The Lacey Utilities Committee held a hybrid meeting last Monday, April 3, to brief the city council on the LOTT Cleanwater Alliance’s (LOTT) Affordable Housing Pilot Program.
Water Resources Manager Peter Brooks said the program would incentivize developers from three partner cities– Lacey, Olympia, and Tumwater- to construct new low-income housing projects.
Similar to the septic conversion rebate, the LOTT program works with a 50% rebate on the Capital Development Charges (CDC) for Equivalent Residential Units (ERUs). ERUs are based on single-family use, according to the Washington State Department of Health.
“The program sets out 300 ERUs for a two-year period. Each of the three cities [Lacey, Olympia, and Tumwater] gets 75 ERUs. So then there [are] 75 leftovers, that's kind of held in a bank,” Brooks explained.
A city may ask other cities to give it ERUs in case it uses up its own allocation, provided the other city is willing and have some to spare.
“If any jurisdiction uses up 75, then they can petition the other cities and say, ‘hey, could I have some of the bank?’ and they would go on and use more,” Brooks added.
According to the agenda document, for a project to be eligible, it must be a new development that involves a new connection to the LOTT system verified by the partner city, and must meet at least one of the following criteria:
Cities also have the discretion to add more criteria beyond the established eligibility system to determine qualifying projects.
Brooks also said that an eligible applicant does not need to include the whole project in the rebate scheme.
“If somebody says [they] wanted to put it in a multifamily, and 20% of the units will be low-income, and the rest will be just market rate– they could do that. It doesn't have to be the entire project.”
The developer must document a covenant approved by both the city providing its sewer service and LOTT, guaranteeing the unit meets the affordability requirements for perpetuity (preferred) or at least 30 years.
The property owner is obliged to repay the 50% rebate at the current year’s CDC rates if the covenant's requirements are violated.
After a vote from the board, LOTT has begun this two-year pilot program to incentivize the construction of new affordable single-family or multifamily housing that will serve individuals transitioning from homelessness.
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BobJacobs
If I remember correctly, the LOTT Capital Development Charges were intended to "make growth pay for growth".
But from the start, they were seriously discounted.
I have not seen a report on this topic for many years. So I don't know whether developers are actually paying their way, or whether they are receiving subsidies from the rest of us like they do in so many other ways.
Our governments talk about accountability a lot, but action is another thing.
Bob Jacobs
Thursday, April 6, 2023 Report this
Yeti1981
Unfortunately, The whole growth pays for growth argument is misguided. That's simply not how it works. Any increases in development costs or due to regulation are passed directly to the consumer. And for every $1,000 added to the cost of a new home, that prices out 2,200 families. If we are wanting to promote everything from equity to affordable housing, the best way to pay for things is to spread the cost evenly across all residents. And yes, everyone benefits from growth. Even the people who have been here a while. I'm going to add something that many may need to hear. You aren't special because you were somewhere first. You don't get to price others out of your neighborhood and still enjoy the benefits of what they bring. Not wanting "those" people in your neighborhood isn't the flex you think it is. Every tool you use to stall development of housing for everyone is segregation by any other name.
Thursday, April 6, 2023 Report this