02/18/2020 (4) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

within multi -family zoning districts limit the opportunity for alternative affordable attached unit housing such as townhomes (homeownership) and apartments. 12. Increase the allowed amount ofhousing in residential zoning districts without increasing the amount of residentially zoned land. The AHAC recommendation for this is to increase the affordable housing density bonus from 20% to 50% in multi -family zoning districts and to request that the municipalities do something similar. For Indian River County, it is recommended that this involve a review of its current density bonus regulations to see if additional site design and buffering requirements should be added and whether additional criteria should be developed to help transition denser projects from adjacent properties and different zoning districts. 13. Request municipalities review their regulations and modify those regulations as appropriate to promote more affordable housing. While the AHAC is a county committee, it contains elected officials and/or staff from each municipality in the County. While those officials and/or staff can take recommendations back to their communities, the AHAC is requesting that the BCC initiate a formal request. This could be through a motion, resolution, or letter, depending upon preference of the BCC. 14. Evaluate the Future Land Use and Zoning maps to determine if there are additional areas where multi- family zoning should be allowed and at what density. Thiswould involve review of specific areas of the county and may involve review of site conditions and surrounding uses. It is anticipated that this would involve analysis by several staff and report development. Note: recommendations 11, 12, and 14 involve staff time and analysis with presentations to the AHAC and BCC and involve both increasing and decreasing property rights, which would need legal considerations. 15. Advocate for additional affordable housing funds, which could include a letter from the BCC to the state and/or lobbying. This recommendation is related to the fact that the state has consistently year after year raided the Florida Housing Trust fund and re -allocated those funds to other state projects and purposes. The Florida Housing Trust Fund was established in the early 1990's as a source of funding for affordable rental housing projects through the State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) program and for the County's State Housing Initiative Partnership (SHIP) program. The SHIP program is primarily for homeownership rehabilitation to preserve existing affordable housing stock and home purchase assistance. Based on current calculations, the state has taken over 2 BILLLION dollars from the Affordable Housing Trust fund since 1993 and re -allocated to other state priorities. Taking funds away from the SAIL and SHIP programs has slowed the development of needed rental apartments and has prevented the County from assisting countless very low, low, and moderate income homeowners to rehabilitate and preserve existing homeowner housing. With respect to affordable rental housing apartments, the last apartment complex built through housing programs available through the state was in the 2001 to 2003 time frame. This can be attributed in part to the lack of funding available through the SAIL program, but also can be attributed to limited funds available through Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), which is administered by the state. In short, the LIHTC program contains criteria that has in part prevented development of affordable housing in Indian River County. The AHAC recommendation to advocate for funding, if ultimately obtained, will help the County, non-profit housing providers, and for-profit housing providers to address the demand for new affordable housing and preservation of affordable housing in the County. Based on AHAC analysis, any BCC advocacy 113