Olympia is moving forward with a second-phase study focusing on affordable homeownership to address disparities in housing affordability.
At Thursday's Land Use and Environment Committee meeting, Olympia Housing Program specialist Christa Lenssen said the city had allocated $50,000 to hire a consultant for the project.
Lenssen presented the scope of work for the study, which will involve identifying potential funding sources and partners, building organization practices, and examining models from other jurisdictions.
Other focus on affordable homeownership includes:
"We want to make sure that we focus on equity in this work so that no one is excluded," Lenssen said as she cited the Department of Commerce recommendations on disparities in homeownership for black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC).
Lenssen asked the committee members for additional input in the request for proposals (RFP) which is set to be released in late April.
She mentioned that the city plans to select a consultant and execute a contract in June, with findings to be presented in October. The city hopes to have recommendations in place by the end of the year.
Committee member and councilmember Jim Cooper is proposing in the RFA to identify what infrastructure to put in place to help small local developers build affordable housing.
One of his suggestions is to bring a housing policy expert group to work with the city to provide technical assistance and support profit developers who want to build more affordable housing.
Cooper explained that some local developers might want to navigate the tax credit process but do not have "those legs" or expertise.
"Is there a model that either the city or a contractor like this with an ongoing relationship that could provide technical assistance for a local developer that wants to get into 'middle-income game' or 'low-income game' of housing units and be able to figure out how to pull it off at their scale?" Cooper asked.
Incentives
Recognizing that Olympia has a housing and homeless emergency, Cooper is toying with the idea of creating an emergency incentive package per unit to address the shortage of affordable units in the city.
"If we need 6,000 units in a certain income point, can we do an emergency set of incentives to get to a third or a half of those units, or even all of those units that we just dial on and off based on when the needs are," he said.
The councilmember suggested examining the impact fees and General Facilities Charges (GFCs), which many are struggling with. "What does that end up costing the city at the moment versus in the long run?"
"I think if we look at a package like that, with a 10-year horizon on the impact of the city, the growth that would come with it – including people's ability to live and work in the same place and not travel far so they can work in Olympia – we might… be able to provide a calculus that shows that those short-term losses for the city have long-term gains for the city," Cooper said.
Olympia City Manager Jay Burney suggested that the incentive package could include identifying city-owned properties that could be offered at a discounted rate or a lower price to incentivize developers to build additional housing units.
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AugieH
Homeowners will be lucky not to have the City of Olympia ultimately mandate upper limits on the asking-price for homes they offer for sale.
Monday, March 27, 2023 Report this
Southsoundguy
Homes will become more affordable when local governments get out of the land speculating racket that is zoning, and when our national money system radically changes. Until then, there is literally no way, homes will be artificially inflated.
Tuesday, March 28, 2023 Report this
sonshi
At Thursday's Land Use and Environment Committee meeting, Olympia **Housing Program specialist** Christa Lenssen said the city had allocated $50,000 to **hire a consultant** for the project.
Tuesday, March 28, 2023 Report this
JohnGear
People interested in this topic can get "The Affordable City" by Shane Phillips through Timberland Regional Library.
Short, concise chapters and some pretty insightful recommendations -- though they won't be to everyone's taste.
The bottom line is that, as long as we are content to lavish rewards on those with capital (owners) at the expense of those without (renters, primarily), we are going to maintain our very skewed system where we use the tax code to greatly reward owners of appreciated property with tax breaks, and then say we have no money to help others with housing affordability problems -- which is kind of true, because our tax code funnels it all to the owners of property at the expense of everyone else.
Add our wildly unproductive land development patterns and you have a recipe for rising property values, rents, and homelessness, along with empty government coffers.
https://search.trl.org/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu=affordable%20city
" From Los Angeles to Boston and Chicago to Miami, US cities are struggling to address the twin crises of high housing costs and household instability. Debates over the appropriate course of action have been defined by two poles: building more housing or enacting stronger tenant protections. These options are often treated as mutually exclusive, with support for one implying opposition to the other.
Shane Phillips believes that effectively tackling the housing crisis requires that cities support both tenant protections and housing abundance. He offers readers more than 50 policy recommendations, beginning with a set of principles and general recommendations that should apply to all housing policy. The remaining recommendations are organized by what he calls the Three S's of Supply, Stability, and Subsidy. Phillips makes a moral and economic case for why each is essential and recommendations for making them work together.
There is no single solution to the housing crisis--it will require a comprehensive approach backed by strong, diverse coalitions. The Affordable City is an essential tool for professionals and advocates working to improve affordability and increase community resilience through local action."
Wednesday, March 29, 2023 Report this