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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-15-18 City Commission Packet Materials - SP1. Affordable Housing Program Update1 REPORT TO: Mayor and City Commission FROM: Matthew Madsen, Affordable Housing Program Manager Martin Matsen, Director of Community Development SUBJECT: Affordable Housing Program Update MEETING DATE: October 15th, 2018 AGENDA ITEM TYPE: Special Presentation RECOMMENDATION: None PROPOSED MOTION: None BACKGROUND: This is the six month update on the Affordable Housing Program. The presentation will include the following sections: 1. Current data around Affordable Housing 2. Update on the Work Plan 3. Successes and lessons learned from the Affordable Housing Ordinance 4. Results from the Community Housing Survey as well as the GAR Housing Summit 5. Next Steps to include the Community Housing Needs Assessment, Work Plan and Community Development Department work. UNRESOLVED ISSUES: None determined at this time. ALTERNATIVES: None FISCAL EFFECTS: None Attachments: Affordable Housing Work Plan Community Housing Survey Results GAR Housing Summit Results Commission Memorandum 143 City of Bozeman Affordable Housing Program Work Plan City of Bozeman Vision Strategy: Develop a Comprehensive Affordable Housing Action Plan that includes but is not limited to: 1. Mandates the creation of affordable housing across all dwelling unit types. 2. Provides prescribed flexibility in the manner in which the mandate can be accomplished. 3. Provide a substantial, broad-based and reliable source of funding for the construction of affordable housing and for affordable housing loans. 4. Actively encourages Bozeman’s major employers to develop workforce housing programs for their employees. Deliverables: • Monthly update of Affordable Housing Program progress reported to the Community Development Director and Assistant City Manager • Bi-annual update of the Affordable Housing Program progress to the City Commission • Annual Report of the Affordable Housing Program work that has been completed and the goals and plan for work that will be completed over the following year including: - Total number of Affordable Housing dwellings added to stock - Amount of incentives provided - Qualitative data from the community - Other goals as set by the Housing Action Plan Short-Term Goals Actions/Activities Target Date Complete 1: Update the Community Affordable Housing Advisory Board (CAHAB) 1.1 Update the purpose and structure of the CAHAB documents to be adopted by resolution 1.2 Develop roles and processes for Affordable Housing Program Manager and CAHAB members to address affordable housing program, projects and budgetary recommendations 1.1 June, 2018 1.2 July, 2018 X X 2: Continue Community Conversations 2.1 Work with the neighborhoods coordinator to setup community conversations around defining affordable housing 2.2 Release an online community survey around affordable housing accessible to everyone in the community 2.3 Utilize community conversation and survey data as a source for the community housing needs assessment 2.1 Ongoing 2.2 May, 2018 2.3 During Needs Assessment Process X X 3: Refine the Affordable Housing Planning Process in the Community Development Department 3.1 Affordable Housing Plan/Application 3.2 Reimbursement for Impact Fees Process 3.3 Affordable Housing Rep at Development Review Committee 3.4 Update outreach materials 3.5 Update the Affordable Housing website 3.6 Continue to work with community partners to refine the Affordable Housing Program process. a. Lenders/Title Companies b. Montana Department of Commerce/HUD c. HRDC 3.1 May, 2018 3.2 June, 2018 3.3 Ongoing 3.4 June, 2018 3.5 June, 2018 3.6 Ongoing X X X X X 144 d. Homebuyers e. Real Estate Community 4: Comprehensive Community Housing Needs Assessment 4.1 Apply for a State of Montana Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Planning Grant 4.2 Create and publish an RFP for a community housing needs assessment and development of a 4 year housing action plan 4.3 Interview, select and sign the contract with the consultants to conduct the housing needs assessment and develop an action plan. 4.4 Conduct the needs assessment in partnership with the consultant 4.5 Report on needs assessment results to City Commission 4.1 May, 2018 4.2 June, 2018 4.3 August, 2018 4.4 October 2018- January 2019 4.5 February 2019 X X 5: Commission Update 5.1 Create a presentation and report sent out to City Commission on the update of the Affordable Housing Program including: a. Changes in data or trends b. Results from community conversations c. Status of the Housing Needs Assessment d. The next 6 to 12 month work plan. 5.1 October 2018 X Long-Term Goals Actions/Activities Target Date 1: Development of a program for Cash-in-Lieu Payments and Land Donations 1.1 Begin to create process that involves exploring the options for how and when the money gets spent to develop affordable housing options for the housing continuum. 