HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Ad Hoc Housing Committee - 09/17/2020 -
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AD HOC HOUSING COMMITTEE
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
o Overall vision of the housing plan: “Everyone has healthy, stable housing they can
afford.”
o Prompt #1: Introductions
Panelists introduced themselves and shared their relevant housing experience
o 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
2
• Overall construction costs on townhomes are typically more than single
family homes
• 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
o 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
• 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?
• AE - cannot increase incomes to the point of being able to afford
median home price and be competitive in manufacturing field in this
country
• 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)
o 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.
o Drew from the Affordable Housing Strategic Plan (2015-2019), Housing Affordability
Policy Study (2014), Trends and Forces Report, Gaps Analysis, Consolidated Plan.
o Historic obstacles include redlining, restrictive covenants, and land use decisions, and
there are still health and equity disparities in Fort Collins.
o 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.
3
o 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
o Would like to see price escalation chart as percentage of increase for income vs. housing
costs.
o Median income is far from the income that can afford housing.
o 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.
o 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.
o Engagement with community this fall will ask residents to share stories about their
housing experiences in Fort Collins.
o 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.
o 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
o The pre-work was helpful in getting prepared and in the right headspace.
o The videos were well-received.
o Would like more time to dig in, when possible, as Councilmembers.
o May need time grounding in basics.
o Want structured dialogue between Councilmembers to create roadmap and policy
recommendations.
• Summary of Priority Topics
• Potential Next Meeting Focus/Considerations
o Nexus of broader topics and housing affordability.
o Density and development.
o If anything needs to go to voters, time is short before April election.
o Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and how big of a difference these have made in
communities.
Meeting Adjourned: 7:00