Mojave County is asking residents to take a public survey of their local housing needs as part of the county’s larger housing needs assessment already underway.
Mojave County Community Services Director Michael Smith said the survey provides an opportunity to consider what communities believe to be the most pressing local housing issues, and what they would like to see developed in the county. I was. This survey does not ask for personally identifiable information and responses are anonymous.The survey takes about 5-10 minutes to complete and is available on the Mojave County website or tinyurl.com/3ymm3a4k.
Supervisors voted 3 to 2 in favor of hiring FCS Group of Redmond, Wash. for $144,630 on Sept. 6, with supervisors Ron Gould and Travis Lingenfelter voting against the survey. According to county officials, this is his first countywide housing survey in Mojave County in 15 years. The study also looks at the portion of La Paz County between the city of Lake Havasu and Parker.
Supervisors who voted to advance the study said the county’s struggles for affordable housing should be documented rather than relying on word of mouth and anecdotes.
“We all know the county has a housing affordability problem, but a needs assessment is a great way to document the problem as well as find solutions to help the areas that need it most. It helps,” said supervisor Buster Johnson.
Johnson also said he hopes the survey will help provide developers with the data they need to obtain federal subsidies for employee housing.
“We have some developers who want to come to the county, but we need this study to see what we need here so we can move forward with investors and bank loans,” Johnson said. says.
A housing need assessment is expected to be completed by June, and Smith said the project is still on track at this point.
The FCS group set a total of 9 tasks as part of the investigation. Smith said his first three tasks have been completed, including project kickoff and data collection, economic and infrastructure assessment, and public engagement. He said they are currently finalizing work on a fourth task, an analysis of the housing market and housing gap.
The next task is to identify and analyze the inventory of buildable land in the county. Task 6 attempts to identify key housing issues, Task 7 reviews existing housing policies and services, and Task 8 develops implementation strategies and actions to address the issues. The final task is to complete the evaluation draft and final report.
The Lake Havasu City Partnership for Economic Development recently completed an independent housing demand assessment for the Havasu City Area. Smith said the committee is currently reviewing the study, but cannot comment on similarities or differences between the two studies until they are evaluated.
