INCLUSIONARY ZONING part 6

INCLUSIONARY ZONING
John McIlwain, a senior fellow at the Urban Land Institute, said Inclusionary Zoning is a piece of the puzzle.

“It won’t produce the amount of affordable housing that’s needed by a long shot, but it’s still a very valuable tool if it’s done right.”

McIlwain said cities start with the premise that Inclusionary Zoning will provide affordable housing without hurting the market. He said that is true under two circumstances:

1) A market so strong, that Inclusionary Housing can be imposed on developers and they will still make a lot of money.
2) The more likely scenario that the city gives developers something in return to offset the loss of profits associated with selling units below market price.

“In most cases, bonus density is the key. That’s one way a city can do it without spending money,” he said.

McIlwain said because high rise condominiums are so expensive to build, it is often difficult to create affordable units within them. He also cautioned that a low income family will not be able to keep up with the high monthly fees levied by high rise condos

“The biggest pitfall is pushing income limits down too low,” McIlwain said. “The advice I can give is (to use Inlcusionary Zoning) for working people, the workforce earning 80 to 100 percent of area median income. Some other program can then be created to address affordable housing needs of people below 80 percent of median income.”