Flagstaff official outlines incentives, bond funding and monitoring used to spur workforce housing; Prescott committee weighs density-bonus code approach

Jennifer, a housing department staff member for the City of Flagstaff, told the Prescott City Workforce Housing Committee on a video call that Flagstaff uses regulatory and financial incentives to attract developers to workforce housing projects. “I think the the the biggest response to that would be just having incentives,” she said, listing zoning relief, density bonuses and direct money as tools. She said Flagstaff also has used a voter-approved general obligation bond to provide predictable funding.

The bond, Jennifer said, was a $20,000,000 voter-approved general obligation bond split into four categories: a down-payment assistance program (about $7,000,000), a $5,000,000 developer-incentive pot for multifamily rental projects, $3,000,000 to assist adaptive reuse of existing buildings, and $5,000,000 set aside for redevelopment of public housing sites. “We were lucky enough to get a voter approved, general obligation bond for affordable housing for 20,000,000,” she said.

Jennifer described other incentives Flagstaff uses to make projects feasible: offering…