1. Exercise leadershipSecuring
and maintaining collaboration between multiple agencies that are not
used to working together will require strong leadership, both as
programs get started and in an ongoing capacity. Ideally, there should
be both high-level commitment to the development and execution of a
plan and someone playing a more hands-on role to keep the process
moving and monitor results.
back to top2. Know your marketThe
housing needs of working families, and the resources available to meet
those needs, must be judged in the market context, which means it is
essential to understand the dynamics of the market. For example, at
what price point can private or nonprofit developers build different
types of homes? What is preventing them from producing homes at lower
costs? Do for-profit and nonprofit developers have ready access to
financing for new projects? Do existing rental property owners have
access to financing to maintain their properties? Is there a
high-quality older rental stock that could be preserved as an
affordable resource for lower income families?
Understanding the
housing needs the private sector is already meeting, or could meet with
some relatively modest changes in state or local policy, will help
identify the gaps that could be filled by the government or nonprofit
sectors. This process also may uncover policy changes that could be
made to reduce the costs of market-rate homes.
back to top3. Get ahead of the curve by proactively planning for the future
In
developing and implementing a strategic housing plan, it's critical to
stay ahead of the curve. In particular, it's important to understand
where future growth is likely to take place as it will generally be
easier and less expensive to intervene in the market before a
neighborhood has "taken off" rather than afterwards. Planning for
future growth also involves coordinating housing, transportation and
economic development plans so that working families can afford to live
near (or with good transportation access to) employment centers.
For
example, some communities have taken steps to make sure housing
affordable to working families is available in neighborhoods adjacent
to proposed mass transit stations. These areas can accommodate greater
residential density and allow development with fewer parking
requirements—conditions that ease the development of affordable homes.
At the same time, however, these areas are vulnerable to speculation
and skyrocketing land prices as transit plans are finalized.
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Centennial Place, Atlanta GA -- Photo courtesy of McCormack Baron Salazar
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By exercising some measure of control over adjacent land very early in the process – through acquisition, establishing a
tax increment district, or
inclusionary zoning
incentives or requirements – communities can help to ensure that
affordable homes are well located near transit. For example, in 2003
the City of Minneapolis implemented the
Corridor Housing Strategy,
a small area plan intended to ensure the continued availability of
affordable housing along a newly-established light rail line. In
addition to a robust community outreach and engagement process
undertaken in partnership with area developers and neighborhood groups,
the initiative involves City acquisition of smaller, strategic parcels
of land to be reserved for
mixed-income development along transit corridors.
back to top4. Be comprehensiveIn
constructing a housing plan, it is important to realize that there is
not generally going to be one single answer to meeting families'
housing needs. Rather, it is likely that a combination of strategies
will be needed – for example, combining
expedited permitting to reduce the time and expense of development with mechanisms for
generating additional capital
for homes affordable to working families and strategies for
strengthening families' capacity to obtain a reasonably-priced private
mortgage.
back to top5. Be inclusive
The
housing challenges facing most communities are long-standing,
substantial, and multifaceted. By building a broad and inclusive
coalition of stakeholders and agencies, communities can ensure they
have the widest possible input into how to solve these problems, a deep
and diverse base of support for their adoption, and a large arsenal of
partners and allies who can assist with their implementation.
Click here for more information on assembling a taskforce to develop a comprehensive housing strategy.
back to top6. Create open lines of communicationIn
a rapidly changing business like housing, it's essential to stay in
close contact with practitioners in all sectors of the business,
including nonprofit and for-profit developers, lenders, mortgage
servicers, rental property owners and managers, low-income advocates,
and architects and planners.
Most communities have provisions
for one or two formal public input sessions per year, often in
connection with the HUD-mandated Consolidated Plan, but these meetings
generally are not conducive to the kind of intensive, fact-gathering,
iterative analysis and open exchange of views that are necessary to
improve housing policy. In addition to these formal sessions, state and
local governments should consider establishing open channels of
communication with practitioners throughout the year – perhaps as part
of the housing strategy taskforce process – to review and refine public
policy to provide maximum support for practitioners' efforts to expand
the supply of affordable homes.
back to top
Bungalow Court, Minneapolis MN -- Photo courtesy of LHB Inc.
| 7. Insist on excellent design
Like
any other form of housing, affordable homes can be designed well or
designed poorly. Governments should insist that any affordable homes
they support be well-designed – both to ensure that they remain durable
assets for the residents and the community and to minimize public
opposition. The City of Boston
has taken design recommendations a step further; the City's housing
strategy not only promotes good design that fits with the surrounding
neighborhood, but indicates that design standards will be modified to
incorporate construction practices that help reduce the incidence of
asthma. In addition, authors of the report note that the Mayor's Green
Building Taskforce will recommend greater use of green building techniques and high energy performance technology in new construction and major renovation projects.
View the Gallery section of this site to see examples of housing that is attractive and affordable to working families. The Affordable Housing Design Advisor provides a good primer on both attractive design and principles of environmentally sustainable design.
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back to top
8. Promote a mix of incomesThere
is a general consensus among practitioners that neighborhoods that
include families with a mix of incomes tend to be more successful over
the long-term than those that include very low-income families
exclusively. This does not necessarily mean that every single
development of affordable homes must include families with a mix of
incomes. In general, however, jurisdictions should aim to ensure that
their investments help to facilitate the creation of healthy, vibrant
neighborhoods that provide homes affordable to families across the
income spectrum. Tools like
inclusionary zoning policies and
zoning codes that allow
accessory dwelling units and other types of lower-cost units help local officials achieve an income mix in new and established neighborhoods.
