popular tools in the workforce housing toolkit october 1, 2015 robert hickey senior research...

Popular Tools in the Workforce Housing Toolkit

October 1, 2015

Robert Hickey

Senior Research Associate

NHC’s Center for Housing Policy

Workforce Housing Strategies

Broaden and Sustain Affordability

Allow for a Mix of Housing Types

Preserve Housing Assets

Link Market Activity to

Affordability

Reduce the Cost of Building and

Renovating

Recycle Homeownership

Assistance

Generate and Leverage Local

Capital

Allow for a Mix of Housing Types

• Apartment and condominiums

• Accessory dwelling units

• Manufactured housing

• Cottage housing

• Micro-units

• Financial incentives

• Repair assistance programs

• Property acquisition funds

• Right of first refusal laws

Preserve Assets:Low-Cost Rental Housing

iStock

• Density bonus incentives

• Inclusionary housing requirements

• Affordability requirements on public land

Link Market Activity to Affordability

City of Redmond

• Targeted parking space reductions

• Fee deferrals and waivers

Reduce the Cost of Building and Renovating

• Streamlined permitting

• Streamlined approvals

• Community land trusts

• Shared equity homeownership assistance

Recycle Homeownership Assistance

Alana Samuels

• Annual appropriations

• Commercial linkage fee

• Hotel/motel tax

• Housing demolition impact fee

• AirBnB fee

• Document recording fee

• Set-aside for tax-increment financing

Generate and Leverage Local Capital

Inclusionary Housing

Source: Hickey, Sturtevant and Thaden, Achieving Lasting Affordability through Inclusionary Housing, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2014.

Best Practices

1. Mandatory has the best track record(strong incentives needed for voluntary to work at scale)

2. Make it win-win (provide cost offsets)

3. Make it flexible

4. Make it predictable

5. Apply it broadly (some include commercial)

6. Long-term affordability

Community Land Trusts

1. Remove the cost of land from homeownership

2. Steward properties for broader community benefit for the long-term

3. 243 nationwide

4. Largest in Burlington, VT: leases land to about 500 for-sale homes

Follow-up

inclusivepolicy.org

nhc.org

Robert Hickey

Center for Housing Policy and

National Housing Conference

rhickey@nhc.org

202-466-2121 x236

@housingRobert