1.1 November 2018 2: Development of 4-year Housing Action Plan 2.1 After completion of the Comprehensive Housing Needs Assessment, utilize data and work with consultant and community to develop the 4-year housing action plan 2.2 Set measurable Affordable Housing program goals to drive the next 3 to 5 years of the Affordable Housing Program 2.3 Develop a new strategic work plan that aligns the City of Bozeman’s Strategic Plan to the Housing Action Plan with defined dates and measurable 2.1 January – March 2019 2.2 March 2019 2.3 April 2019 3: Update of the Affordable Housing Ordinance 3.1 Collect practice knowledge as the ordinance is implemented and worked through. 3.2 Present possible suggestions for ordinance changes 3.3 Utilizing data from the Housing Needs Assessment, draft and pass a rewrite of the Affordable Housing Ordinance a. Condos, rentals, all new subdivision development. 3.1 Ongoing 3.2 September 2018 3.3 May 2019 X X 145 Community Affordable Housing Survey Results The City of Bozeman conducted an online Community Affordable Housing Survey that was accessible to the public via the Affordable Housing webpage of the City of Bozeman’s website. The survey was open during the time of June 20th, 2018 until July 25th, 2018. The following report is an explanation of the results. The survey results will be shared with the community as well as used to compliment the Affordable Housing Needs Assessment. The first 5 questions specifically asked yes and no questions around where people live, work and where they currently live or want to live for housing. 539 384 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 Do you Rent or Own Rent Own 424 192 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 If you rent, would you like to own? Yes No 82% 59% 41% 58% 42% 69% 31% 146 The first question that was asked in an open answer format was “What do you think of when you hear the term Affordable Housing?” The goal of this question was to work towards creating a common community definition of affordable housing in the City of Bozeman. Common responses that came out of the survey were: 1. Spending less than 1/3 or 33% of your monthly income on housing 2. Being able to afford the place you live while also being able to afford to pay for things like food, health care and other monthly expenses 3. It currently does not exist nor will it ever exist here in Bozeman 4. Cheap, low income housing that is not safe or healthy to live in 5. Government Subsidized Housing 6. All types of housing – manufactured homes, condos, apartments 7. Higher density housing 8. Smaller homes on smaller lots with zoning that allows for that type of construction 221 145 114 101 81 66 27 260 50 100 150 200 250 What Are Some of the Challenges Around Housing? Rental Costs Sales Prices Wages Rental Stock Pets Home Purchase Stock Connectivity/Transportation Quality This question was asked as an open ended question. Based off of the survey results, the 3 biggest issues that the community reports facing in regards to housing are: 1. Rental Costs 2. Home Sales Prices 3. Wages Other challenges that did not make the graph include: Property Taxes, Land-Use Regulations, Rental Practices, Students and Land Costs 147 365 159 76 67 63 57 45 410 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 Whose Responsibility is it to "fix" the Problem City Community County Developers City Commission Free Market Landlords Employers This question was also asked as an open ended question. Based off of the survey results, the entity with the largest responsibility to “fix” the problem of affordable housing is the City. There was not further definition solicited by this question. 159 respondents also stated that the problem of Affordable Housing was a community issue that needs a community fix. Other responsible parties that were listed that did not make the chart include: Montana State University, the State, the builders, a personal issue and non-profits. 148 The final question was whether or not participants were interested in being contacted to participate in Housing Needs Assessment. If respondents answered yes to the question, they were asked to leave contact information. 294 of the respondents to the survey said yes and left their contact information. They will be contacted during the needs assessment process for more information. As the City moves into its Community Housing Needs Assessment process, the results from this survey will be shared with the consultants to use this data as part of that’s needs assessment. Additional community survey questions may be developed and made public to help garner more targeted information. A big thank you to all the people who took time to complete this survey. 