We spend a lot of time talking about housing in Jamestown – with good reason.

A good chunk of housing in the city still needs to be rehabilitated, more old housing stock that is beyond repair needs to be torn down and we have a shortage of some types of housing that people need. And, lest we forget, lack affordable housing to the point that the city faces a homelessness problem that, while not as public as it has been over the past couple of years, is still there.

That’s why CDBG and HOME action plan survey results discussed recently by Kacie Foulk, city deputy director of housing and development, are so interesting. Because while housing is important, and receives its own update during each City Council work session, the city residents who took the time to respond to the Development Department’s survey didn’t list housing as their top concern.

With apologies to James Carville, their biggest concern is “the economy, stupid.”

Only 23 people responded to the survey from Development Department officials, an infinitesimally small percentage of city residents. But it’s interesting that 82% of responses said there weren’t enough jobs in the city and not enough economic opportunity. Another 65% said new business initiatives are important to them. Given that federal funding is typically regarded as money for neighborhoods, it’s surprising that only 43.5% of respondents said the city needs to rehabilitate its existing housing stock.

At the same time, the city has lost two business development organizations over the past 20 years. The Downtown Jamestown Development Corporation was merged into the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation more than a decade ago and it was recently announced that the JRC has closed as well. Those organizations were, at one point in the recent past, partially responsible for helping fill vacant spaces downtown. In our opinion, a void has been created that needs to be filled. And, the responses from city residents indicate the city has some work to do both finding funding to help new businesses get off the ground and in making sure people who want to open businesses know about the city and county resources that can help.

Of course, both housing and new business initiatives can, and should, be priorities at the same time. One does not necessarily take the place of the other. But if the limited responses to the city’s action plan survey are any real indication of the sentiments of the majority of city residents, then economic development needs to be a higher priority for the city and its partners.