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Consider Approving an Employee Housing Incentive Pilot Program Proposal.
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Staff:
Department:
Loryn Clark, Executive Director
Housing and Community
Sarah Osmer Vi?as, Assistant Director
Nate Broman-Fulks, Affordable Housing Manager
Overview: In the spring of 2017, the Council asked the Town Manager to explore options for providing assistance to Town employees who would like to live in Chapel Hill. The purpose of this item is to provide Council with an overview of a proposed pilot program, which was developed based on significant input from employees, national best practices of similar programs, input from potential partners, and staff's knowledge of local resources.
Recommendation(s):
That the Council approve the proposed Employee Housing Incentive Pilot Program.
Project Background
To explore the opportunity for creating housing incentives for Town employees, staff conducted a multi-layered research process (see the attached Staff Report for additional details):
* Staff first researched national best practices around employer assisted housing
* We then underwent an in-depth process to understand employees' interest in the Town providing housing incentives to live in town, including:
- initial employee survey: designed to understand employee housing preferences and gauge interest in an employee housing incentive program (May 2017)
- follow-up survey: designed to gain feedback on potential incentives that could be offered if the Town created an employee housing incentive program (November 2017).
- focus groups: designed to gain a more nuanced understanding of survey results. Staff conducted four focus groups with Transit, Fire Department, Police Department, and Town Hall employees (November 2017).
* We then presented our findings and initial recommendations to Council for their reaction and feedback. Council directed staff to develop a pilot program (February 2018).
* Staff then developed a Pilot Program prototype (March-September 201...
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