2018/12/05 Council Agenda Packet

467-7 COMMUNITY PLANNING&ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MEMORANDUM Date: December 5, 2018 To: City Council From: Allan Giffen, Planning Director Rebecca McCrary, Housing and Community Development Program Manager Subject: Housing Strategies—Affordable Housing SUMMARY Several factors influence the production or lack of production of new affordable housing development. The top factors include land availability, project development costs, complexity and availability of resources and funding. Local governments have limited tools and opportunities available to influence these factors.A comparison (distributed November, 2017)of affordable housing efforts and strategies from selected jurisdictions indicates significant policy work,financial support, and incentive based implementation actions are being studied and enacted.Affordable housing efforts and strategies in this context are primarily targeted to households making 80%and below of median income. It should be noted that rental rates in Everett are generally affordable to households making 80%of area median income.The City may also want to consider opportunities to encourage market rate housing production to address all economic segments of the population to relieve pressure on the overall housing system. Currently,there are independent efforts underway in Snohomish County by the Alliance for Housing Affordability and the Housing Consortium of Everett and Snohomish directly related to affordable housing production. Everett is a member of both organizations,and both have requested time to present information to the Everett City Council. It is clear that affordable housing and homelessness issues are affecting Washington communities in similar ways. Affordable housing strategies, however, must be developed to be community specific and recognize that no single strategy can solve the lack of affordable housing production. 2