HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - Full - Ad Hoc Housing Committee - 10/08/2020 -
City Manager’s Office
City Hall
300 LaPorte Ave.
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6505
970.224.6107 - fax
fcgov.com
AGENDA
City Council Ad Hoc Housing Committee
Thursday, October 8, 2020, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Public is encouraged to listen through Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/98351510422
Or Telephone: Dial: (253) 215-8782 or (346) 248-7799
Webinar ID: 983 5151 0422
Committee Members: Kristin Stephens (Mayor Pro Tem), District 4
Ross Cunniff, District 5
Emily Gorgol, District 6
Committee Contact: Lindsay Ex, lex@fcgov.com
Note: Per Ord. No 079, the Committee Chair, may in consultation with the City Manager and City Attorney, determine
that meeting in person would not be prudent for some or all persons due to a public health emergency or other
unforeseen circumstance affecting the city. As well, an individual Committee member may request to participate
remotely even if the rest of the Committee will be there if the member has a concern about their or others’ health or
safety by notifying the Clerk at least three hours in advance of the meeting.
1. Call Meeting to Order
2. Approval of September 17, 2020 minutes
3. Agenda Review
4. Discussion Item: Housing Types and Zoning
a. Zoning, density, and housing types in Fort Collins (Meaghan Overton, Sr City Planner;
Kristin Fritz, Chief Real Estate Officer, Housing Catalyst)
b. Guest Speakers from Aurora, Colorado and Portland, Oregon share their experiences
(Moderated by Paul Sizemore, Interim Director, Community Development and
Neighborhood Services (CDNS))
• Topics include: How and why other communities have updated their land use
regulations, prioritizing strategies and defining impact, connecting land use to
other strategies to achieve housing goals
c. Discussion and Q&A
5. Next Meeting Focus and Process Check-in
There are three or more members of City Council that may attend this meeting. While no formal action will be
taken by the Council at this meeting, the discussion of public business will occur and the meeting is open to the
public via Zoom.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Meeting Pre-Work to Prepare for the October 8, 2020 Meeting
2. September 17, 2020 Draft Minutes
3. Land Use Code Audit
ATTACHMENT 1: MEETING PRE-WORK
Pre-Work Item #1: Watch this 2.5-minute video defining and explaining zoning
Description: Councilmembers identified the relationship between systemic racism and housing as a
top priority for the Committee’s work. This video provides a brief introduction to the concept of zoning,
its history, and the ways in which zoning has reinforced systemic racism and inequity. Additional
resources related to the topics covered in the video are available at urban.org/zoning.
Direct Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLMsI92crZw
Pre-Work Item #2: Review the Land Use Code Audit
Description: City Plan identifies a wide range of implementation strategies to help achieve community
goals and priorities, many of which may require changes to Fort Collins’ development standards and
processes. The 2019 version of City Plan emphasizes the community values of livability, community,
and sustainability. Specific guidance in the plan encourages the City to incentivize and maintain more
affordable and attainable housing, diversify the types of housing available, promote mixed-use and
transit-supportive development along key corridors, and address the changing dynamics of employment
and industrial land.
After the adoption of City Plan in 2019, staff initiated an audit of the Land Use Code to identify areas
where the Land Use Code could more effectively align with City Plan guidance. While Fort Collins
regularly updates Land Use Code standards, most changes are relatively minor. This Land Use Code
Audit takes a more comprehensive view of land use regulation to ensure that local development
standards are advancing the community’s goals and adequately responding to changes in social and
market conditions. Prior to the 2019 audit, there had not been a similar effort to evaluate the Land Use
Code since its initial adoption in 1997.
Note: A Council memo summarizing current Land Use Code changes and background information
about the Land Use Code Audit is included in this week’s packet as well.
Direct Link: Land Use Code Audit
Housing-Specific Page References:
• Pages 5-16: Align zoning districts and uses with structure plan place types
• Pages 16-19: Create more opportunities for a range of housing options
• Pages 40-41: Summary of best practices from other cities
Pre-Work Item #3: Review Peer Cities efforts for grounding
Description: Confirmed speakers thus far for the October 8 meeting include Portland and Aurora. Their
work is highlighted below as an easy way to get grounded prior to the conversation.
