Experts estimate the State of Iowa will need 21-thousand new housing units by 2030. Officials in the community of Garner have taken a preliminary step to try to address their local housing shortage.  “Years ago, we had a housing advisory board and it did get a lot of things done and we thought it’s time to bring a housing board back on.” That’s Tim Schmidt, the mayor of Garner, which had a population of around three-thousand during the 2020 Census. A couple of city council members will serve on the revived housing advisory board, along with local building contractors, bankers and the director of Garner’s Chamber of Commerce.

The mayor says the city’s previous board helped spur development of apartments and single-family homes. “But, as we go around and talk to our different industries and so forth, there is still a need for housing and getting those people to Garner to fill the jobs and get their kids to our schools,” Schmidt said, “so we really want to focus on the affordable workforce housing.” The state’s Workforce Development website indicates there are 15-hundred job openings in Garner or within 25 miles of the city.

According to Realtor-dot-com, there are just eight apartments available for rent in Garner and 20 homes are on the market. Garner’s mayor says the housing advisory board will review a previous study about the housing situation in the city and identify how to help contractors make a profit from building move-in ready homes.

“There are things that we can do to attract those things,” Schmidt says, “and we want to do ’em.” A recent report from a think tank called Common Sense Institute indicated the cost of owning a home in Iowa ranked ninth lowest among all the states, but the tight housing supply is a concern.

This past August, Iowa cities and counties issued over a thousand permits for residential buildings, a nearly 20 percent statewide increase over August of 2023.