Agenda - Planning Commission - 09/04/2014

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Last revised July 24, 2014 Council role • Provide technical assistance to communities to establish, encourage, expand, and preserve affordable housing options and expand local knowledge of and access to funding assistance for housing, whether public, private, or philanthropic. (See more about technical assistance in Part III). • Strategically invest Council resources to assist community efforts to increase the variety of housing types and costs, attract and retain residents, create and preserve mixed -income neighborhoods, appropriately mix land uses, and leverage private investment. • Invest in and encourage new affordable housing in higher -income areas of the region, particularly in areas that are well-connected to jobs, opportunity, and transit. • Work with housing partners and local governments to expand the supply of and encourage increased resources for affordable housing at the federal, state, regional, and local levels to help close the gap between the region's affordable housing need and the supply, especially in areas underserved by affordable housing and to house extremely low-income households earning less than 30% of the area median income. Local role • Prepare a local comprehensive plan that addresses the housing planning requirements of the Metropolitan Land Planning Act, including guiding sufficient land to support a community's share of the regional affordable housing need, and housing element and implementation plan sections that identify the programs, fiscal devices, and official controls to be employed to address a community's share of the regional need for affordable housing (see more in Part III). • Assess the effectiveness of local regulatory, fiscal, and planning tools that can lower total development costs and make affordable housing more feasible while also meeting other fiscal and planning objectives. • Provide resources that expand housing options through for new housing construction or rehabilitation either directly or through funding programs such as Community Development Block Grants. • Review local ordinances, policies, and partnerships to ensure they encourage and facilitate the opportunity for the development or preservation of affordable and life -cycle housing. • Consider strategies to expand owner -occupied housing affordable to low- and moderate -income households by developing partnerships with community land trusts and non-profit models such as Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. • Acquire land where appropriate and feasible to support future inclusionary or mixed -income development. • Assess fiscal and regulatory tools and incentives available to attract housing developers. • Identify and analyze local markets, the existing and forecasted affordable housing need, and the location, condition, and availability of a variety of housing types, both publicly -subsidized and naturally -occurring, to inform the housing element of the local comprehensive plan. • Participate in Livable Communities Act programs by negotiating affordable and life -cycle housing goals that support regional and local housing needs, and prepare a Housing Action Plan to address those goals and become eligible to access grant funding to address local development and redevelopment objectives. 2040 HOUSING POLICY PLAN I METROPOLITAN COUNCIL DRAFT RELEASED FOR PUBLIC COMMENT Part II: Outcomes (Equity) I Page 29