• Portland’s Residential Infill Project: This project, adopted in August of 2020 allows more
housing options in Portland’s neighborhoods, including duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes, but
only if they follow new limits on size and scale. Learn more about the project here, and if time
permits, review the project’s staff report that accompanied the Ordinance, which outlines what
changed, why Portland pursued these changes, and their community engagement, e.g., page
14 highlights the additional housing types this project allows. Note that Portland already allows
ADUs (accessory dwelling units) in all residential, commercial, and employment zones (if
interested, see their program guide for this effort).
• Aurora’s Housing Study and Land Use Code Changes: In 2019, the city of Aurora initiated a
study to identify a broad range of potential policy, financial and regulatory tools to address
housing affordability. They have just released their Draft Housing Study, and they adopted their
Unified Development Ordinance (like our Land Use Code) last year and their PDF Exhibits from
the final round of public review illustrate the project’s timeline and key elements.
Pre-Work Item #4: Review articles that address the nexus between housing affordability and
density
Description: Community members and Councilmembers have raised questions regarding the nexus
between increasing density and/or housing types and whether that impacts housing affordability. The
following articles begin to address this issue, while recognizing there are dozens, if not hundreds, of
relevant articles and studies that address this one aspect of the housing system.
• Studies:
o Been, Vicki; Gould Ellen, Ingrid; and O’Reagan, Katherine; Supply Skepticism: Housing
Supply and Affordability (November, 2018). Available at
https://furmancenter.org/research/publication/supply-skepticismnbsp-housing-supply-
and-affordability. (23 pages)
o Rothwell, Jonathan T., The Effects of Density Regulation on Metropolitan Housing
Markets (June 4, 2009). Available at
SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1154146 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1154146 (47
pages)
• Articles:
o Glaeser, Ed. Ease Housing Regulation to Increase Supply. (August 1, 2016). Article
available at https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/10/16/housing-thats-not-a-
luxury/ease-housing-regulation-to-increase-supply. (1 page)
o Litman, Todd. Can Upzoning Increase Housing Supply and Affordability? (February 4,
2019). Blog post available at https://www.planetizen.com/blogs/102740-can-upzoning-
increase-housing-supply-and-affordability. (5 pages)
o Phillips, Shane. Why Supply is Essential for Affordable Cities. (September 14, 2020)
Blog post available at http://www.betterinstitutions.com/blog/supply-policies-affordable-
city-book. (5 pages)
AD HOC HOUSING COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
September 17, 2020
5:00pm-7:00pm
Zoom Meeting
Members:
Mayor Pro Tem Stephens, Councilmember Cunniff, Councilmember Gorgol
Attendees:
Staff Members: Lindsay Ex, Carrie Daggett, Caryn Champine, Meaghan Overton, Sylvia Tatman-Burruss, Clay
Frickey, Jackie Kozak-Thiel, Ingrid Decker, Sue Beck-Ferkiss, Shawna Van Zee, Yaz Haldeman
Presenters: Julie Brewen, Kendra Diede, Landon Hoover, John Williams
Community Members: Adam Eggelston, Kevin Jones, Patrick [no last name listed]
Call to Order: 5:02
Approval of August Minutes and Agenda Review:
• Mayor Pro Tem Stephens moved to approve, Councilmember Cunniff seconded. Roll call for vote:
Unanimous 3-0-0.
Discussion Item: Housing Strategic Plan Existing Conditions Document
• Presentation & Panel
• Overall vision of the housing plan: “Everyone has healthy, stable housing they can afford.”
• Prompt #1: Introductions
• Panelists introduced themselves and shared their relevant housing experience
• Prompt #2: If there were one or two housing challenges you’d like to see the community tackle,
what would those be?
