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Staff Update: Expedited Review of Affordable Housing.
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Staff: |
Department: |
Colleen Willger, Director |
Planning |
Judy Johnson, Assistant Director |
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Corey Liles, Planning Manager |
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Sarah Viñas, Director |
Affordable Housing & Community |
Nate Broman-Fulks, Affordable Housing Manager |
Connections |
Emily Holt, Affordable Housing Development Officer |
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Overview: On September 22, 2021, Council members submitted a petition calling for strategies to rapidly promote increased production and availability of affordable and missing middle housing. An initial update, with a draft Work Plan to address the full range of interests in the petition, was provided to Council on November 17, 2021. This item provides further details on a specific petition interest, the creation of an expedited application process for projects with a substantial amount of affordable housing.

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Recommendation(s): |
That the Council receive this update on considerations for an affordable housing expedited review process.
Key Considerations:
• The pilot of expedited application review for projects proposing 100% affordable units will continue through the spring and will provide insight on what could work well for subsequent reviews.
• Staff have identified other research and study topics to inform policy solutions.
• A successful review process must balance elements such as timeliness, complexity of application materials, and number of meetings. Improving performance on timeliness requires tradeoffs.
• Staff is exploring high-level policy options responsive to these tradeoffs such as simplified application materials, consolidated Advisory Board review, and additional staff capacity.
• As this effort moves forward, qualifying affordability criteria and performance metrics will also be solidified.
Where is this item in its process?

Next Steps
Over the next few months, staff proposes:
1. Continued pilot of expedited application review of Trinity Court, Jay Street, PEACH Apartments, and Gattis Court
2. Council discussion of high-level policy options to determine preliminary direction
A more detailed Proposed Project Schedule is provided in the Staff Report.

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Attachments: |
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• Staff Report |
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• Petition |
The Agenda will reflect the text below and/or the motion text will be used during the meeting. |
presenter
By accepting this report, the Council acknowledges receipt of this update on Expedited Review of Affordable Housing.