As the market slowed, so did the production of housing, including inclusionary zoning units, but we recently got an update that although there were 16 units at the end of 2006, we are now up to 44 units. Here’s a few other numbers of interest:
- 19 IZ units that have closed and have people living in them.
- 25 IZ units that have accepted offers to purchase or reservations for units not yet built.
- 18 of these units were under the old ordinance when we still had that crazy Zach Brandon equity model and the easy way for the developers to get out of the program.
- 26 units are under the new ordinance.
- The program has helped people who have incomes as low as 30% AMI, even tho the program only requires the pricing to be at 70 & 80% AMI.
All in all, given
- how long it takes to get from approval to a build home,
- that so many of the units got out of the program under a loophole before they were even built and we were able to close that loophole,
- the rental piece was taken out of the ordinance and
/li> - with the housing market slowing down
this appears to be good news.
It’s definitely 44 more affordable units than we would have had. However, its too bad that affordable housing, for people who work in this city, is so hard. I wonder how many people who work in this City who could have benefited from this program chose to move out of town to find cheaper housing during this same time?
