Description
Englewood offers great opportunities that would provide permanent affordable housing and a diverse inclusive neighborhood with lots of amenities including close proximity to the Independence Square and downtown Kansas City.
In October 2024, The Englewood Arts District successfully petitioned to create the West Central Independence Overlay District (WCIOD) to give property owners more rights. The district allows a portion of western Independence to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and homes less than 1,000 feet, matching existing homes in the community. The Cottage Neighborhood Cluster would be a planned community of three to 12 smaller homes.
Read more about the ordinance here: Link
As a compliment to investments made in the revitalization of the Englewood Arts District, collaborators are pursuing the acquisition of permanent affordable housing options.
“In the diverse and determined Englewood neighborhood of western Independence, home is where the art is.
Embodying that ethos since 2022 is the Englewood Arts Center, a progressively growing hub of art learning, artmaking, art exhibiting and a host of art-driven public events attracting neighborhood residents and visitors from both sides of the state line.
But Englewood isn’t just about helping artists and their art. It’s ultimately about artists and their art helping Englewood, too.
[…]the two-armed mission of Englewood Arts, first working to produce a highly functioning community arts center not only for Englewood residents but also for anyone with art on their mind in the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area.
“The second arm was to create a toolbox of various opportunities for existing homeowners and renters, and potential homeowners and renters, to access affordable housing in Englewood,” Baxley says. “And that’s a bigger thing that we do than this arts center.
“We tackle affordable housing. We use arts as a catalyst for community improvement through housing and a community arts center. We work on zoning. We (facilitate) mortgages for artists and teachers and first responders through our banking partners. Most of them are underpaid and underappreciated and they need affordable housing.”
[…]“In the last three years there’ve been over 22 other families that have gotten to buy homes, because of Englewood Arts,” Callahan says. “They found me a real estate agent, they helped me navigate the banks and an anonymous donor helped to pay part of the down payment. My husband and I probably wouldn’t have been able to afford a home otherwise.
Read full article here: Link
