Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force
Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force
On June 22, 2006, the Austin City Council directed the City Manager to assemble an Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force consisting of stakeholders to "review, develop and recommend to City Council enhancements to the City's policies and procedures, including the S.M.A.R.T.™ Housing program, for providing incentives to builders to include on-site affordable housing in their developments or, secondarily, to dedicate resources for the development of off-site affordable housing in the downtown area.” The task force first met on July 17, 2006, charged with the final goal of drafting policy recommendations designed to enhance city policies and procedures to increase the supply of affordable housing for Austin residents Upon completion, the report will be presented to Planning Commission, Community Development Commission and City Council for their review and consideration.
Advocates:
- Eugene Sepulveda, PeopleFund
- Walter Moreau, Foundation Communities
- Cathy Echols, University of Texas
- Frank Fernandez, Community Partnership for the Homeless (Task force Co-Chair)
- Carl Richie, Housing Authority of the City of Austin
- Greg Smith, African American Quality of Life Commission
Neighborhood Organizations:
- Bo McCarver, Austin Neighborhoods Council
- Charles Heimsath, Downtown Austin Alliance
- Mark Rogers, Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation
- Johnny Limon, East Austin
Real Estate:
- Tom Stacy, high-rise development
- Brett Denton, mid-rise development
- Tim Taylor, Real Estate Council of Austin (Task force Co-Chair)
- Ken Blaker, Capital Area Home Builders Association
Other
- Elizabeth Mueller, University of Texas
- Karen Paup, Community Development Commission
City Staff
- Kristen Vassallo, Chief of Staff
- Paul Hilgers, Director, Neighborhood Housing and Community Development
- Greg Guernsey, Director, Neighborhood Planning & Zoning Department
- David Lloyd, Law Department
- Jim Williams, Law Department
- Diana McIver, Diana McIver & Associates (project consultant)
The Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force completed their final report February 20, 2007, and delivered it to the Austin City Council, Planning Commission and the Community Development Commission. After seven months of work and more than twenty meetings, the task force reached consensus on incentive policies to encourage developers to provide affordable housing. The group guided their discussion around a set of core values that included deeper affordability, long-term affordability and geographic dispersion. It should be noted that because the City of Austin cannot mandate the inclusion of affordable housing, the task force focused only on voluntary, incentive-based programs.
The incentive programs were broken into the following categories of for rent and for sale products: Central Business District, Downtown Mixed Use, Multifamily and Single Family. Expedited reviews and approvals, expanded fee waivers and enhanced development entitlements were the general incentive categories the group determined would help to best achieve their core values.
Central Business District (CBD): For rental CBD projects will be required to provide affordability at or below 80% Medium Family Income (MFI) for 10% of additional gross square feet in the project, above what is possible with 8:1 FAR, in order to receive fast track permitting and to have all City of Austin fees waived. For sale projects must provide the same amount of affordable housing at a level of 120% of MFI. Projects that do not request FAR bonuses, but provide 5% of the total project square footage for affordable units may receive the fee waivers and fast-track permitting as well.
Residential developments in the CBD that choose not to provide affordable housing on-site or non-residential developments seeking an increase in FAR must pay a "fee in lieu" of $10 for each additional gross square foot in the project, above what is possible with 8:1 FAR.
Downtown Mixed Use (DMU): For rental DMU projects will be required to provide affordability at or below 80% MFI for 10% of additional gross square feet in the project, above what is possible with 5:1 FAR, or that exceeds 120 feet in height. For sale projects must provide the same amount of affordable housing at a level of 120% of MFI.
As with CBD, residential developments that choose not to provide affordable housing on-site or non-residential development seeking an increase in FAR must pay a "fee in lieu" of $10 for each additional gross square foot in the project, above what is possible with 5:1 FAR, or that exceeds 120 feet in height. Projects that do not seek a FAR bonus, but 5% of the total project square footage meets the affordability requirements, will receive the allowed incentives.
Multifamily (MF): Greenfield multi-family projects will be granted an expedited review and approval process as well as improved cycle times for site plan and subdivision reviews through improved access to the S.M.A.R.T. Housing Review Team. Projects will also have access to up-zoning for MF sites. MF-2 and MF-3 zoning is recommended to be up-zoned to MF-6 with a 40 foot cap on height; and MF-4 and MF-5 zoning is recommended to be up-zoned to MF-6 with a 60 foot cap on height. In order to receive these waivers and bonuses, MF rental projects must meet affordability goals of 10% of rental units reserved for people at or below 60% of MFI.
Single Family: The task force recommended expedited reviews and waivers for single-family projects, which will expand upon the existing S.M.A.R.T. Housing process. Those developments that exceed existing targets by providing at least 20-year affordability to families at or below 60% of MFI may also be granted more flexible development standards.
The Task Force's Recommendations are intended to increase affordable housing development in the City through the use of incentives to developers. The report will be presented to various boards and commissions and will go through substantive public review and comment. The Task Force has recommended that the City develop an incentive program based on the principles that have been outlined in their report.
The Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force (AHITF) will be presenting their final report to the the Planning Commission, Community Development Commission and City Council during the the next few weeks. The AHITF met for more than seven months to develop incentive policies to encourage developers to provide on-site affordable housing. The group guided their discussion around a set of core values that included deeper affordability, long-term affordability and geographic dispersion. Their report reflects the consensus the group reached regarding these affordability issues.
After presentations to the Planning Commission and Community Development Commisssion, the Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force (AHITF) Co-Chairs Frank Fernandez and former RECA President Tim Taylor presented their final report to the City Council on May 17, 2007. Following the Co-Chair presentation, Kristen Vassallo, Chief of Staff to the City Manager, and Paul Hilgers, Director of Neighborhood Housing and Community Development, presented the staff response to the AHITF report and the next steps for the City.
