Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Developers, Habitat and housing authority spar over whether 25% affordable target is practical
Summary
At the workshop, developers warned a 25% minimum could make many small or for‑sale projects uneconomic, while Habitat and Housing Works urged mechanisms to secure land and phase delivery so higher percentages remain achievable.
The central policy wedge at the June 17 workshop was a council‑discussed target that would require 25% of dwelling units in annexation areas to be affordable or workforce housing. Scott Woodford said the council had "put that number at 25%" as a goal. Developers said that level of requirement is difficult to meet on small parcels or in single‑family formats: one builder said, "25% as a starting point shocked me ... if you're a vertical home builder, you're pretty happy making 10% on the project."
Nonprofit housing providers countered that higher percentages are possible when there is scale and deliberate site control. Lynn McConnell of Housing Works noted previous UGB pilots with projected affordable shares of 30–50% and stressed that securing parcels early is essential because funding queues are long; she said there is currently "over $2,700,000,000 in requests." Panelists converged on a middle path: require master planning at annexation to identify where affordable units or deed‑restricted parcels will be placed, allow flexible compliance paths, and consider scaling percentage requirements by project size.
