The subject of the City Council’s April 17 workshop was affordable housing. The subject is timely. The City is currently updating its Comprehensive Land Use Guide Plan. The Guide Plan sets the course for how the City Council wants to see the community develop. It’s literally a map of the city where the City Council wants to see residential, commercial, industrial, open space, utility, and public land uses. The guide plan looks forward to plan the next ten years of the city’s future.
City governments have limited tools to affect the supply of affordable housing in a city. In Minnesota, cities in the Twin Cities metro area not only have their own unique affordable housing goals, but they most likely also have a set of performance targets for affordable housing that are set by the Metropolitan Council. In Eden Prairie, we have six general housing goals:
1. Promote and encourage the provision of lifecycle housing opportunities for all age groups, household sizes and income levels.
2. Promote and support the development of new affordable housing units to meet the community’s share of affordable housing goals.
3. Lower the development costs of low to moderate income, elderly, and special needs housing developments.
4. Work in partnership with private and public sectors, and regional, state and federal agencies to help finance innovative demonstration projects and housing development techniques.
5. Promote and support the reinvestment in older housing stock and neighborhoods that are approaching the life span for some utilities, equipment and structural elements.
6. Promote and work to locate new housing with convenient access to basic services, including stores, restaurants services, transit and parks.
The City also has a set of six affordable housing performance targets that were negotiated with the Metropolitan Council in the mid-1990s:
1. 30% of all new ownership housing units in the city will meet the annually adjusted “affordable” threshold. For a owned housing unit to be “affordable”, as that term is defined by the Met Council, in Eden Prairie in 2006 it would cost no more than $193,700. That’s a tough goal to make in Eden Prairie.
2. 350 new affordable rental housing units should be created between 1996-2010. So far, there have been 236 affordable rental units created in Eden Prairie in that time period.
3. The City must spend a certain amount each year on affordable housing activities. This is called the ALHOA (Affordable and Life Cycle Housing Opportunities Amount) level. The City has more than met this target. Since 1998, the City has spent $1,411,740 on affordable housing activities.
4. Total rental housing at full development of the City will represent 25% of all housing units. By the end of 2006, 22% of Eden Prairie’s housing stock was rental. We believe this percentage will grow to around 27% by 2010.
5. Multiple family housing stock at full development will represent 43% of the City’s total housing stock. This target includes both owned and rental units. It includes everything that’s not a single family dwelling. By the end of 2006, 48% of the City’s housing stock fit this definition.
6. The average housing density in new single family detached developments will be at least 2.0 units per acre. In 2006, we believe our average density figure for single family developments is close to 3.0 units per acre. For multiple family & single family together, the density figure is 3.53 units/acre.
So that’s what has been happening in Eden Prairie concerning housing and affordable housing. There are going to be opportunities for more housing and more affordable housing in Eden Prairie in the future. Maybe the near future. We wanted to get the Council Members started thinking about this subject. I think that we accomplished that goal.