Staff recommended the City develop a Housing Market study and Strategic Plan for Housing, in order to better understand the needs of the Austin community and more effectively implement housing policy. Areas for which staff requested guidance from Council included evaluation of the fiscal impact of the program and the potential need to place a budget cap on incentives. Staff also recommended Council evaluate the effect possible expedited review processes will have on the demands of city staff.
Council Member Mike Martinez recommended that downtown commercial projects receiving density bonuses be exempt from contributing a fee in lieu for affordable housing. Council Member Brewster McCracken acknowledged the need for Council to be more conscious of middle-class housing demands, and Mayor Will Wynn emphasized the need to maintain the Parkland Dedication fees and recommended they not be part of potential fee waivers.
On June 7, 2007, Austin City Council approved a resolution directing the City Manager to take action related to staff recommendations in response to the Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force report. Those recommendations include:
- Enhance S.M.A.R.T. Housing policy by making the following improvements :
- Address developments with fewer than 4 units.
- Allow the donation of units/lots to community land trust.
- Create new income payment standard (35% of income with housing counseling.)
- Increase accessibility requirements to 5% for CBD, DMU and VMU developments.
- Allow VMU developers to apply for S.M.A.R.T. Housing.
- Increase income limits to accommodate VMU and AHITF recommendations for CBD and DMU developments.
- Direct the downtown planning team to evaluate the AHITF recommendation for CBD and DMU developments.
- Direct the Residential Development Task Force to review the AHITF recommendations for single-family design standards recommendations.
- Undertake a market study and strategic housing plan.
- Develop a preservation policy for existing stock of affordable housing.
On November 29, 2007, Council held a public hearing regarding changes to the S.M.A.R.T. Housing program, as recommended by the Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force (AHITF). Council approved all AHITF recommendations, with the exception of the reduction of the accessibility requirement to 5%. Council chose to change the requirement to 10% and asked the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department to come back to Council with specific data that indicates S.M.A.R.T. Housing will successfully get more developers to create accessible units if the accessibility requirement is reduced from 10% to 5%.
On November 8, 2007, the City Council initiated four new Land Development Code amendments as part of the implementation of the AHITF recommendations regarding incentives for downtown, multi-family, and single family development. The Code amendments were considered by the following Boards and Commissions and Council on the following dates:
- Community Development Commission: Tuesday, December 11, 2007
- Codes and Ordinances: Tuesday, December 18, 2007
- Planning Commission: Tuesday, January 15, 2008
- Downtown Commission: Wednesday, January 16, 2008
- Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force: Friday, January 18, 2008
On January 31, 2008, the Austin City Council approved on all three readings code amendments to implement the Task Force recommendations. The final approved code amendments included combined work of the AHITF and the Design Commission's Density Bonus Task Force. The two Task Forces agreed on a compromise, dividing the funds received by the city from projects that choose to use the fee-in-lieu option. Fifty percent of the funds will go to Affordable Housing and fifty percent will go into a new Community Benefits fund. This ordinance is optional and provides development incentives for commercial and residential downtown, multi-family, and single-family development in order to increase the amount of affordable housing in Austin.
Opposition was heard from the Downtown Austin Alliance and the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Both organizations urged Council to postpone approval until the comments could be received from ROMA as part of Phase II of the Downtown Austin Plan. The Council chose to approve the incentives program with the understanding that changes may need to be made in the future.
Council was reminded by AHITF Chair and former RECA President Tim Taylor, as well as AHITF member, and RECA Board Member Brett Denton that the worst thing that could happen by approving the recommendations would be the development of more affordable housing and an increase in funds for community benefits.
As part of the Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force final report, several outstanding issues were set as future policy priorities for the City of Austin. One recommendation was to commission a housing market study for the City of Austin in order to analyze the supply and demand of the housing stock.
In addition, the City of Austin developed an Affordable Housing Preservation Policy after conducting a series of focus groups, in which RECA participated, in the fall of 2007. Click here for the April 2008 report.
On Thursday, August 7, 2008, the Austin City Council approved a new option for neighborhoods hoping to expand affordable housing development. Neighborhoods currently can only add affordability incentive components to the neighborhood's plans if an area is zoned for SF-2 housing or if the project goes through the City's S.M.A.R.T. housing program. The Council changed this provision by giving neighborhoods the option of adding affordability incentives for SF-3 housing as well.
The Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department (NHCD) selected BBC Research & Consulting, a firm based in Denver, Colorado, to assist in developing the City’s Comprehensive Housing Market Study. As part of the Housing Market study, the City of Austin invited employers, business, and the real estate community to a focus group on November 18, 2008 to discuss affordable housing in the context of the market study. The City of Austin along with BBC Research & Consulting is expected to release its draft Housing Market Study report, which will be posted to the City of Austin's web site at www.cityofaustin.org/housing in January 2009. Another series of public meetings designed to solicit input on the report as well as a final presentation to the Austin City Council will follow.
RECA also continues to partner with affordable housing advocates in the community. This includes a partnership with ULI, HousingWorks, and AARO on a Workforce Affordability Policy Study Group to explore affordable housing solutions and a separate alliance with the Community Housing and Development Organization to advocate for affordable housing initiatives.
Resources
NEW Code Amendments
May 17, 2007 Presentation to City Council by Task Force Co-Chairs
May 17, 2007 Presentation to City Council by City Staff
Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force Final Report
City of Austin Affordable Housing Incentives Task Force webpage
