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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
Corey Liles, Planning Manager
Sarah Vi?as, Director
Affordable Housing & Community
Nate Broman-Fulks, Affordable Housing Manager
Connections
Emily Holt, Affordable Housing Development Officer
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.
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...
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