The Anchorage Assembly met in a May 2 work session to review its Assembly Housing Action Plan and consider how that plan should align with the mayor’s 10,000 Homes strategy as both efforts move into implementation.

The housing plan, adopted by the Assembly in December 2023, is a concise document of the Assembly’s vision, goals, guiding principles and a menu of strategies for increasing and preserving housing in the municipality. “This plan was created in an environment where there was less collaboration,” Assembly member Anna Ballen said, describing why the Assembly produced the plan and why an update may be timely.

Assembly members said the plan is a reachable roadmap for prioritizing work, measuring progress and directing staff resources. The document runs about six pages and includes a measures-for-success section; a more public-facing 2024 progress report was circulated to show ordinances, code changes and other actions tied to the plan. Chair Christopher Constant opened the work session by saying, “we're here to have a discussion about our assembly housing action plan as well as our assembly work plan.”

Much of the session focused on whether and how to align the Assembly’s document with the mayor’s 10,000 Homes strategy. Suggestions included formally making parts of the Assembly plan an adopted element of the municipality’s 2040 land use plan, or cross-referencing the two so they do not duplicate effort. Assembly member Walt suggested an amendment to the 2040 plan could embed the Assembly’s long-term goals: “I feel like that could all be an adopted element,” he said.

Members discussed a practical next step: forming a small working group or convening ad hoc meetings with administration staff to sequence and assign ownership to actions in the Assembly plan that do not yet have an owner. Assembly member Aaron Baldwin Day proposed partnering with administration staff, saying he was “interested in … prioritizing or sequencing, some of these actions.” Nolan Clowda, of the mayor’s office, responded that the administration would be receptive: “that’s absolutely something we would we would like to see,” he said, and offered collaboration to align strategies.

Assembly members and staff emphasized limits set by open meetings rules (the Alaska Open Meetings Act and municipal rules on meeting notice and quorum). Several speakers urged caution about forming a small, unpublicized subgroup that could give the appearance of speaking for the whole Assembly. Chair Constant reminded members that small groups can be useful convener tools but must “bring everyone along at regular intervals” and avoid creating a subcommittee that would be subject to open-meetings requirements unless publicly noticed.

Members discussed implementation-oriented items that surfaced from the plan, including preapproved ADU (accessory dwelling unit) plan sets and a web page to help builders and homeowners navigate permitting. Claire (Legislative Services) and others described the ADU preapproved-plans work as “an orphan” project that lost its original sponsors; one member said she had continued as a consultant to bridge departments and keep the project moving. Assembly members clarified that implementation of web pages and permit workflows is an executive-branch responsibility and that the Assembly’s role is to provide policy guidance, funding where needed, or code changes to enable those tools.

The Assembly directed several follow-up steps rather than adopting new legislation at the session: 1) members should review the plan and the 2024 progress report, 2) legislative services should collect member interest and broker assignments to avoid OMA concerns, and 3) a small, informal working group should be explored with input from the mayor’s office and planning and building departments. The chair recommended members contact Nolan Clowda and Graham Downey in the administration and to coordinate with planning and building departments on items that will require executive implementation.

Background and context: the Assembly’s housing plan grew from retreat work in 2023 and subsequent public convenings and “housing action week.” The Assembly documented metrics it wants to track (types of new housing, renovated units, vacancy rates and other market indicators) and has been working with staff to establish baselines. Members noted the municipality has also invested COVID-relief and other public funds in housing programs in recent years, and that the Assembly’s plan intentionally focuses on local policy levers such as code changes, incentives and targeted investments rather than state or federal levers.

Next steps listed during the session include cross-referencing the Assembly plan with the mayor’s 10,000 Homes strategy, asking legislative services to compile members’ project interests so owners can be assigned, and convening administration counterparts to create a shared roadmap for actions that lack an owner. No ordinances or formal votes were taken at the May 2 work session.