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Land Use, Housing & Zoning
Department of City Planning Inclusionary Housing Text Amendment.
WHEREAS, The Department of City Planning, in close cooperation with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, is proposing a text amendment to the Inclusionary Housing Zoning Resolution which will:
WHEREAS, The original Inclusionary Housing Zoning Bonus was created to encourage broad participation of developers who can receive a bonus by providing affordable housing that is on-site or off-site within the same Community District, through new construction, rehabilitation or preservation of existing affordable housing which remains affordable for the life of the increased floor area; and
WHEREAS, The original Inclusionary Housing Zoning Bonus program was only available in high-density R-10 districts and was limited to a 20% increase in floor area; and
WHEREAS, The original program created very few new permanently affordable housing units; and
WHEREAS, A new “expanded” Inclusionary Housing Zoning Resolution was adopted in 2005 which can be applied to a broad range of zoning districts where it is specifically adopted as part of area rezoning; and
WHEREAS, The new expanded program has been mapped in only a few areas of the City but has already produced more affordable housing than the original program; and
WHEREAS, Developers using the expanded bonus can receive up to a 33 percent bonus if at least 20 percent of their residential floor area is affordable to households which are at or below 80 percent of the Area Median Income; and
WHEREAS, The new proposed homeownership option would make housing available to households earning 80 percent of the Area Median Income level and would be allowed to appreciate at a fixed rate, allowing a homeowner to earn a modest inflation-adjusted return but would also be capped so as to keep the unit permanently affordable; and
WHEREAS, The proposed amendments would expand the original program by increasing the incentives for utilizing the bonus program and make technical changes which are necessary to clear some ambiguities and confusion from the 2005 amendments; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Board recommends approval of the proposed Inclusionary Housing Zoning Text Amendments.
The above resolution passed by a vote of 35 in favor, 0 opposed, 2 abstaining.