Addressing Housing in Adams County

The COVID-19 Pandemic, vastly changed the housing needs of the City of Quincy and Adams County. The area has witnessed a decline in available housing while residential new construction has slowed and more residents sought to change their living accommodations.

The Great River Economic Development Foundation in partnership with Adams County and the City of Quincy completed a housing study. This study evaluated the need for housing in Adams County, Illinois with a focus on Quincy, Illinois. Demand for housing in the same area and gaps between supply and demand. The study evaluates the effectiveness of past programs, while engaging stakeholders on what specific steps the entities could do to encourage additional investments in housing. For those gaps identified, strategies are offered, enabling the client to help close those gaps. The objectives of this study is to gain a better understanding of how the community’s area housing market works through data and surveys completed by employers, stakeholders, community members, and people who have relocated to the area recently.

Key Findings:

Adams County needs more housing in the $100,000 – $200,000 range.
Incentives would not only encourage more developers to enter the market, but would make housing more affordable.
The City should encourage more dwellings on lots, but overall, zoning seems to be deemed as fair.
Adams County would grow in population if there was available housing for every open job in the market.

Conclusions:

Adams County needs more housing in the $100,000 – $200,000 range.
Incentives would not only encourage more developers to enter the market, but would make housing more affordable.
The City should encourage more dwellings on lots, but overall, zoning seems to be deemed as fair.
Adams County would grow in population if there was available housing for every open job in the market.

Next Step:

The next step will be to start working on the second phase, which is to implement a city and county housing plan.