Columbus residents might get some visitors from the city during the next few weeks.
The city is conducting a random survey of residents within city limits to determine what sort of homes people want. Director of City Planning and Community Development Christina Berry said the surveying began this week, with city summer youth workers out during the day to find homes and work through the 8-page survey.
“The purpose of this survey is to get a feel for what the community needs,” Berry said. “We’re particularly looking at housing needs and wondering what those needs are. We can look at the data and we can visually see there’s a need for housing, whether that’s affordable housing, or senior housing, or any number of housing types.
“What we don’t understand is what type of housing people want,” she added. “The survey is designed to let us get feedback from the community to let us know what type of housing that they’re interested in.”
Berry said the city can use the data collected through the survey can be used to focus efforts on future grants or developments.
Survey specifics
The survey is composed of 28 questions, some of which touch on basic questions such as household size and income or demographics. Other questions ask what type of development citizens want to see — such as retail, office space, condos, apartments and types of homes — and quality of life matters such as parks and libraries, or proximity to employment.
City officials originally considered using outside sources to conduct the survey, Berry said, but ultimately decided to see what the city could gather from the community on its own.
“We have a lot of people that come in our offices seeking some type of help,” she said. “Their houses need some type of repair. Sometimes their houses are inhabitable but people can’t afford new housing. We really wanted to see how deep that was.”
Though the survey is random, Berry said the city will try to get representative samples from each of the six wards.
Berry said she hopes to collect 80 to 100 surveys per week. She said she won’t have a solid idea on how many completed surveys to expect back for the six-week period until after the first week of collections, but she would like to get 600 surveys back.
Berry said the survey is another way for the citizens to offer input to the city. She said the city often holds public hearings and information sessions before major projects, but those aren’t always productive, or well-attended.
“We’re hoping this survey can be a different way of collecting and using more concrete data to support any type of project or any type of grant that we’re seeking to support projects that we’re doing,” she said.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 28 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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East Mississippi Community College student and Columbus native Bryce Shirley speaks with Isaac Moore at his home on Seventh Street while conducting surveys for the mayor’s office regarding quality of living in Columbus. Photo by: Mary Alice Truitt/Dispatch Staff