• Density
• Tying policy to resources
• Cost structure, whether looking at equity or housing affordability, of all housing types
and price ranges
• Compounding issues
• Difficult to attract and retain employees due to cost of living and housing (talent
retention)
• New construction is setting the market – request to better understand how cost of new
construction/new homes drives up existing housing stock prices
• Opportunity in policy to focus some resources on existing housing stock
• Want to ensure costs aren’t driven down by reducing energy efficiency of homes
• Want to better understand root cause of dearth of townhome construction, as that has
traditionally been a good entry point for first time homebuyers
o Overall construction costs on townhomes are typically more than single family
homes
o Condo density can, however, help overcome those costs
• An increase in density can be subtle and would create significantly more units
• Relationship between decreasing costs and how that is transferred to the buyer
• Prompt #3: What housing-related solutions have you seen in other communities you think we
should test or consider in Fort Collins?
• Denver flipped vacant apartments into affordable units
• The solution has to consider not just the housing, but what that housing is near that is
attractive for buyers (what makes Fort Collins great and how can people have easy
access to those things when buying here)
• Advanced Energy (AE) has offered move bonuses to incentivize people staying in town,
but people generally still can’t afford it
• AE offers relocation bonus – may draw people here but doesn’t retain them
o For context, people are making a living wage and still unable to afford cost of
living
• Relationship between housing prices and wages/incomes – what else can employers do?
o AE - cannot increase incomes to the point of being able to afford median home
price and be competitive in manufacturing field in this country
o AE – will do additional research to see what other major employers in town are
doing in this space
• Tiered water fees different for multiplexes depending on size
• Relief for specific development standards, e.g., trees, parking, height, density, etc.
• Worth looking at broader set of peer communities where affordable and attainable
housing is being achieved: a few examples may be Ames, IA; Lincoln, NE; Waco, TX;
Fayetteville, AR.
• Metro districts
• Water policy
• Draft Existing Conditions Document (Staff Presentation)
• Created to assess the status of the housing market and set foundation for the Housing Strategic
Plan: equity and inclusion, data, biggest challenges and remaining questions.
• Drew from the Affordable Housing Strategic Plan (2015-2019), Housing Affordability Policy Study
(2014), Trends and Forces Report, Gaps Analysis, Consolidated Plan.
• Historic obstacles include redlining, restrictive covenants, and land use decisions, and there are
still health and equity disparities in Fort Collins.
• Challenges: Price escalation disproportionately impacts BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of
Color) households; current incentives and financial resources are insufficient for meeting
affordable housing goals; job growth continues to outpace housing growth; cost of development
continues to rise; addressing the entire housing spectrum will require new tools and processes.
• Remaining Questions: What will the long-term impacts of COVID-19 be? How will housing
policies evolve to address health and stability, particularly for renters?
• Discussion
• Would like to see price escalation chart as percentage of increase for income vs. housing costs.
• Median income is far from the income that can afford housing.
• No goals set for 80%-120% area median income (AMI) levels yet, but there is conversation
around whether these will be added to the new plan.
• Appreciate these challenges and also don’t want to miss conversations about wages, workforce
training, financial literacy and education, resident rights, renter registration – things that feed
into housing.
• These challenges will be informed by community input.
• Engagement with community this fall will ask residents to share stories about their housing
experiences in Fort Collins.
• Connect with Poudre School District on graduation rates, and how increasing these rates
(particularly for students of color) can lead to lower poverty rates and higher incomes in the
future.
• When was the federal housing burden number of 30% last updated and is it still a good
indicator? Is it something we still want to use?
Next Steps:
• Process Check-in
• The pre-work was helpful in getting prepared and in the right headspace.
• The videos were well-received.
• Would like more time to dig in, when possible, as Councilmembers.
• May need time grounding in basics.
• Want structured dialogue between Councilmembers to create roadmap and policy
recommendations.
• Summary of Priority Topics
• Potential Next Meeting Focus/Considerations
• Nexus of broader topics and housing affordability.
• Density and development.
• If anything needs to go to voters, time is short before April election.
• Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and how big of a difference these have made in communities.
Meeting Adjourned: 7:00