Joint councils direct staff to refine plan for regional housing authority while weighing a 'task force plus' alternative

Joint city and county councils met Nov. 14 to weigh whether to pursue a Regional Housing Authority to centralize housing development and related services, and directed staff to return in January with refined financial analyses, draft interlocal agreements and a narrower set of options.

The presentation from Jason Wooden, housing development manager, outlined committee work since April, an evaluation matrix comparing governance structures and an early budget model. "We are roughly spending about $1,200,000 per year" on current affordable-housing operations across the two governments, Jason said, and staff modeled a stand-up seed amount of about $1.5 million to launch a regional authority. The presentation also noted potential grant opportunities, including a HUD program cited as having roughly $85,000,000 in available grant funds.

The discussion centered on two fault lines: whether a…