Housing Strategy Review Long Version

(Select one)

Please consider this context before answering this question.

Federal programs and resources. Most communities administer a federal rental assistance program, such as Housing Choice Vouchers or public housing, or use some form of federal funding to support affordable housing activities, such as CDBG or HOME.

Local policies and revenue. In addition to implementing federal rental assistance programs, some local jurisdictions create their own programs to support housing affordability, such as adopting requirements or incentives through the zoning code to develop affordable housing or creating tax incentives that encourage the development or preservation of affordable housing. Some communities also adopt policies to generate revenue locally to support affordable housing activities and supplement federal resources.

Consider the following definition of a local housing strategy in answering the next question:
Local Housing Strategy – A local housing strategy is a formal strategy, usually documented in a written plan, that comprehensively outlines how the city or county will advance its housing policy objectives and includes all four of the following elements:

1. A clear set of housing policy objectives
2. A comprehensive approach to meeting these objectives using the full array of resources available to local agencies in the community
3. A timeline for implementation
4. A process for periodically assessing progress and publicly sharing results to ensure transparency and accountability

A local housing strategy is not the same as:

• The Consolidated Plan required by HUD, which in most communities focuses primarily on how the jurisdiction will spend federal block grants.
• The Comprehensive Plan required by state law, which generally focuses primarily on a community’s land use policies.

However, the information prepared for these plans can be very helpful in informing a local housing strategy, and vice-versa.

Local Housing Strategy – A local housing strategy is a formal strategy, generally documented in a written plan, that comprehensively outlines how the city or county will advance its housing policy objectives and includes all four of the following elements:

1. A clear set of housing policy objectives
2. A comprehensive approach to meeting these objectives using the full array of resources available to local agencies in the community
3. A timeline for implementation
4. A process for periodically assessing progress

A local housing strategy is not the same as:

• The Consolidated Plan required by HUD, which in most communities focuses primarily on how the jurisdiction will spend federal block grants.
• The Comprehensive Plan required by state law, which generally focuses primarily on a community’s land use policies.

However, the information prepared for these plans can be very helpful in informing a local housing strategy, and vice-versa. Do you have a local housing strategy that includes the four elements in this description?

Category I: Creating and preserving dedicated affordable housing units
Dedicated affordable housing units are units created by developers using assistance from public sources or through affordability requirements or incentives. These units are set aside specifically for low- or moderate-income households, and typically have legally binding restrictions on who can live in the housing and how long it must remain affordable to a specific income group.