Moline targets housing gap with plan to build starter homes on empty lots

MOLINE, Ill. (KWQC) - The City of Moline is proposing a new pilot program aimed at addressing a shortage of affordable housing by building starter homes on underused lots.

City leaders say the initiative, called “Build Moline,” is designed to create more attainable homeownership opportunities for first-time buyers, as fewer affordable homes are being built.

“I recognize that there is a market failure,” said Ald. Matt Timion of Moline’s 4th Ward. “Developers are no longer building small starter homes. The majority of what developers are building now are either large homes or apartment buildings.”

Timion said that shift has left a gap in the housing market.

“There’s a missing segment of housing — newly constructed smaller homes for starter families or just professionals that just want something more affordable,” he said.

Under the proposal, the city would use empty and underutilized lots — many of which it already owns — to build a small number of homes. The homes would be constructed using standardized designs to control costs and would be sold to qualified buyers.

“These houses are only being sold to owner-occupants, not to corporations or people that want to rent them out, but to actually people that want to choose Moline as their home,” Timion said.

Eligible buyers would be required to be preapproved for a loan and would be selected through a lottery system, Timion said. Proceeds from the home sales would then be reinvested into the program, creating a revolving fund to support future construction.

City leaders say the initiative would be funded using approximately $1 million already allocated in the city’s budget for housing efforts, with the potential to leverage additional state and federal funding.

Timion added the effort could have a broader impact beyond housing.

“This will also help to stabilize neighborhoods that might be in decline,” he said. “If we can add new construction there, it might spread in terms of investment in the communities.”

Local real estate professionals say the need for more affordable homes is clear, pointing to limited inventory and rising competition in the current market.

“Right now it’s very difficult for a lot of first-time home buyers,” said Brad Boeye, principal at Buy Sell Build QC Real Broker LLC, who has worked in real estate for more than two decades. “We have a very, very low inventory and that means that the home prices have gone up quite a bit.”

Boeye said homes in lower price ranges are especially hard to find.

“The hardest price range is anything under $200,000,” he said. “Those homes … are moving very, very fast, many times with multiple offers.”

He said limited inventory continues to drive competition and push prices higher.

“The ones that are on the market get multiple offers, which drives up the price,” Boeye said.

Boeye added that increasing the number of homes on the market could help ease pressure for buyers.

“The more new-builds that you can really have out there in the market, that’s going to help,” he said.

The proposal is expected to be presented to the Moline City Council this week.

City leaders say if the pilot program is successful, it could expand in the future and encourage more developers to build similar homes.