09-05-2017 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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4-9 to residents of that particular conservation subdivision, the costs of residential units within conservation subdivisions are very high, significantly exceeding guidelines for affordable housing costs in the metropolitan area. Typically these units are only available to residents earning very high incomes; therefore young families and those who work in Lino Lakes are often unable to purchase homes in conservation developments. To create more affordable opportunities within conservation subdivisions, funding options through land trusts or non-profit organizations may be pursued that would allow the City or a non-profit organization to directly purchase open space areas created in conservation subdivisions. This would reduce costs for residents within conservation subdivisions, increasing the affordability of these units. Density bonuses may also be used as an incentive to developers to provide more affordable housing units within conservation subdivisions, as allowing for additional units on a site may make a conservation development more financially feasible. Other efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of residential development, such as green building techniques, can also increase development costs, which are then passed on to residents. This can make the provision of affordable housing units within green buildings difficult. As with conservation subdivisions, density bonuses may be used to increase the financial feasibility of residential developments that incorporate green building techniques. Funding options are available to increase the affordability of green building developments. The Minnesota Green Communities program, a collaboration of the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, the Family Housing Fund, and Enterprise provides funding to support the production of “green” affordable housing. Livable Communities Act The Minnesota Legislature created the Livable Communities Act (LCA) in 1995. The LCA is a voluntary, incentive-based approach to encourage communities to provide affordable housing opportunities. Lino Lakes is a participant in the program. When the program was created, benchmarks were established and negotiated by each community to determine owner/renter mix, affordable ownership, affordable rental, and density goals These goals established housing guidelines for the period between 1996 and 2010. With these benchmarks, the Metropolitan Council created a grant program to help assist communities with the cost of developing affordable housing programs. These grants are highly competitive among participants, and historically they have been awarded annually. 2020 LCA Goals The Livable Community benchmark and goals expire in 2010. As part of the 2030 Regional Development Framework, the Metropolitan Council estimates that approximately 50,000 additional affordable housing units will be needed in the region between 2011-2020. The Metropolitan Council will be working with communities to adopt new agreements in 2011 for the next ten year planning cycle. In order to determine new benchmarks and goals for individual communities, the Metropolitan Council conducted a study “Determining Affordable Housing Need in the Twin Cities 2011-2020”. With this new plan the Metropolitan Council has changed its definition of affordable housing from current definition of 80 percent of area median income to 60 percent of area median income. The study then developed a method for allocating affordable housing to all communities within the region based on the following four criteria:  Household Growth Potential  Ratio of local low-wage jobs to low-wage workers  Current provision of affordable housing  Transit Service