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IOWA CITY — Johnson County is in the process of examining housing needs in its growing non-metro area that consultants estimate will need about 950 housing units over the next 10 years to keep up with growth and demand.

But increasing housing isn’t as simple as just building more houses. Any plans for increased growth are meant to be smaller, incremental changes that factor in preservation of small-town character, agricultural land, and local municipality priorities.

“It's like Jenga … You pull a piece out, that whole thing might come down. And so before you pull a piece, you gotta be damn sure that the piece can come out or the whole thing collapses, because that's really what this has becom

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