The Healdsburg Community Housing Committee will meet on Monday, March 12 at 5 p.m. at the Healdsburg Community Center, 1557 Healdsburg Avenue.
The committee has a busy agenda and will discuss growth management policies, inclusionary housing and affordable housing funding options.
The committee acts in an advisory role to the Healdsburg City Council, which makes the final decisions on the committee’s recommendations.
The committee will discuss whether to raise the inclusionary housing requirement from 15 to 20 percent. Inclusionary homes are required in new subdivisions. If the 20 percent recommendation is approved, one out of every five new homes built in a subdivision would have to be financially accessible to low, moderate and middle income buyers. Developers would be able to buy their way out of the requirement by paying “in-lieu” fees.
The housing committee will also discuss growth management. A voter-approved growth management ordinance limits housing allocations to 30 in a given year, or 90 over a three-year period. The committee wants to alter the mix of how those allocations are used, with a greater emphasis on multi-family projects (typically apartments) that would, if built, be more affordable to the working class.
The last item on Monday’s agenda will be a discussion of options for the community to fund more affordable housing. A memo that the committee will review includes four major sources of funding for workforce housing: developers; city funds; partnering with affordable housing developers or large employers; and grants from state and federal agencies.
To read the Community Housing Committee agenda and background information, click here: www.ci.healdsburg.ca.us/AgendaCenter/Community-Housing-Committee-12
