Council Debates Assisted Multi-Family at Transit Policy

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When City Council adopted a policy in late 2001 to promote the development of Assisted Multi-Family Housing around Blue Line rail stations, it planned on revisiting it within two years to determine whether it had been effective. Now, nearly a decade later, city staff is finally getting around to it – and a quick analysis shows there is much more work to be done. To date, 79 rezonings have occurred along the South transit corridor, totaling 355 acres. More than 2,100 housing units have been constructed along the line, with another 4,500 in the pipeline. But of those units, only 180 are below-market, assisted product. A meeting last month with development industry representatives produced some ideas on how to revise the policy to help spur increased development of assisted housing in transit corridors, including:

Expanding the transit station radius to a half-mileRemoving the maximum percentage of affordable units in amulti-family, mixed-income development Removing the required minimum densities for a transit corridor developmentFocusing on achieving mixed-income housing within a transit station area instead of within individual developments.

City Council’s Housing & Neighborhood Development (HAND) committee discussed the policy at its meeting on September 7, and will revisit it again in October before making recommendations to Council. You can find a copy of the staff presentation on this topic HERE.

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