HOOD RIVER — On Jan. 24, the Hood River City Council heard a presentation on affordable housing from Jennifer Kaden, senior planner for the City of Hood River, and Beth Goodman, senior policy advisor at ECONorthwest. The Community Advisory task force on affordable housing has held three meetings as of Monday and came to the City Council with project goals and feedback from the community. Councilor Megan Saunders serves as the City Council liaison to the task force. According to Kaden, the meetings have been well attended and included different perspectives priorities.
Feedback included addressing the need for both rental and ownership units, realistic strategies, quick implementation, and the potential removal of regulatory barriers.
The city hired ECONorthwest to consult on the project and provide technical assistance and form a task force to provide feedback on the final report that will be given to the city council. ECONorthwest has held six meetings with groups of stakeholders in Hood River county. These meetings have included social and community service providers, employers, local builders, affordable housing developers from around the region, Latino community members and local government agency leaders.
According to Beth Goodman, senior policy advisor at ECONorthwest, several strategies previously discussed by the task force are no longer being considered. The Multiple Unit Property Tax Exemption (MUPTE) was a possibility, but because of the overall administrative burden the task force is looking elsewhere. Inclusionary zoning was also considered but deemed “controversial and unlikely to produce a significant number of units.”
The AHPS has discussed an ordinance aimed at reducing or removing regulatory barriers to expedite the review and approval of affordable housing development.
The task force will hold two more meetings on Feb. 9 and March 30. A final report will be presented to council on either April 25 or May 9.
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