Tornado intensified Jefferson City housing shortage

Jefferson City residents, late on a May night, stumbled out of decades-old homes that had been converted into apartments, dazed and confused by the impact of a powerful tornado.

"You could see the devastation on their faces," said Sarah Cobb, who with her husband and children emerged from their East McCarty Street apartment to find their neighbors, also awed by the widespread destruction. The tornado that struck Jefferson City on May 22 exposed the community's lack of housing, especially for people of little means, and pushed the shortage to a critical point.

Sarah and Justin Cobb moved into the East McCarty Street duplex with two daughters, ages 11 and 17, in mid-May.

The family had seen bad times but was beginning to turn things around. Justin worked full time for a moving company based in Columbia.

Read more: https://www.newstribune.com/news/local/story/2019/nov/24/tornado-intensified-jefferson-city-housing-shortage/805433/
(Jefferson City News Tribune)