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Wakefield Quality of Life Committees Discuss Housing, Childcare, Next Steps

By Quinn O’Hara

Photo by Quinn O’Hara

On the evening of April 16, Wakefield Mayor Leza Chryssovergis, Grow Clay County Director Natalie Muruato, and several representatives of the Wakefield Housing and Childcare Committees met to discuss the results of their respective community surveys.

The Wakefield Housing Needs Survey received 54 responses and asked participants about their desires for new housing, their lifestyle, and their priorities for the community of Wakefield. 83.3% of respondents said they own their home. 35.8% of respondents said they could afford a monthly mortgage of $800-$1,000, and another 35.8% said they could afford a $1,000-$1,500 monthly mortgage. 35.3% of respondents said they were able to pay $700-$900 in monthly rent.

47.2% of respondents said family housing was their most desired type of housing.

Housing Committee Member Alex Lewis said the next step will be to assist Grow Clay County’s Natalie Muruato in compiling and completing a Housing Assessment.

The Wakefield Childcare Needs Survey received 26 responses and asked participants about their desires for additional childcare slots, how much they spend on childcare per month, and the current and future needs for childcare within the community of Wakefield.

Participants reported spending roughly $600 a month, or over $7,000 per year, on childcare on average. 88.5% of respondents said childcare is “very important” to Wakefield. A majority of respondents also said they currently faced difficulty in finding available childcare, frequently citing a lack of available slots in Wakefield as a contributing factor.

Childcare Committee Chair Melissa Sanchez said the Committee’s next step will be to locate an operator for a new childcare center.

The Wakefield Housing and Childcare Surveys were created with the assistance of Muruato and Grow Clay County in February and were open to responses from then until the end of March. The Quality-of-Life Committees said the surveys’ results will help them determine Wakefield’s priorities and what next steps to take in growing the small town.