Auburn council adopts 2024 housing-element progress report, officials say affordability remains a challenge

The Auburn City Council voted to adopt the city's 2024 housing element progress report and heard council and staff discussion about shortfalls in affordable housing production and where new units might be built. The measure passed on a voice/roll-call vote with four council members in favor and one member absent.

The report is an annual, Department of Housing-requested update of building permits and finalized units, not a new forecasting plan, and shows Auburn has not yet met required Regional Housing Needs Allocation targets. John Thright, Community and Economic Development Director, told the council the report reflects what was permitted and finaled last year and said the city must pursue additional strategies to produce more affordable units.

Thright said, "Now it is incumbent on us to figure out a way to get more affordable housing," and pointed to several avenues staff and the council are watching, including a large mixed-use "Domes" project and long-discussed sites such as Baltimore Ravine.

Council members pressed staff for detail on where lower-cost housing could realistically be produced. Councilman Holmes noted that several new homes recorded in the report were far above what…