Thursday, March 28, 2024

Planning Commission reviews Housing Action Plan

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The planning commission heard a report from the state Department of Commerce last Wednesday on an 8-month study of Leavenworth’s issue of affordable housing. It is a topic that has been on the minds of city leaders for several years. Mayor Carl Florea campaigned on the issue and has been pushing it ever since his election.

Now the state Department of Commerce has issued a Housing Action Plan to provide guidance to the city in ways to address the issue. Most of the findings and recommendations are not new and a few may cause local residents to question if the action plan is right for the community.

For example, Department of Commerce Project Manager Dawn Couch who gave the commission the presentation of the state’s recommended action plan, stated Leavenworth could not satisfy the demands of the vacation rental market or the growing need for workforce housing.

The study confirms what is now well recognized as the primary reason for the problem with housing affordability in the city. The inventory of available housing options has not kept pace with the growth in jobs. This has caused home prices in the city to soar, increasing by 73% over the last ten years. That is nearly 50% faster than the rest of Chelan County.

Making matters worse, the Median Family Income in Leavenworth has only grown by 18% making the goal of home ownership increasingly unobtainable. First time home buyers find rapidly growing home prices to be a significant barrier to their ability to find a home in town.

Rental rates have not grown as rapidly as home prices. In fact, they have trailed the growth in Median Family Income slightly at 17%. Once again however, supply of available rentals has made the rental market an insufficient option. That is about to change as the Leavenworth Haus project becomes available in 2021 providing 200 new rental units.

Currently, 43% of Leavenworth residents live in rental housing. A little more than half are considered housing cost burdened. That means they are paying more than 30% of their income for housing.

Currently, the report indicates that Leavenworth’s population is older than the state overall with fewer children. Most of these seniors occupy single-family homes. As these older adults continue to age the report raises concerns about their need for lower-cost housing options. Opportunities for downsizing is for these individuals is limited. Approximately ½ of the extremely low-income households include persons 62 or older.

The report does not address how many of these older homeowners may own their properties leaving questions about how their income meets their needs or how the current value of their home could help supplement their retirement.

The report recommends several strategies for increasing the inventory of available housing. Those recommendations generally call for increasing the density of housing in the city.

First, it recommends that zoning be changed to reduce the minimum lot size from 12,000 square fee to 10,000. The report suggests that making that change could potentially increase affordability where new houses would require less land.

Along with that change the report is suggesting limiting the size of buildings constructed on the lots. The report uses an example that says home sizes could be set on a sliding scale depending on the structure. A single family home could be limited to 2,500 feet of floor area while a home with an accessory dwelling unit or built as a duplex could be limited to 3,000 square feet. It is important to note here that these are not specific recommendations on limiting the size of homes. That would be up to the city. They are simply recommendations of ways to increase housing availability.

The report does suggest there is a need for more multi-family dwellings including duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes. It makes the point that these types of homes can improve affordability and preserve neighborhood character while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Second, the report recommends the city consider developing cottage housing. Cottage housing consists of smaller detached dwelling units often clustered around a common outdoor space. The city currently has no regulations in place to accommodate this type of housing. The report cites an example of Spokane cottage housing that allows 1200 square feet per unit homes and 500 square feet for tiny homes.

Third, the report suggests the city consider zoning codes be developed for manufactured homes. Manufactured homes are significantly less costly to build than site-built homes. The city has approved one manufactured home permit since 2015.

The entire 158 page report is available on the cities website at https://cityofleavenworth.com/col-assets/uploads/2015/06/02.17.2021-PC-Packet.pdf

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