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City staff brief Planning Commission on draft affordable housing strategy and 10‑year target of 5,700 units
Summary
The Office of Housing presented progress on an updated Affordable Housing Strategy that includes 27 draft strategies and a 10‑year production target of 5,700 units. Staff said current tools and market conditions likely produce roughly 65% of the target and outlined next steps for prioritization, outreach and a January council briefing.
Office of Housing staff briefed the Planning Commission on the city's updated Affordable Housing Strategy, including a council‑adopted 10‑year target of 5,700 units and a draft menu of 27 strategies staff are prioritizing to increase production, preservation, and housing stability.
Bianca Segal and Hannah Von Miller (Office of Housing) described the strategy as a near‑term, implementation‑focused plan intended to guide city actions over the next seven years. "The affordable housing strategy is a functional plan...we are looking at the next seven years for affordable housing implementation," staff said during the presentation.
Staff reported that, given current funding tools and market conditions, policy actions underway and planned are likely to achieve roughly 65% of the 5,700‑unit target without additional resources. The staff team said this gap is driving the prioritization work now underway: the strategy lists actions across zoning and regulation, land banking, funding and programs, and communications and partnerships.
Examples of draft strategies include expanding the C1 religious‑parcel density bonus program (possibly allowing mixed‑income projects to use the bonus), targeted land banking or acquisition near future light‑rail stations, streamlining funding and application navigation for community partners, and advocacy for state or regional policy changes that could increase production at lower AMI bands.
Engagement and next steps: staff described Phase 1 public engagement (over 300 participants in events and over 25 partner organizations) and a Phase 2 community‑facilitator approach that reached about 150 people with lived experience. Staff plan public information sessions in November, a survey, and a Council study session on October 31; staff aim to present a draft strategy recommendation to Council in January.
What commissioners heard: Commissioners asked about the distribution of the 5,700 target across AMI bands and whether to prioritize actions that maximize unit counts or those that produce deeper affordability below 50% AMI. Staff said those tradeoffs are the focus of current prioritization conversations with partner organizations and will influence the final recommended action plan.
Staff noted parallel work on the Office of Housing implementation and potential new funding sources; both will inform the final prioritization and any code referrals that come back to Planning Commission.
