Why Mixed Income Housing Needs Our Help

Iowa City residents are rightly concerned that affordable housing policy changes could affect the quality of life in our community. Ironically, most concerns are founded on a misguided belief that balanced mixed income/housing stock neighborhoods are detrimental to overall quality of life.

This in the absence of state and national data that support such reasoning. However, by inaction, de facto higher density neighborhoods of concentrated lower-income housing have been built and this does have ramifications, as we have seen some Iowa City neighborhoods and schools.

The common sense notion is that when housing types are mixed, this lessens concentration areas of less than market-rate housing. Now add educational concerns that are being played out by concentrating lower socioeconomic households.

Would we really be having the discussion about redistricting if there were a balance of housing types available around town? Wouldn't schools have the mixture of all types of students that the district is attempting to move kids around to achieve?

Understandably, it has been politically hard to generate steam to tackle a public policy like voluntary or mandatory inclusionary zoning in earnest.

At the likely risk of being labeled neighborhood destroyers, can anyone fault city officials from removing controversial issues from the table? However it is exactly because of years of non-action regarding needed public policy that is more largely responsible for public outcry to "cease and desist" on some housing developments.

Enacting public policy like inclusionary zoning would likely reduce future problems.

In 2003, FAIR!, which monitors issues of importance to Johnson County residents, submitted a chart that showed a side-by-side comparison of how inclusionary zoning policy was enacted across the country and was used in work sessions by the City Council, in addition to other information that analyzed the housing needs in the Iowa City metropolitan area. In 2004, when the City Council tackled the issue of whether it was a good idea to spread affordable housing out and created a Task Force on Scattered Site Housing, one of the significant findings was that an inclusionary zoning policy was needed to be sure that high concentrations of low income housing would not coalesce in one area of town.

Mayor Hayek was the chair of that committee. To date, no action has taken place on this or other recommendations made to address affordable housing availability.

There are two significant reasons why inclusionary zoning policy has not been broached:

• It is historically unpopular with housing developers who naturally resist being hamstrung by regulation.

• It would cost money or other considerations for the city to implement.

For home builders to step up to create mixed-income developments, it stands to reason that they should be compensated in some way for their community-building efforts. There is no reason to ask the private sector to do this out of the goodness of their hearts. Through fast-tracking projects, reducing development fees and other considerations, a sensible inclusionary zoning policy would permit builders to meet their bottom line demands while allowing them to build the highest quality of affordable housing stock.

This, by all measures, would be good for the city's budget by widening the tax base, good for renters and homeowners who would have more housing choices, as well as good for the home building community.

If the City Council is hesitant to consider new policy and wishes to proceed with caution, perhaps a lesson I observed from following the Scattered Site Task Force could be applied.

If scattering housing is good for the community, why not empower the Planning and Zoning Commission -- or a separate appointed group made up of the community's stakeholders -- to explore how it can be best implemented? By carefully walking through the mechanics of what it would take and the cost-benefit of doing so, a policy that works for most may be put into effect.

Housing: Green and Affordable?

As we struggle with the need for new housing to be both affordable and as green as possible, we have to ask if these goals are compatible? Apparently some folks have been figuring this out and doing it.

Housing Matters: Can Building Green Be Affordable?

The Iowa City Housing and Community Development Association presents a discussion on building sustainable and affordable housing. 7 p.m. Oct. 28th, Iowa City Public Library Meeting Rm. A. Speakers: Gregory Paul Johnson (Small House Society). Don Otto (DPO Construction LC).

Here are some links to other thinkers and doers:

Green affordable Housing Coalition

The Green, Affordable Housing Guide

Iowa City Announces Housing Program for Eligible Low and Moderate Income Families

This program was just announced and is for persons who lost housing due to last year's flood and/or are low to moderate income qualified homeowners.

Low and moderate income families, including those affected by the flood, and local builders received a shot in the arm with the announcement this week that the City of Iowa City is eligible for a new state program that will help replace housing that was lost during last summer's devastating flood. The "Single Family New Construction Unit Production Program," administered by the Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED), will provide acquisition assistance (downpayment) funds for 15 to 17 homebuyers to help with the purchase of the newly constructed homes.

Program guidelines specify that the purchase price of the new homes be $180,000 or less, including the cost of the land and contractor profit. Single family detached homes, duplexes, zero-lot lines, row houses, condominiums and/or manufactured homes that are affixed to a permanent foundation all qualify for the program. The new homes must be built within the corporate limits of Iowa City, and must be completed and ready for occupancy by the end of the year.

Homebuyers, including people affected by the flood, who earn the area's median income or less and who qualify for the program, are eligible to receive up to 30% of the purchase price of the home to apply as a downpayment. The income guidelines are: for a one-person household, the median income (the maximum amount that applicants can earn per year) is $50,800; for two, $58,000; for three, $65,300; for four, $72,600; for five, $78,400; and for a household of six, $84,200.

The acquisition assistance will be set up as a 10-year forgivable loan. Homeowners who live in the home for 10 years or more will not need to repay the loan, but if they move before the 10-year term has expired, they'll be required to pay back a prorated amount. Application guidelines for residents who are interested in applying for the program have not yet been established. More information will be released at a later date and posted on the City's website after the process has been determined.

Area builders and developers who are interested in the project must submit construction proposals to the City of Iowa City by April 3, 2009. The City will then select proposals and submit an application to IDED by mid-April. More information, including program requirements, may be found on the City's website at www.icgov.org/newhomes.

Green Built Housing Can Be Affordable

After listening to Brian Munson, a urban planner with Vanderwalle Assoc. in Madison, Wisconsin, describe the 300+ acre mixed-use project called Grandview Commons that incorporates different levels of affordable workforce housing (beginning at 60-70 % of median income) and includes green build features in many cases, I wondered if it was possible to develop low income (for persons at or below 80% of the area median income level).

I learned about a small project in Madison which was developed in 2004. Green Built Home certified a Madison [Wisconsin] Area Community Land Trust duplex that exceeds the program’s sustainable building and energy standards. The Madison Area Community Land Trust provides opportunities for affordable home ownership by acquiring land and selling the house, but not the land beneath it, to low and moderate income residents of Dane County earning 80% or less of the median county income. Long-term affordability is assured by a housing resale formula that limits appreciation but still allows homeowners a return on their investment.

The two-unit building was designed by Glueck Architects of Madison and built by Gilbert Construction Corporation of McFarland. The 2-bedroom unit is listed at $99,600 and the 3-bedroom unit has already sold for $111,600. For comparison, the average sale price for homes in Dane County in January was $229,209.

To receive Green Built certification a home must earn at least 50 points from the Green Built
Home Checklist, one of the most comprehensive green building rating tools in the country. This
home scored 66 points, far exceeding these standards.

Green Built Home certification ensures that the duplex is healthier, safer, more comfortable and more durable than a typical new home. The home meets criteria for erosion control, energy efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, indoor air quality, landscape conservation and materials efficiency and complies with Wisconsin Energy Star Home standards as well.

Thanks in part to a grant from Madison Gas and Electric, the duplex also offers homeowners
reduced energy and maintenance costs on an ongoing basis, helping to ensure that the home is
affordable to operate and maintain, not just purchase.

“Green building practices and materials save homeowners money in the long term and do not have to increase up-front costs,” says Nathan Engstrom, Green Built Home Program Director. “This project demonstrates that green building and affordability can go hand in hand.”

Little Boxes

As Iowa City and other communities tackle affordable housing, we shouldn't forget the historical development of such projects. Followers of Showtime's Weeds get to hear this on a regular basis.

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,¹
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.