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<br />Housing Tools and Strategies Action Inventory 21 Recommended Actions <br />C. Increase the Inventory of and Access to Affordable Units <br />Action Explanation <br />Level of <br />Support <br />Impact <br />Does this action increase housing affordability, <br />availability, and/or diversity <br />Aff- <br />12 <br />Establish a community <br />fund to help new renters. <br />The City could allocate funds to provide <br />assistance to renters (advance money for <br />deposits, first month rent, etc.). <br />HTS working <br />group somewhat <br />supported this <br />option (50%) in <br />the preliminary <br />vote. <br />Maybe - To be effective, this may require a significant <br />amount of funding. <br />Aff- <br />13 <br />Advocate to the State to <br />change laws regarding <br />residential prevailing <br />wage rates for Affordable <br />housing with ground <br />floor commercial uses <br />(allow for split <br />determination from <br />BOLI). <br />Oregon law requires that construction projects <br />pay workers ‘prevailing wage’ rates if public <br />funds are used. Prevailing wage rates are higher <br />for some workers than market rate wages, <br />making the construction cost of publicly funded <br />projects relatively high. <br /> <br />For publicly funded Affordable developments, the <br />housing portion is exempt from prevailing wage <br />rates. But if it includes a commercial portion <br />(such as ground-floor retail), the prevailing wage <br />rates do apply to the commercial portion. If the <br />entire development were exempt, it could lower <br />total construction cost. <br />HTS working <br />group somewhat <br />supported this <br />option (41%) in <br />the preliminary <br />vote. <br />Yes – This could lower construction costs for mixed- <br />use developments that combine Affordable housing <br />with other uses, giving developers of Affordable <br />housing more flexibility to blend their projects with <br />market-rate uses. <br />Aff- <br />14 <br />Use local government <br />bonds to fund the <br />construction of <br />Affordable housing <br />developments. <br />Local government bonds are a way that local <br />governments can raise money to pay for special <br />projects. A bond is essentially a loan taken out by <br />a government agency. To use a bond, a City’s <br />voters must approve a bond (for some dollar <br />amount) and the City borrows that dollar amount. <br />The City’s taxpayers pay off the bond through <br />property taxes. <br /> <br />Oregon voters passed Measure 102 on November <br />6, which enables local governments to issue <br />bonds for Affordable housing developments that <br />may be owned by non-governmental entities. <br />HTS working <br />group supported <br />this option (82%) <br />with 4% opposing <br />it. <br />Yes – This could be a tool to fund affordable housing. <br /> <br />March 13, 2019, Work Session - Item 2