Everyone Wants To Move To Eden Prairie, But Affordable Housing In Eden Prairie Can Be Hard To Find!
Current Conditions Impacting Anyone Who Wants To Move To Eden Prairie
People say Eden Prairie is Minnesota’s best place to live. The city has appeared multiple times on Money Magazine’s annual “Best Places To Live” lists, landing between 1st place (2010), 3rd place (2012), and 2nd (2016). Experts praise Eden Prairie’s community and geography (for being family-friendly and in-touch with the outdoors). And they have also praised its “dynamite” economy, marked by its strong job market and low unemployment rate.
Yet Eden Prairie has been noticeably absent from more recent lists. That’s likely because of how hard it has gotten to move to Eden Prairie. The jobs are there, but the housing hasn’t been, which has created insecurity as people shoulder housing cost burdens or endure long commutes from outside the city. Recent efforts to increase the amount of affordable housing in Eden Prairie are proving helpful, though, with property owners, buyers, and renters alike benefitting as each of the others begin to thrive.
The Real Estate Market Hasn’t Been Supportive Of Affordable Housing In Eden Prairie, For Either Buyers Or Renters
People who want to move to Eden Prairie (especially those hoping to find affordable housing in Eden Prairie itself, rather than on its outskirts or outside city limits) are finding it hard to get there and hard to get around. There’s no rent control, making finding stable rental housing a challenge. Section 8 housing vouchers are especially difficult to apply in a move to Eden Prairie, as the current housing applications outnumber available housing units by as many as 8:1. A lack of reliable public transit has complicated people’s search for housing, since they take on higher rent (rather than looking to buy) when transit systems aren’t in place between the job-rich city and less-expensive suburbs.
What’s more, the national average mortgage loan denial rate is right around 11%, while in Eden Prairie, it’s less than 9%. This last figure is encouraging, as it suggests that loan applicants are better qualified. Yet it does raise an important question: have low- and moderate-income people been empowered to try to purchase rather than rent when they move to Eden Prairie? All the other signs seem to point to “no.”
A Move To Eden Prairie Is About To Get A Lot More Affordable
It’s not surprising that creating more affordable housing in Eden Prairie has become a priority not only for local city planners, but for state- and federal-level housing officials as well. That’s why federal officials recently approved a quarter-million dollar grant specifically for expanding options for affordable housing in Eden Prairie. The housing units developed under this grant should be ideal for low- and moderate-income families — people who want or have already chosen to move to Eden Prairie but are finding the above-average housing costs make it hard to survive in the city. Plus, state and federal agencies have finally given the green-light to Eden Prairie’s $2 billion lite-rail system, which will minimize the ways that transportation has contributed to their housing crisis.
As these developments are finished, it should take some pressure off the real estate market. That means it should start to get a little easier for people who want to move to Eden Prairie (or within it) to find moderately-priced and affordable housing in Eden Prairie without needing to apply for benefits to get it.
How Affordable Housing Might Make Eden Prairie The Best Place To Live In Again
This increase in affordable housing development is giving some people hope and others anxiety. Yet it seems that few property owners are worried that the development of more affordable housing in Eden Prairie will negatively impact property values.
The truth is, city planners and development committees ultimately have the best interests of the community at heart, and are making many of the right moves to increase the amount of affordable housing in Eden Prairie without causing unnecessary stress on the market. They want to make Eden Prairie the best place to live for everybody, so they are not approaching this task haphazardly!
To that end, they are publicly discussing and keeping plans for increasing affordable housing in Eden Prairie visible, while also creating broad plans for creating affordable housing units across different parts of the community and with different income levels in mind. By approaching making improvements to the infrastructure for affordable housing in Eden Prairie this way, city planners are setting the stage for these developments to cause a “virtuous loop of economic growth” wherein everybody at all income levels benefits.
How & When To Move To Eden Prairie
If you’re looking to move to Eden Prairie, right now is starting to look like the best time (in a long time) to consider buying! Contact The Exceptional Home Team to find out how we can help you find affordable housing in Eden Prairie!
