Lake Oswego City Council Foothills Meeting Summary; Thanks to Three Non Profits Who Submitted Comments.

Three Non Profits Submitted Pre Meeting Comments to the City Council on Need for Affordable Housing

Before the meeting several non profits provided comments to the City Council on the need for affordable housing as part of the Foothills development plan.

A BIG thank you to the three non profits who I am aware of who took the time to submit comments (HERE) prior to the meeting:

1. Enterprise Community Partners.
2. REACH Community Development.
3. Housing Land Advocates.

At the Meeting 

I will provide a link to the Council meeting video at a later time but below are my quick observations from the meeting.


Observations from the meeting:

1. By 4-3 members agreed to proceed with Option B.
2. There was significant discussion about affordable housing at the meeting. Members discussed whether social equity concerns/affordable housing provisions would increase the likelihood of receiving transportation funding; the need to assess costs of affordable housing in financial feasibility assessments moving forward, and the need to move forward on long delayed policy on requiring affordable housing in urban renewal districts.[There was no assertion at the meeting that statewide inclusionary zoning prevented adoption of affordable housing requirements in urban renewal districts].
3. Next steps include finalization of a pre development agreement and framework plan by mid June and (by end of year) approval of urban development district; approval of code amendments; and approval of development agreement.

Not mentioned at meeting: 

In looking at ECONorthwest financial feasibility analysis (p.2) posted late on Monday it appears to me that there is a significant difference in  the count of total housing units (2,614 units) vs what appears in table 2.2.2 of the April 19, 2012 Foothills Revision Process memo (1,594 total housing units). 

The upshot may be that my projected need of 458 affordable rental units affordable <60% MFI may be understated. I will be exploring reconciliation of the two different total unit counts with city staff in the future; 35% of total rental units affordable <60% MFI remains my goal for Foothills.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.