Title
Affordable Housing Update 2022
Presenter:
Steve Posey, Community Development Division Manager
Peter Wysocki, Director, Planning & Community Development
Body
Summary:
Throughout 2021 and the 1st quarter of 2022, the City has considered a number of initiatives in response to swiftly increasing housing costs. The presentation today will provide a high-level overview of for sale and rental housing costs compared to household income, current development costs for multi-family housing, and a summary of various City initiatives related to maintaining or encouraging development of affordable housing in accordance with Mayor Suthers' goal of building or preserving 1000 units of affordable housing each year.
The initiatives include development fee rebates, sales tax refund on construction materials used in affordable housing projects, Rapid Response designation for affordable multi-family projects, creation of a Housing Coordinator position in Community Development, provisions included in ReToolCOS related to affordable housing, and ongoing use of private activity bonds and Dept. of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) funds to finance new construction of affordable rental units.
The presentation includes a brief overview of the scoring metric that is used to evaluate projects for ongoing affordability and alignment with City planning documents, as well as information about a new senior rental assistance program and use to date of Emergency Rental Assistance funds made available by the US Treasury through the CARES Act in 2020.
The presentation concludes with an advance look at 'House America,' a nationwide challenge issued by HUD to reduce homelessness by making the best use of Community Development funding made available by the American Rescue Plan in 2021.
Previous Council Action:
N/A
Background:
Housing costs in COS continue to increase as household incomes remain flat. The average rent for a 2BR/1BA apartment has exceeded $1400 per month, ...
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