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City of Mounds View 1 2040 Comprehensive Plan DRAFT May 1 November 247, 2019 PRESERVATION OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING Mounds View includes some small homes on large lots built prior to World War II. As homeowners move or pass away, developers have purchased, demolished, and subdivided the properties for new construction, typically priced between $325,000 and $425,000. The City will continue to encourage such redevelopment, which is necessary to provide options, and to remain competitive with surrounding communities within the School District. Mounds View is home to three manufactured home parks consisting of 561 homes on a combined 80 acres. These properties are particularly desirable for redevelopment due to their size, proximity to freeways, service, manufacturing and high-tech jobs, and are walkable distances to parks and schools. These manufactured home parks are privately owned and maintained. The City intends to work with the owners and the Metropolitan Council to monitor private infrastructure for structural stability including water inflow and infiltration. Should one or more of these parks be redeveloped, the City supports preserving the same number of affordable housing units in its place, or within the same school attendance boundary. DEVELOPMENT OF NEW AFFORDABLE HOUSING The City has preference for new market -rate housing in order to provide a range of housing options. When warranted, the City will support new affordable housing projects on a case -by -case basis, preferably mixed with market rate housing. It has been the City's experience that mixed affordable/market-rate developments are difficult to attract to Mounds View because of smaller land parcels available for redevelopment, meaning smaller projects are more likely to be developed as all affordable, or all market -rate units with no mixture. The City will continue to work with its partners to better understand the City's place in supporting affordable housing within the larger metro area. Mounds View is an attractive location because of the school district, proximity to freeways, and jobs. Redevelopment is likely to occur along the Mounds View Boulevard and many of those parcels are guided for mixed use and higher density housing to better support a mix of housing, including affordable units. See Chapter 1: Land Use. The city's location is hindered by the availability and cost of land3, limited mass transit access, and public opposition to affordable housing due to the large amount that already exists in the City. Part of this is public perception of "what kind of people" live in affordable housing. The City will continue its efforts of making Mounds View an inclusive and welcoming community. 3 The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) provides competitive tax credits to qualifying affordable housing projects based on a Qualified Allocation Plan, taking into account proximity to jobs, transit, high performing school districts, economic and racial integration. More points tend to be awarded to those areas of higher incomes and less integration, presenting a challenge for Mounds View which is stable and affordable, not attracting regional attention for reinvestment, and supporting vacancy along Mounds View Boulevard. Boulevard Affordable Housing costs about the same to construct as market -rate housing. New affordable housing is affordable because of subsidies provided to the developer/owner, allowing them to reduce rent. For example, the Boulevard Apartments (2019) costs about $230,000 per unit to build, and will charge rents within 60% of AM I. The project received funding from multiple sources, including; the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (IRS Tax Credits), Metropolitan Council (Livable Communities Grant), Ramsey County (discounted land sale), and the City of Mounds View (Tax Increment Financing). It is these subsidies that made the project financially feasible, and would not have been built but for this assistance. Chapter 3: Housing 1 3-8