A bond measure soon to come before Flagstaff voters could add $20M to the City’s efforts to increase affordable housing.
One of two General Obligation bonds on the Flagstaff November ballot, Proposition 442 is intended to fund four projects that will increase the number of affordable rental units and expand the first-time homebuyers’ assistance program.
The other bond measure – Proposition 441 – focuses on fire, flood and wastewater infrastructure efforts. The two measures have a combined cost of slightly more than $125M. The Flagstaff City Council approved adding the measures to the ballot in June, following recommendations from the Flagstaff Citizens’ Bond Committee.
Flagstaff approved a 10-year housing plan in February, after having declared an affordable housing emergency in 2020. City data show 45% of households in Flagstaff are cost burdened, with a disproportionate share of renters – 57% – spending more than 30% of gross income on housing.
Three of the four Prop 442 projects target increasing the number of available rental units and providing incentives for developers to include affordable units in future projects. Taken altogether, the efforts are intended to create more than 1,000 new affordable rental units.
$5M in funding under the bond will redevelop and add units to existing City-owned public housing projects with the goal of increasing the unit count from its current 265 up to a minimum of 530. An additional $3M be used in City partnerships with private developers to repurpose existing buildings into rental units. $5M will go to incentivize private developers to include affordable units in market-rate multifamily projects, and $7M will be used to expand the City’s homebuyer assistance program.
A $25M housing bond request was narrowly defeated in 2018. Housing staff used feedback collected after that defeat in an attempt to address concerns about transparency and program detail in preparing the current request. (Source)