At last week’s city council meeting, there were a couple agenda items that intended to rezone plats of land for residential use. Two of them were controversial and highly debated, but they were all approved unanimously.

Councilman Michael Trapp commented that while he supported these new developments, he wanted to see more affordable housing made available in Columbia.

His comments and the development proposals made me wonder is there a housing shortage in Columbia? If so, will these developments meet those needs, or is the shortage within the affordable housing market? Finally, what is being done to bring in more affordable housing?

These are question that I would like to look into, while addressing the broader issues of affordable housing in Columbia.