City Council Tuesday night will study the problem of securing affordable homes for low-and-middle income families in Longmont while convincing local builders that constructing those homes is financially worthwhile.
The discussion of the goals of Longmont’s Inclusionary Housing, or IH, Program is scheduled to take place toward the end of Tuesday night’s regular meeting of the council. The talk will include changes needed to the maximum sales price formula for for-sale homes provided under the inclusionary housing program.
In the almost four years of starting the IH program, no developers outside of Habitat for Humanity have opted to provide for-sale affordable units to meet their program requirements, a city staff report states. Two developments opted to provide for-sale middle-tier or attainable units that kicked in the incentive for a reduced affordable requirement, the report states.
Since 2021, staff members have heard that the sales price formula does not accurately account for the total cost of a housing payment for low-to-moderate-income households and could be putting vulnerable populations at risk of losing those homes.
“We also heard that the existing prices were cost-prohibitive for developers and builders; they could not make the numbers work when considering the complex financial stack needed to obtain equity investment and lending order to construct,” the city staff report states.
The council is not expected to take a formal vote on the IH program but will provide direction to city staff members.
