Milwaukie staff present affordability metrics, push utility-rate study and Sparrow site RFP

City staff and councilors on Wednesday detailed a new affordability goal that splits measures into housing and utility indicators, and said the city will send a request for proposals (RFP) this month for development of the Sparrow site.

The work session framed the goal around actions the city can influence—housing supply and utility costs—while cautioning it cannot control broader drivers such as grocery prices. Staff proposed tracking three housing indicators (income-restricted units by AMI, multifamily vacancy and rent/price changes) and three utility indicators (annual rate change, assistance dollars distributed and enrollment in the utility assistance program).

Why it matters: Councilors and staff said the metrics are intended to focus limited city authority and resources on areas where the city can have effect. The plan aims to measure whether long-standing residents remain housed without being cost-burdened, track utility affordability, and build a budget and programs that narrow gaps without overpromising city authority.

Staff presented a mixed set of near-term actions and studies. The public-works director, Peter Pazarelli, said the utility group is completing a “cost of service” and rate-design study whose results will be shared with the Community Utility Advisory Committee (QUAC) and the budget committee in August. Joseph, the acting community development director, told councilors there is not a specific, standalone strategy in the housing needs assessment for preserving so-called naturally occurring affordable housing and suggested the city use the phrase “housing preservation.”

“There's nothing specific. It's a good conversation around naturally occurring affordable housing. I... have trouble just personally with that term,” Joseph said, describing why preservation language may be clearer.

Pazarelli also reported the city subsidized recent home-energy upgrades through a partnership with Community Energy Project, saying, “I just signed an invoice today for the Community Energy Project” for three homes that received small city subsidies for home-energy work.

Staff emphasized the plan separates metrics the city can directly influence from broader contextual data the city should track, including ALICE (asset-limited, income-constrained, employed) data, federal poverty rates and cost-burden measures from census sources. Staff said the five-year average annual utility fee increase is about 1.79 percent and noted stormwater fees experienced larger spikes earlier in the prior decade.

On housing supply, staff and councilors debated how to measure “affordability” beyond income-restricted units. Several councilors said the city should count both income-restricted housing and naturally occurring affordable housing—older duplexes and other legacy stock—while acknowledging new construction often is costlier unless government restrictions or subsidies are applied. Councilors raised land-banking and land-trust strategies as options to preserve existing affordable units.

Staff said the city will add several new data efforts: (1) tracking voucher usage in city limits by asking the county for a list; (2) collecting pipeline units in metrics (for example, Hillside units expected to come online in 2026); and (3) surveying utility account holders to gather voluntary “moving in/moving out” reasons as a way to learn whether price pressure is driving departures.

On the Sparrow site, staff said they plan to issue the RFP in June with 45–60 days to accept responses and then a community and city evaluation that can take three to five months; a preferred developer will be announced after grading and before any disposition and development agreement negotiations.

Implementation steps identified for the next quarter include: finishing the cost-of-service and rate-design work, a customer-account audit and standard operating procedures (SOP) for utility administration, a community roundtable with developers on affordable housing models, and outreach and coordination with the Metro region and community partners (Saint Vincent de Paul, United Way, Energy Trust of Oregon and others) on assistance programs and preservation.

Councilors asked staff to return with clearer trade-offs for budget decisions—especially choices that would favor city-wide discounts versus targeted low-income assistance—and to bring Amy Francis, the utility billing technician, to an upcoming work session to present operational details and data on disconnection risk and program enrollment.

The work session covered many items in planning and study phases; staff framed year one as analysis and planning, year two as budgeting and initial implementation, and 2027 as institutionalizing affordability work. Councilors and staff agreed to reconvene on the goal in September to review metrics and next steps.

Ending: Staff will bring rate-study findings to committee in August, issue the Sparrow RFP in June and return to council with updated metrics, communications plans and program-level budget options ahead of the next budget cycle.