07-12-2017 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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13 As first-ring suburbs with changing demographics, none has begun to consider examining the relationship between employment in their cities and the need for housing for those employed. Conclusion At the time of the survey, all the cities indicated acreage available for new residential development is minimal to non-existent, placing emphasis on future redevelopment of existing land tracts and upgrades or rehabs of current properties. In general, cities were not well informed about low-income affordable housing AMI availability and present rental voucher usage. Nor were they making affordable housing more development friendly through regulation flexibility. Connecting local individuals/families to support organizations that help them find housing is minimal. Reflecting the LWVMN position on housing, improvement needs to be encouraged in: ● Providing for a full range of affordable housing opportunities in each city. ● Preserving and improving current affordable housing. ● Promoting better awareness of rental housing subsidy usage and linking low- income residents to support services. ● Supporting incentives that make development/rehabilitation more attractive to developers. ● Maintaining and regulating rental properties. ● Considering inclusion of affordable housing when minimal land available is developed. ● When licensing landlords, urge or require them to list on HousingLink if their units are affordable. What’s Next? This year’s study sought to educate League members, elected officials and the public about the need for affordable housing and its availability in the five cities in which most of our members reside. Many of the housing experts we interviewed told us that informed local advocacy by the League of Women Voters, partnering with other organizations, including churches, could be a key factor in garnering local interest to increase affordable housing options in our cities. Capstone Project League members are working with a team of University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs graduate students working on a Master’s Degree Capstone Project. The goal of the team is to analyze existing affordable housing in our five cities and build a framework of successful practices to meet future needs of our changing cities. With the students, we will make our study results and the framework they develop available to our cities to use as they update required Metropolitan Council housing plans. We will also make the framework available to other leagues representing first-ring suburbs who have many of the same needs as our cities.