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4. Affordability and Displacement Everett Housing Action Plan 51 <br /> <br />RECOMMENDATIONS <br />Short-term Recommendations <br />4.1: Institute protections for tenants to reduce displacement. <br />One approach that the City can focus on is providing tenant protections that can help to address <br />situations where renters may be forced out of their housing and neighborhoods. This should build <br />upon existing protections and may potentially include: <br /> A community preference policy for displaced households, where households displaced by new <br />projects are given priority to return and occupy housing in a new development. <br /> A right of first refusal for the sale of multifamily housing with affordable units, where the sale of <br />such a building could not go forward without the City (or potentially an affordable housing <br />partner) given the opportunity to make an offer on the property. <br /> Tenant relocation assistance may be required for redevelopment projects to ensure that low- <br />income households in affordable units can receive support for finding new housing options. <br />4.2: Create financial assistance programs for affordable housing preservation. <br />The City should prioritize the preservation of affordable housing available as market-rate housing with <br />grants or revolving loans in exchange for long-term preservation of housing affordability. These should <br />focus on housing that is most at risk for redevelopment in the short-term, and should require that <br />applicable units remain affordable over the long term through a covenant or other legal agreement. <br />4.3: Coordinate direct financial assistance to tenants and homeowners. <br />The City should continue to assist low-income households with housing costs, and explore additional <br />need-based sources of support such as: <br /> Emergency rental assistance <br /> Maintenance and retrofitting for low-income homeowners <br />This effort should be directed primarily at proactively preventing homelessness and displacement, <br />especially in cases where short-term financial emergencies may threaten the ability for households to <br />retain appropriate housing. <br />4.4: Expand fee waivers for affordable housing. <br />The City should review the full range of potential building and permitting fees to determine additional <br />waivers that could be provided for the development of affordable housing beyond those provided in <br />provisions such as: <br /> Permit fees <br /> EMC 19.50.065 for transportation impact fees