The recommendations of the Joint Task Force on Affordable Housing were presented to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors at their meeting on February 11, 2009. The Board discussed each recommendation individually in order to determine whether action was appropriate or necessary at this time. The strongest recommendation of the task force to local government is to establish an annual, dedicated stream of funding for affordable housing.
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Supervisor
Kenneth C. Boyd
(Rivanna) questioned whether the language in the recommendations referring to the local housing affordability issue as a crisis was appropriate. Boyd said that he did not feel like the area is worse off than other places in the country. “Is this the most critical need facing our County today?” Boyd asked.
Supervisor
Sally Thomas
(Samuel Miller) did not feel that the County could commit to a permanent, dedicated, annual fund for affordable housing. She discouraged the Board from taking action that would imply that they would do that. “We don’t have the money and I don’t see us doing this, in the coming year at least,” said Thomas.
Supervisor
David Slutzky
(Rio) explained that the board could recognize the recommendation to show the public that they have interest in contributing dedicated funding in the future. He suggested that the Board defer taking action but include this fund in the budget deliberation process. At that point, the Board could determine if the need for this funding outweighed the need for funding for other County programs.
Supervisor
Dennis Rooker
(Jack Jouett) asked the rest of the Board to consider if there was a lot more demand for affordable housing than the County has already been able to deliver. He pointed out that money is already allocated to deal with this issue through the Piedmont Housing Alliance. “This is a general recommendation to do something we are already doing,” Rooker said, “I don’t see this recommendation as involving an increase.”
Supervisor Slutzky explained that the consensus view of the Task Force was that the money was not necessarily going to all the right places and that the dedicated funding stream was in response to that concern. “The County is not spending enough money particularly on addressing the affordable housing needs of the zero to fifty percent [Area Median Income] AMI category,” said Slutzky.
The task force recommended that the County create a regional housing fund to accept funding from both private and public sources. The fund differs from the existing fund in that it could be allocated to people of different income levels and used for purposes other than down payment assistance.
The task force also recommended that the value of affordable homes proffered by developers be capped to help ensure affordability past the first owner. Supervisor Rooker expressed concern that this change to proffers would discourage developers from building affordable housing in high-end areas. Supervisor Slutzky responded that it is up to the developer whether they want to build affordable units or give cash proffers. “We put the burden on the developer community,” Slutzky said.
The current Comprehensive Plan includes that the County would like to see 15% of new units as affordable for those making 80% of the AMI. Developers have been targeting that number in determining the cost of their affordable units. “We really don’t have an affordable housing proffer policy,” County Attorney Larry Davis said. “We have a set of practices that the Board has accepted to address a Comprehensive Plan provision we have,” he said.
“I’m not comfortable saying that today I support every component of this recommendation,” Supervisor Rooker said. He expressed doubt that capping the value of affordable units would help to increase the amount of affordable housing.
Supervisor Thomas suggested that the task force divide the recommendations up by the level of income they are targeted to help. Supervisor Slutzky directed the County’s housing committee to examine the deed restriction item quickly and to present further study of the recommendations in order to make it clear to the board whether the proffer recommendations will be effective.
The Board of Supervisors indicated it would not give further consideration to the recommendations for paying its employees a living wage, for issuance of general obligation bonds for affordable housing, or for providing funding for loans to developers of affordable housing units. The Board did agree to receive more information on other proposals and specifically asked that more information be provided on the deed restriction recommendation.
Additional recommendations of the task force include:
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