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Affordable housing is in the news frequently these days. Some politicians would
have you believe nothing has been done to help Longmont’s affordable housing
situation these last few years. And yet, somehow, Longmont is the most
affordable community in Boulder County. Just to set the record straight:
- In 2011/2012, we convened a Workforce Housing Task Force made up of
community members, who worked long and hard to provide the city with a
blueprint on affordable housing.
- The 2017 City Council increased the money going toward affordable
housing to over $1,000,000 per year as per that blueprint.
- That Council also decided that half of the new marijuana taxes collected
will go toward low-income housing programs as well.
- Another one of its suggestions was to ask the voters if they would
increase taxes for affordable housing. Good idea? Are we all willing to
foot the bill for affordable housing?
Now the current majority of city council wants to tax the very people who build
houses 12% more than everyone else by passing the inclusionary zoning
ordinance. Boulder has had an inclusionary zoning ordinance for many years and
yet they are the least affordable community in Boulder County.
- Could you or would you continue to be a viable business in Longmont if
you were taxed an additional 12%? Could you do it without raising the
price of your goods and services by an equal amount?
- According to the National Homebuilders Association the average net profit
to builders per home is 6.4%. Where is the 5.6% to just break even going
to come from to pay the 12% tax?
- The cost of this inclusionary zoning policy will come from increased
housing prices for the rest of us.
Perhaps larger builders could increase the cost of their product and spread that
cost out enough to make the numbers work. Smaller local builders and
developers cannot. Therefore, the very policy Council is going to enact will
disproportionately hurt small local businesses/builders/developers in favor of
large, non-local businesses. Does that sound like good public policy to you?
Inclusionary zoning will help build housing projects for lower income citizens-
3500 subsidized units by 2035 is the current goal. However:
- It will increase the cost of housing for Longmont’s other 80,000
residents.
- Longmont will no longer be an affordable place to live in Boulder County.
We have an average median home price of $425,000 and Boulder’s
average median price of a home is $925,000.
This is good news for those who already own a home, bad news for everyone
else-except the 3500. Adopting policy that will discourage the supply of homes will most certainly cause prices of existing homes to increase. Just look at San Francisco, Boulder or Aspen.
Why would we intentionally punish the very industry that can provide the housing
we need? Wouldn’t it be better to work with them? For example:
- Let’s take city owned land and issue a Request For Proposal to our
builders to create innovative, creative, affordable housing solutions.
- Let’s amend our codes further to enable that same creativity on private
land as well. The true solution to the affordable housing crisis is not in
increasing the costs to build a home in Longmont. It is in working with
the builders to find a better way to provide the housing stock we need.
- Let’s take a look at the suggestions made recently by the Workforce
Housing Committee and adopt codes and revise development procedures
that would allow builders to save time/money and build a more affordable
product.
- Let’s look at putting an issue on the ballot that would spread the cost of
providing subsidized housing to everyone in the community. Let the
community decide our level of commitment to affordable housing.
The possibilities are endless. We just need big picture thinkers. Solutions are
always better when everyone is at the table, not when one single industry is the
only thing on the menu.
Last time we had an inclusionary zoning ordinance, builders simply went to
Frederick and Firestone. Longmont was left without new housing stock. The
simple economic law of supply and demand should have foretold the problems
we had especially after the flood with a 0% vacancy rate and an increase in rents
and housing prices. Do we really think that inclusionary zoning this time will
be different?
Bonnie Finley
This is an opinion piece that was submitted to the Longmont Observer and does not necessarily represent the opinion of the Longmont Observer. If you have an opinion piece you'd like published, please visit our 'Submit an Opinion' page.
