Agenda - Council - 09/30/1980 - Special

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I. INTRODUCTION AND-BACKGROUND Since 1971., the Metropolitan Council has used its A-95 review authority to reward communities which plan for and provide low- and moderate-income housing opportunities. The Council has done so based on Policy 39 in its Housing Chapter of the Metropolitan Development Guide. Policy 39 establishes funding priorities based upon each community's provision of lower-cost .housing opportunities, and its.plans, policies and programs to provide such housing in the future. Policy 39 is, in turn, based on evaluation criteria that have been used to measure local housing performance. The criteria have been revised twice, most recently in 1976. The criteria apply to local applications for state or federal funds including transportation, criminal justice, parks and open space, and aging grants. Applications for federal or state housing subsidy programs are not included, nor are applications_ for projects which are clearly regional in nature and are defined as such in an adopted Council plan. The criteria apply only to applications from public agencies and local governmental units for federal or state assistance. Applications from private groups and organizations are exempt from this policy because, unlike local units of government, these organizations do not make major housing decisions for the community. WHY REVISE THE CRITERIA? There are several reasons why the Metropolitan Council ..is proposing to revise its criteria to measure local housing performance at this time. The Council wants to be responsive to local community concerns and criticisms of the criteria which have been expressed over the past several years. Some communities have felt that the present criteria do not sufficiently recognize the more current activities which communities have engaged in'~to provide affordable housing opportunities. Rather, the communities have said the current criteria place far too great an emphasis upon past performance and the historical fact there is more affordable housing in the older communities, particularly housing for low- and moderate- income people and subsidized housing units. Some communities have' said that the present system results in continually rewarding the same communities year after year for factors of historical consequence such as the cost of housing at the time the community developed, and that this is not necessarily representative of local efforts to provide affordable housing. In addition, they feel that such criteria are given a disproportionate weight within the point system. Their concern, shared by the Council, is that there is opportunity for all communities to be rewarded for their efforts and achievements in providing and encouraging afforable housing. The criteria should recognize the housing activities