It was a night of ideas, big and small, envisioning what Iola could do to become a better and more inviting place to live.
More than 50 people gathered Monday evening for Thrive Allen County’s Community Conversation, a format aimed to give the 15-year-old local nonprofit guidelines as to where to direct its efforts.
The people who live and work in Allen County are the source of Thrive’s inspiration, said Lisse Regehr, Thrive CEO.
After almost two hours of discussion among participats, Thrive staff came away full slate of challenges. To wit, participants decided its most problematic are:
• A lack of adequate housing;
• Vulnerable populations, and
• A depleted workforce/skilled labor.
That’s not to say there weren’t answers.
HOUSING
In the last six years, five homes have been constructed in Iola, according to Gregg Hutton, city code enforcement officer.
Over that same time period, 73 structures have been demolished either by the city or their owners. Of those, four were commercial buildings, the rest private homes. On average, the city demolishes four houses a year.
Joe Hess, a former school administrator and volunteer extraordinaire, suggested several concrete ways homeowners and landlords could be encouraged to improve and enlarge the housing stock.
“We have a lot of rundown houses in our community,” he said. “What if we offer to pay half the costs — up to $5,000 — for an owner living in a house to upgrade it.” 
For landlords, Hess suggested meeting one-third of the costs for upgrades, again up to $5,000.
For contractors, Hess suggested loans up to $25,000 to either purchase, renovate or sell vacant houses.
“We have a house across the street that’s been vacant for 10 years. Eventually, the city will tear it down, even though right now the structure is sound. This is the time to step in and save it,” he said, rather than creating another empty lot in town.
Hess suggested the city should change its codes so that small houses could be built on vacant lots.
On Wednesday, Hutton said the city follows national building codes which state a home must be at least 600 square feet.
“That’s a really small home. I’m not seeing that limitation as preventing anyone from building a home,” he said.
