Committee reviews Senate housing draft: affordability tied to debt, residency rules, universal-design study pushed

During a meeting of the House Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee (date not specified), staff and legislators reviewed a Senate draft of a housing infrastructure bill that would change how long units must remain affordable, tighten primary-residency rules for state-funded housing, and direct a new study group on universal design.

The proposal circulated by Senate staff would make affordability commitments last until all indebtedness on a housing infrastructure project is retired rather than in perpetuity, and would require units sold for owner-occupancy to be “initially offered exclusively as a primary residence,” while rental units would be required to be offered as primary-residence housing until indebtedness is retired. Committee staff presented the changes and walked members through differences from the House version.

Committee staff summarized the durational change as moving the affordability requirement from a perpetual covenant to a time-limited requirement…