📋
Extraído del Informe Consolidado
Esta investigación fue publicada originalmente como parte de un informe consolidado más amplio que contiene múltiples investigaciones. Consulte el PDF consolidado para ver el documento completo.
Nevada County Grand Jury
• 2003-2004
Affordable Housing in the Town of Truckee Reason for Investigation Last year the Grand Jury investigated the status of
⚠️ Aviso de traducción: Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings 6 findings
F1
Review of the prior housing element: a. The Town of Truckee has taken significant steps to achieve goals and objectives set in the previous Housing Element, which was adopted in 1996. These housing goals, and the Town’s success in meeting them, are summarized in the following table. Previous Housing Element Objectives for the Various Income Levels Program Very Low Low Moderate Above Moderate 1994 New Housing Construction Goals 60 100 200 500 Actual Production 1994 to May 2003* 100 100 50 1,577 *Town of Truckee Community Development Department, June 2003; Department of Finance, Housing and Population Estimates, January 1994 to June 2003. b. The Town of Truckee met or exceeded its very low, low, and above moderate income housing production objectives. Truckee did not meet its moderate-income housing goal partially due to the absence of new unsubsidized multifamily rental construction and escalating prices that placed most new “for sale” homes out of reach of moderate-income households.
F2
Housing needs assessment: The Sierra Planning Organization (SPO) developed the regional housing needs allocation for the Town of Truckee. The housing allocation covers the planning period from January 2001 to June 2009. All new units in the Town of Truckee may be counted towards the housing allocation; there is no requirement that these units be for year-round occupancy. The total units allocated to the Town of Truckee by SPO are further divided among each of the four income categories. The housing needs allocation is shown in the following table: Truckee Regional Housing Needs Allocation January 2001 to June 2009 Income Category* Number Percent of Total Units Very Low - below $29,500 324 18.6% Low- $ 29,500 to $47,200 309 17.7% Moderate - $47,200 to $70,800 408 23.4% Above Moderate – above $70,800 704 40.3% Total 1745 100% Source: Regional Housing Needs Plan, Sierra Planning Organization, 2002 *Area Median Income for the Truckee area is $59,000 for a household of 4
F3
Free-market forces appear to be a major deterrent to the production of housing affordable to people in very low, low, and moderate-income levels. For these households, single-family home ownership will remain an unfulfilled dream unless the Town of Truckee becomes an advocate for the production of affordable housing.
F4
General topics: a. In the Town of Truckee, people with special needs include seniors, the disabled, single female heads of household, and seasonal workers. These people need access to housing and will be competing with other low-income groups for affordable housing. Meeting the Town’s housing needs will depend, in large part, upon the availability of private funding sources and funding levels of state, federal and county housing programs. b. The Town recognizes that many market rate housing developments have been built at densities below their allowed density. The Town plans to encourage developers to achieve their allowed densities within medium and high-density residential zones. The Town has also developed a density bonus program (program H.1.2.3) to encourage the development of affordable housing.
F5
Local housing program goals: a. Housing goals and policies are established to guide the development, rehabilitation and preservation of a balanced inventory of housing to meet the needs of present and future residents of the Town. Truckee has proposed 44 housing programs to help increase the affordable housing stock within the Town. Thirty-five of the programs depend on general fund monies. Seven of the programs are funded from state and federal grants and two programs are funded from tax financing. b. The Town of Truckee provides development incentives for affordable housing. For example, a qualifying residential project will receive a waiver or reduction of planning application fees, building permit fees, and mitigation fees. CONCLUSIONS
F6
The Town of Truckee Housing Element notes: “The common perception of affordable housing by the public is that it is undesirable in their community. This may constitute a constraint on a local jurisdiction’s ability to approve otherwise appropriate projects. Long- term education, superior project design, and economically integrated projects, may help alleviate these constraints.”
Recommendations 7
-
R1The Truckee Town Council should direct the Department of Community Development to continue to pursue state and federal grants that would apply to increasing the affordable housing stock in the Town of Truckee.
-
R2The Truckee Town Council should direct the Department of Community Development to research the possibility of funding some portion of their housing programs from a more broad-based system rather than depending so much on general fund monies.
-
R3The Truckee Town Council should direct the Department of Community Development to prioritize the housing programs that depend on the general fund for implementation to ensure the most beneficial programs survive budget pressures.
-
R4The Truckee Town Council should direct the Department of Community Development to seek out the state and federal housing subsidies that would help renters and homebuyers to become first-time homeowners.
-
R5The Truckee Town Council should adopt a Below Market Rate (BMR) Ordinance and/or revise the present density bonus to require a fixed percentage of affordable housing units in all new single-family housing developments.
-
R6The Truckee Town Council should direct the Department of Community Development to examine other housing programs such as the Grass Valley Workforce Housing Project and apply the best features of these programs to Truckee’s housing needs.
-
R7The Truckee Town Council should direct the Department of Community Development to continue the policy of waiving permit and mitigation fees for housing projects that qualify for the Town’s incentive programs. RESPONSES Truckee Town Council
Conclusions 6
-
CL1 Page 5Free-market forces appear to be a major deterrent to the production of housing affordable to people in very low, low, and moderate-income levels. For these households, single-family home ownership will remain an unfulfilled dream unless the Town of Truckee becomes an advocate for the production of affordable housing.
-
CL2 Page 5The Town of Truckee Housing Element notes: “The common perception of affordable housing by the public is that it is undesirable in their community. This may constitute a constraint on a local jurisdiction’s ability to approve otherwise appropriate projects. Long- term education, superior project design, and economically integrated projects, may help alleviate these constraints.” RECOMMENDATIONS The Grand Jury recommends: 1. The Truckee Town Council should direct the Department of Community Development to continue to pursue state and federal grants that would apply to increasing the affordable housing stock in the Town of Truckee.
-
CL3 Page 4The Town of Truckee Housing Element addresses the issue of affordable housing from the perspectives of geography, population demographics, workforce mix, free-market forces, employment growth, community values, and the availability of vacant land. These perspectives tend to dictate the local solutions to addressing the issue of affordable housing.
-
CL4 Page 4The Town of Truckee can address the affordable housing issue in three ways: • Locate available land, create zoning and develop policies and procedures to encourage the construction of affordable housing. Free-market forces will then dictate the type of housing that actually is built. • Develop financial incentives and the political will to encourage the construction of affordable housing. These actions will work to increase the affordable housing stock. • Develop financial assistance programs to help residents purchase affordable housing. These actions will help residents get a “jump-start” into the housing
-
CL5 Page 5Without state, federal, and local financial subsidies, few housing units affordable for the very low, low, and moderate-income families will be built. Consequently, cities are concentrating on meeting the needs of their local workforce population with housing to accommodate the above moderate-income level households.
-
CL6 Page 5The Town of Truckee permit and mitigation fee structure adds an additional $22,594 to the cost of a 2,000 sq. ft. housing unit. These fees provide benefits to the Town as a whole, but they also work to raise the bar of affordability for low and moderate-income households.
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Truckee
City