< Back To Index 08.01.2008 - HPP

During 2008 all municipalities in the Twin Cities area must revise their comprehensive plans to cover the next decade.  A key part of those plans entails setting aside land, and planning for how cities can meet their affordable housing goals.  One of the best ways to increase our affordable housing supply over the next decade is to put in place now the most effective strategies for expanding the supply.  Encouraging the adoption of effective housing planning is currently a major project for HPP and allied organizations such as MICAH and ISAIAH, two faith-based advocacy organizations.

In 1995, metro area cities made a collective commitment to the Met Council to produce 100,000 affordable units by 2010.  At the region's current pace, it is likely no more than 60,000 such units will be produced by that time—a major shortfall at a time when the gap between the need for affordable homes and the supply continues to grow.  As a region we have to do better, and one place to start is for cities to become much more effective with their local policies which make lower cost housing possible.  

There is one practice that can be quite effective but which is significantly underutilized in our area—Inclusionary Zoning (IZ).  Cities that adopt IZ require that developers building housing include affordable units in their developments in return for the city providing the owner with financial incentives to make it possible—most commonly density bonuses.  Over 400 cities across the country have now adopted IZ and in a number of situations it has been an effective tool for expanding the supply of affordable housing.  For more information on IZ, comprehensive planning, and on city progress toward housing goals, visit www.TCHousingPolicy.org.