Where will the city find housing for thousands of new students?

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – The new biomedical campus is on the way to downtown Wichita, and it will bring up to 3,000 new students and hundreds of faculty and staff. It’s a collaboration between Wichita State University and the University of Kansas.

While it’s being hailed as great for the ICT, some are asking where the housing will come from to meet the new demand.

“Affordable housing is so important for just the stability and the quality of life of our community,” said Danielle Johnson, the Executive Director for Habitat for Humanity.

Johnson says Wichita already needs up to an additional 50,000 housing units before the announcement of the new biomedical campus.

“Many folks are excited about the number of folks that will help grow our population,” said Johnson. “With the biomedical center and all of the students, but that also just brings in a whole group of folks finding a place to live.”

Johnson says different groups have been working to find and build affordable housing. The biomedical campus adds a new wrinkle to an already tight housing market.

“First off, I’m excited for the opportunity and the collaboration between Wichita State and KU and Wichita Tech,” said Reverend Dr. Kevass Harding with Hope Builds Community. “I would love to collaborate, talk, and to help in that process for housing. Because there is a great need. There’s going to be a need. There’s already a shortage.”

Dr. Harding says his Hope Builds Community group works to find good housing options for low to middle to moderate incomes.

“Not just for low the moderate-income families but really for the workforce,” said Harding. “That’s going to be quite a few people coming to our community looking for housing.”

Some former city council members say they have been looking to find new developers and find incentives for some time to build more housing, from single-family homes to apartments and duplexes.

“This is something I’ve pushed all along,” said former city council member Jeff Blubaugh. “We’ve got all this great growth. We’ve got the biomedical center coming here. Everything is happening for Wichita except for the affordable housing. And it’s very unfortunate. We’re starting to see some more spur up, but it’s not going to be near enough for the students we are going to see bringing in to Wichita.”

Some current city council members say they are having workshops to move on housing issues.

“The way that we’re able to expand our housing capacity is through zoning laws,” said new city council member Dalton Glasscock. “We’re already having those talks as well. I already met with the Greater Wichita Partnership. It was one of my first meetings. Actually, prior to me being sworn in. They reached out because they want to be on top of this, making sure that private industry, government, and all of our sectors of the community are coming together to support development not only in downtown but also in Wichita as a whole.”

KSN reached out to Wichita State University on Friday. A spokesperson said the university does not plan to add student housing near the area of the biomedical facility.

“No, Wichita State has no planned student housing near that site at this time,” said the statement. “But we do anticipate that when the Wichita Biomedical Campus opens, it will bring a critical mass of people to the area, both students and employees.”