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5 | P a g e <br /> <br />the county regardless of the population size. However, the counties are not responsible for <br />providing the services or preparing these areas for development. Often the urban growth <br />management agreements require the planning and development of these areas to be city <br />responsibilities. The comprehensive plan of these cities must account for the services and <br />development patterns allowed under the zoning established by the county. Therefore, smaller <br />cities without much capacity will be required to do some of this work too. <br /> <br />Impacts to cities already working on improving housing outcomes <br />In the last two years, cities have been required to allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs) for all <br />detached houses that exist within their boundaries (SB 1051 (2017)). Many cities are trying to <br />recover the planning time lost to making changes to the zoning and development codes required <br />to ensure that the regulations around these units would be considered reasonable. Some cities <br />are struggling with how they will permit these units based on undersized infrastructure in these <br />neighborhoods. Anecdotally, cities have not seen a large increase in ADUs as a result, but <br />further research is needed to see if this will change over time. <br /> <br />Other cities were required to examine the city’s rental picture because they are “heavily rent <br />burdened” under HB 4006 (2018). While city staff had to use time to finalize reports and conduct <br />meetings, they are also using it as an opportunity to inform their policies to improve the rental <br />market. They are focusing on policies identified by the work of local housing committees, <br />research or the direction of council. These cities are at the beginning of these efforts and shifting <br />focus to address another new mandate will be disruptive. <br /> <br />The state also provided significant funding to help cities to update the information that supports <br />their housing plans (their housing needs analysis (“HNA”)) or update local codes to reduce barrier <br />to housing types. These reviews are scheduled to be completed by the end of this fiscal year, <br />and the next steps for many of these communities will be adopting or implementing the new code. <br />The desire for this type of assistance was so popular that the Department of Land Conservation <br />and Development had to turn away more than half the applicants. We are supporting efforts to <br />create a dedicated program to help more communities meet these needs in the next biennium <br />(HB 2075 (2019)). <br /> <br />Cities in the Metro region are working to address the requirements of Metro’s 2040 plan and <br />finding ways to ensure that the newly passed Metro housing bond can be used in these cities to <br />increase affordable housing. These planning efforts require planning staff and housing <br />specialists to focus on how to meet the needs of the hardest to house: very-low and low income <br />residents. <br /> <br />March 6, 2019, Work Session – Item 1