Agenda - Council - 11/10/1980 - Laserfiche WebLink

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INTRODUCTION Since 1971, the Metropolitan Council has used its "A-95" review process 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. The policy is implemented by ranking communities based on criteria which measure local housing performance. The policy is applied only to applications from public agencies or local governmental units for state or federal funds and includes grants for. transportation, criminal justice, parks and.open space, and aging. . The criteri~ ~ave been revised twice,.most recently in 1976. Some communities have expressed~concern that the criteria do not sufficiently recognize the current community activities to provide affordable housing opportunities.2 They-feel ~he current point-system over-emphasizes past performance or historical consequence, for example some communities have older,-more affordable market-rate housing and more subsidized housing available to low- and moderate-income people because the communities developed when housing was much less expensive to build. Their point is that there be opportunity for all communities to be rewarded for their efforts and achievements in providing and encouraging affordable housing. At the same time, the criteria should reflect the reality of the many limitations smaller or fullyUdeveloped communities ~face in providing additional housing options. I~ addition, the Metropolitan Land Planning Act of 1976 requires communities in the Region to prepare comprehensive land use plans which must address certain housing requirements including planning for the provision of the local share of the existing and projected regional need for low- and moderate-income housing opportunities and provide an implementation section in the plan which outlines the programs, fiscal devices and official controls they will employ to achieve their housing goals. The law also requires the Council to examine housing costs in the Region in response to which it has completed a modest-cost housing study, and a series of reports on housing costs, as well as a fair share plan for new-modest-cost private market housing. The proposed revisions to the Policy 39 evaluation criteria incorporate the housing provisions of the Act.