Memorandum                    

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

TO:	Mayor and City Commission Tom Markus, City Manager
FROM:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager
Date: CC:	October 10, 2016 Affordable Housing Advisory Board Casey Toomay, Assistant City Manager Scott McCullough, Director of Planning & Development Services Britt Crum-Cano, Economic Development Coordinator
RE:	Additional Recommendations from Affordable Housing Advisory Board regarding Affordable Housing Provisions in Economic Development Policy

At its meeting today, the Affordable Housing Advisory Board unanimously approved forwarding some additional recommendations to the City Commission on the subject of the affordable housing provisions in the City’s economic development policies. 

The Affordable Housing Advisory Board stressed that these recommendations only apply to the City’s economic development policies and they do not recommend the same provisions apply to the City’s Affordable Housing Trust Funds.  Also, in addition to the provision language outlined below, the Affordable Housing Advisory Board recommended that the City Commission include the ability of a developer to make a payment to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in lieu of developing affordable housing units with their project.  They were unable to reach consensus on specific language to include in their recommendation, but the potential for collecting an amount at least equal and perhaps a bit more than the market cost of affordable housing unit development was discussed.

The following was the language that the Affordable Housing Advisory Board recommends be included in the economic development policies that trigger affordable housing provisions:

Affordable Housing Provisions:

When affordable housing requirements are triggered by the City’s economic development policy, the following will guide the City’s performance requirements for such affordable housing:

1.  Affordable rental housing units will target those qualifying at 60% or below of HUD area median income (AMI) for the most recent available year.  Affordable ownership units will target those qualifying at 80% or below of HUD area median income (AMI) for the most recent available year. Income levels below 60% AMI are preferred in order to provide units to those most in need. Preference will also be given to developing units that are larger than one bedroom.
2. Performance agreements will require verification of low/moderate income occupancy of affordable housing units in a method satisfactory to the City at the applicant’s expense. Applicants are highly encouraged to partner with local non-profit agencies to screen and verify income for affordable housing units to meet the ongoing performance agreement requirements.
3. Universal design standards to enable unit accessibility for everyone is highly encouraged.
4. Energy efficient design is highly encouraged.
5. Applicants will provide affordable housing units with approximate base finishes of other standard units and shall fully meet or exceed all City code requirements.
6. Applicants will be required to maintain these affordable housing provisions throughout the entire duration of the incentive period.   However, the City strongly encourages maintaining affordability of the units beyond the required timeframe.