33% 149 1 Final Report Gallatin Valley Housing Summit Sponsored by the Gallatin Association of REALTORS® Report prepared by MSU Extension Local Government Center The Gallatin Association of REALTORS® gave public comment to the City Commission regarding the issue of Affordable Housing. In the public comment the Gallatin Association of REALTORS® expressed wanting to serve as a resource to the City of Bozeman in its effort to find a solution to housing issues in Bozeman. In response to the public comment, the City expressed a desire to work with the Association to bring stakeholders in the community together to try to better define “affordable housing” and to work toward a solution to the problem. On July 25, 2018, the Gallatin Association of REALTORS® hosted a Housing Summit at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bozeman, Montana. The overall goal for this meeting was for stakeholders to develop a shared language and definition of housing issues common to the City of Bozeman, Gallatin County and the region. This was accomplished by focusing the meeting on the following objectives: • Discuss how organizations, business and institutions are impacted by housing in Gallatin County and the surrounding region. • Create operational definitions for common terms used to discuss housing in the region. • Discuss and define organizational roles and responsibilities for addressing various housing related concerns in Gallatin County and the region. Participants in the Summit included representatives from Gallatin Association of REALTORS®, City of Bozeman, Bozeman School District, Montana State University, Southwest Montana Building Industry Association, Human Resource Development Council, MT Department of Transportation, Habitat for Humanity, financial institutions, land developers, Southwest Montana Building Industry Association (SWMBIA), Community Affordable Housing Advisory Board (CAHAB), Gallatin Valley Land Trust, Headwaters Economics and American Association of Retired Persons. This summit was designed to be a facilitated small group discussion of participants with diverse housing interests and perspectives who were challenged to respond to a series of questions about common housing challenges faced in Gallatin County and the region. Attendees were randomly assigned and seated at tables to capitalize on the collective wisdom of the group and to encourage the sharing of diverse opinions and experiences. It was intended for each group to discuss eight questions, synthesize the substance of their dialogue and report their outcomes to the whole group. Here are the questions the groups discussed: 1. How are you or your organization affected by the housing situation in Gallatin County? 2. What do you see when you think of “housing?” 3. How do you define “affordable housing?” 4. Where should affordable housing be located or encouraged to be developed? 150 2 5. Who should own the housing? What should be the ownership structure look like? 6. Who “owns” the problem of assuring affordable housing exists in the marketplace? 7. Who is responsible for creating, implementing and enforcing housing solutions? 8. Who is responsible for working with the community to understand the problem and engage to work towards common solutions? During the subsequent discussion, one group drafted a definition of affordable housing that captured the interest and support of the whole group. They defined affordable housing as “housing that meets your needs at a price that allows you to meet other basic needs through diversity in housing, to include rental and multi-family homes, which lends to housing stability for families at all income levels and life stages.” Another significant contribution to the discussion was MSU’s Vice President of Communication who publicly explained, to many for the first time, how MSU manages its housing stock. The group learned the University does not currently have a problem meeting their undergraduate housing needs, however, their real challenge is graduate and married student housing where they have a waiting list. Other common themes from the small group discussions include: • The housing issue encompasses more than just a place to live – it includes transportation, walkability, and employment issues as well. • Housing prices and wages are not compatible. • People think of housing as single-family homes. Maybe that expectation needs to be changed to include condos, duplexes, apartments, etc. as part of home ownership. • The HUD 30% rule for affordable housing is difficult to attain in the region. • The county is being impacted heavily by the high housing costs in city limits. More annexation is decreasing the amount of land designated as county, there is more traffic and the money people are saving on housing prices in the surrounding areas is being offset by the transportation costs of driving into Bozeman every day. • Out of state buyers or “housing market investors” are inflating the price of the market and it is still cheaper than the price of real estate where they come from. • MSU students impact the rental market and contribute to the unaffordable rental prices. At the end of the Summit, the group engaged in a very productive and candid discussion. They recognize the complex housing challenges the Gallatin region faces are not any one sector’s, organization’s or agency’s responsibility to solve, but that a collaborative effort of all interested parties is required to create a workable and sustainable solution. Moving forward, the City of Bozeman will be conducting a Housing Needs Assessment and the development of a Housing Work Plan. Many of the Summit participants expressed a willingness to support and participate in the City of Bozeman’s efforts. As part of this process, has expressed a desire for the Gallatin Association of REALTORS® to participate in a workgroup thereafter to continue steps to improve the housing issue in Bozeman. 151