HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 01- Land Acquisition for Affordable Housing Update AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: 6/17/2024
Meeting Type: Work Session
Staff Contact/Dept.: Katie Carroll/DPW
Erin Fifield/DPW
Staff Phone No: 541-726-3660
Estimated Time: 10 Minutes
S P R I N G F I E L D
C I T Y C O U N C I L
Council Goals: Promote and Enhance
our Hometown Feel
while Focusing on
Livability and
Environmental Quality
ITEM TITLE: LAND ACQUISITION FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING UPDATE
ACTION
REQUESTED:
Information only.
ISSUE
STATEMENT:
The City recognizes there is a need for more housing that is affordable in the
community and is working to address this need through the Springfield Housing
Strategy, first developed in 2017. One strategy City Council has directed staff to
work on is acquiring or helping developers acquire land for development with
income-qualified housing to serve households with low incomes.
ATTACHMENTS: 1. Council Briefing Memo
DISCUSSION/
FINANCIAL
IMPACT:
Staff has been searching for land to acquire for development with income-qualified
housing to serve households with low incomes as part of the City’s Housing
Strategy. So far, the City has acquired three properties.
Staff will provide Council with updates on its plans for making the three City-
owned properties available for development with income-qualified housing.
The City received federal American Rescue Plan Act funds via an
intergovernmental agreement with Lane County for land acquisition which it has
used to acquire property. The City has also taken ownership of tax-foreclosed
properties from the County for a nominal fee for purposes of developing income-
qualified housing.
M E M O R A N D U M City of Springfield
Date: 6/17/2024
To: Nancy Newton COUNCIL
From: Katie Carroll, Housing Analyst
Erin Fifield, Community Development Analyst
Jeff Paschall, Community Development Director
BRIEFING
Subject: Land Acquisition for Affordable Housing Update MEMORANDUM
ISSUE: The City recognizes there is a need for more housing that is affordable in the
community and is working to address this need through the Springfield Housing Strategy, first
developed in 2017. One strategy City Council has directed staff to work on is acquiring or
helping developers acquire land for development with income-qualified housing to serve
households with low incomes.
COUNCIL GOALS/
MANDATE:
Promote and Enhance our Hometown Feel While Focusing on Livability and Environmental
Quality
BACKGROUND:
Staff has been searching for land to acquire for development with income-qualified housing to
serve households with low incomes as part of the City’s Housing Strategy. The City received
$1.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds through an intergovernmental
agreement with Lane County for this purpose and has been searching for land for approximately
one year. So far, the City has acquired three properties and has approximately $900,000 in
ARPA funds remaining.
In the Council’s April 15th work session, staff recommended making the remaining ARPA funds
(which must be spent by December 2025) available to developers to purchase land through a
forgivable loan program. Staff will return to Council in its July 1st regular session with revised
program guidelines and a resolution for the Council’s consideration.
CITY-OWNED SITES UPDATE:
Staff is focused on making the three City-owned sites available for development. A webpage at
https://springfield-or.gov/land-acquisition/ has been created to share information and updates on
the City’s land acquisition efforts and City-owned properties.
Laura Street
The Laura Street property is a .17-acre R-1 zoned property that is currently developed with an
uninhabitable house. The Council has directed staff to pair the property with federal HOME
Investment Partnership Program – American Rescue Plan Act (HOME-ARP) funding and to
require four units of income-qualified rental housing to be built. The property and HOME-ARP
funding will be awarded to a developer through a competitive request for proposal (RFP)
process run by the City of Eugene on behalf of the Eugene-Springfield HOME Consortium. The
RFP is anticipated to open later this summer and close late fall.
In preparation for the RFP, the City of Eugene is conducting the required federal environmental
review of the site. Once the review is complete, the uninhabitable house on the property can be
razed and the site can be prepared for development.
MEMORANDUM 6/13/2024 Page 2
Staff held a neighborhood meeting on April 18th to share information about the City’s plans for
the site and to answer questions. Community members interested in updates on the property can
sign up to be on a mailing list. Staff is planning to hold another neighborhood meeting with
developers interested in applying for the RFP before proposals are due.
16th Street & Main Street
The property at 16th Street and Main Street is a vacant 1.1-acre lot which is split-zoned
Community Commercial (CC) and R-1. Given the size of the site and the permitted density, staff
believes it is most suited for apartment-style income-qualified rental housing. As rents will need
to be kept below market rate in order for the cost of housing to be affordable to low-income
households, the project will require significant subsidy.
City staff met with staff from the Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS)
Department in April to learn more about OHCS’s new process for awarding funds for income-
qualified housing development and to determine if the 16th Street and Main Street site meets
OHCS’s location criteria requirements to receive funding. OHCS confirmed the site is suitable
for its funding.
Staff’s experience with past projects is that OHCS funding will only cover a portion of needed
development funding, and there is most often a need for local funding to help cover the gap in
financing. Staff believe the best way to ensure that a project on this property is successful is to
pair the site with the City’s HOME funds, and award both the site and the funds to a developer
as part of the City’s annual HOME RFP process.
The most recent HOME RFP process in 2022 awarded about $2.2 million in HOME funds to
Cornerstone Community Housing’s Springfield Apartments proposal which is expected to cost
at least $12 million and will be partially funded by OHCS. Currently, Springfield has an
estimated $750,000 in HOME funds available to award to a developer along with the property.
S. 52nd Street
The S. 52nd Street site is a vacant .25-acre property zoned R-1 that Council has directed staff to
award to a developer to build four to five units of income-qualified homeownership housing.
The City does not have any construction funding to pair with income-qualified homeownership
projects but does have other resources that could be accessed, including the Springfield
Homeownership Program (SHOP) for downpayment assistance and Low-Income System
Development Charge Waiver for Homeownership (currently set to expire December 2025).
Staff have prioritized making the other two City-owned sites available for development and hope
to identify a process for awarding the S. 52nd St. site to a developer later this year.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Information only.