Q: What if the City could come up with a program that created affordable housing and didn’t cost the taxpayer a dime?
A: The Mayor, Zach Brandon and Tim Bruer would oppose it.
Fortunately, this isn’t a hypothetical question. There is such a program. It’s called the capital borrowing program. The program would work like this.
1. City borrows money at its lower affordable rates.
2. Developer promises to provide affordable housing in exchange for the City lending at these lower rates.
3. The developer pays us back, with costs and interest, over a 10 year period.
4. Affordable Housing is built and housing options are provided for our community.
Oh, did I mention, it was only for rental housing, not owner-occupied housing. So it would reach the lowest income people in the City, unlike Inclusionary Zoning which has been criticized for being a program for the middle class. This housing would be housing for people of more modest means.
Additionally, the program likely wouldn’t be used extensively as very few developers will create affordable housing, even when offered lower interest rate money. This is a voluntary program that is designed to incentivize developers to help our community. A carrot, not a stick.
Unfortunately, the Mayor, Zach Brandon and Tim Bruer did oppose it and it failed to pass the Board of Estimates last night. Why?
The Mayor says that since he’s been Mayor we’ve nearly tripled our borrowing and we simply can’t borrow more. And other communities in Dane County have to do something before Madison does any more.
Zach Brandon says a new police station is more important, cuz its all about safety and only safety.
Tim Bruer says we should just use the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. However, by the end of the year, we will have committed $3M of the $3.5M for Allied Drive and there won’t be any money to create any other affordable housing and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, no matter what changes we make, will be just a theory with no funds.
This is typical. Every time we come up with a program for affordable housing Alderpersons complain that we should do something else. With IZ on the chopping block, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund drained and no other plans on the table for affordable housing, what is this community going to do to make sure that this is a community that has a wide range of housing options available.
Apparently, nothing. That is, unless these people start to hear from you. The Housing Committee will be meeting to discuss this tomorrow at 3:00 (its still showing up as 5:00 but the meeting has changed to 3:00) if you want to hear more details. The Community Development Block Grant Commission already passed it 6 – 0. If the Housing Committee passes it tomorrow, it will be at the Council meeting on Tuesday.