Click here to leave this section and learn more about developing mixed-income housing through cross-subsidies.
back to top
9. Preserve and recycle resourcesIn
a world of limited public resources, it is essential to maximize the
value of public subsidies to ensure they provide long-term benefits to
the community. In the housing context, this can be accomplished by
requiring that homes made affordable through public subsidy or large
implicit subsidies – through
density bonuses, for example, or the donation or the
below-market sale of
publicly-owned land – remain affordable for an extended period of time, and even in perpetuity, where appropriate.
On the rental side, many states now require that developments funded through the
low-income housing tax credit
remain affordable for 50 years or more. Some even require permanent
affordability. Many of the early tax credit developments and federally
assisted properties did not have these long-term affordability
requirements, so efforts are now underway to preserve their
affordability. These
preservation
efforts are another important way to maximize the initial investment in
those properties, but of course it would have been less costly and more
effective to build long-term affordability in at the outset.
Click here to learn more about rental housing preservation.
On
the homeownership side, there is a trend toward recycling downpayment
assistance so that a single investment of public funds can be used to
assist multiple families, but many communities still provide
downpayment assistance in the form of a grant or a
forgivable loan. As the amount of assistance required to assist any given homeowner has grown, some communities have turned to
shared equity solutions that preserve the buying power of public homeownership subsidies in the face of rising home prices.
Debates
about how to structure homeownership assistance can sometimes be
contentious, with advocates on the one side arguing that homeownership
policies should maximize individual opportunities to build assets,
while advocates on the other side argue that the only important goal is
to preserve the affordability of assisted homes to future buyers. In
reality, there is much ground in between these two extremes and
successful strategies for advancing both goals at the same time.
Click here
to learn more about how to balance ongoing affordability with
individual asset-building in designing a homeownership subsidy program.
back to top10. Consider a demonstrationIn
some cases, adoption of strategies on a demonstration basis can help
test assumptions and reduce risk when policy outcomes are uncertain.
Boston's
housing plan, for example, includes an increase in the inclusionary
housing requirement, from 10 percent of total units to 15 percent of
market-rate units (equivalent to 13 percent of total units) in new
development. Because of concerns about future market conditions, rather
than introducing a permanent shift in the inclusionary development
formula, this change was implemented on a temporary demonstration
basis. Adopting this change on a provisional basis allowed the City to
assess its impact on private development before making a permanent
adjustment.
This approach may also help in the implementation of
politically sensitive or controversial strategies that initially meet
with community opposition. Successful introduction of programs on a
demonstration basis allows sponsors to address
NIMBY concerns, setting the stage for broader acceptance of programs related to housing affordability.
back to top11. Think locally and regionallyLike
labor markets, housing markets are regional in nature. While most
families live in the same metropolitan area in which they work, they do
not always live in the same city or even the same county as their
workplaces. For this reason, the housing policies that one community
adopts may affect other communities in the same metropolitan area. For
example, when one community restricts new development or sets up
conditions that effectively preclude the development of affordable
homes, other communities end up picking up the slack. Since the housing
policies of communities are rarely coordinated with one another, the
end result is often
sprawl:
affordable homes get built in the areas of least resistance – often on
the fringes of the metropolitan area – and traffic increases as these
families travel long distances to and from work.
While each
community can and should develop its own local housing strategy, it is
important to open a dialogue with other nearby municipalities to
determine the optimal role of each in addressing the broader housing
needs of the region. To reduce sprawl, for example, communities may
want to focus energy on
infill
development in areas with existing infrastructure and on areas with
good access to public transportation. Rural areas on the fringes of
growing metropolitan areas can work with nearby city officials to make
sure that if and when annexation occurs, development proceeds in a
well-planned manner. Cooperation between different jurisdictions can
help regions develop coordinated housing strategies to meet needs that
transcend political boundary lines.
In addition to the
development of complementary housing strategies, another benefit of
regional cooperation is the opportunity to learn from the experiences
of other jurisdictions. Included in the housing action plan of
Provincetown, Massachusetts,
for example, is a recommendation to create a roundtable forum for
nearby communities facing similar housing affordability challenges.
While development of a regional approach to common housing issues is an
eventual goal of this group, the forum is also presented as a venue for
participants to share successful strategies and develop ways to work
together on funding applications and other projects.
back to top12. Build public support for affordable homesPublic
opposition to new development is one of the biggest obstacles to
expanding the supply of homes affordable to working families. State and
local leaders can help expand public support for new or rehabilitated
homes by working to educate the public about their benefits for the
community, as well as the importance of providing homes for essential
workers.
Encouraging public involvement throughout the
planning process is a powerful way to build a strong base of support,
but efforts should not end once the plan has been officially accepted. Fairfax County’s
affordable housing plan includes a recommendation for the establishment
of an ongoing advocacy and public education campaign to promote the
need for affordable and workforce housing and advocate for full funding
of related programs. Among other things, members of the committee that
developed the plan will serve as "ambassadors," speaking to civic
organizations and the media about housing. Similarly, as part of the
development of its housing strategy, Provincetown, Massachusetts
created a Community Support Work Group, charged with the task of
finding methods to educate the community about housing needs and
progress made. In addition to coming up with key messages to use in its
public education work, the Group proposed the initiation of regular
meetings with other community groups, in order to build support for
housing-related activity. |
Crawford Square, Pittsburgh PA -- Photo courtesy of McCormack Baron Salazar
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Some
of lessons learned from state and local efforts to build support for
affordable homes are reviewed in the context of winning support for
housing bond measures. To learn more about building support for
affordable homes, visit the websites of
The Campaign for Affordable Housing and
Homes for Working Families.
