The Vancouver City Council gained a little more insight into the Vancouver Affordable Housing Fund at a workshop Monday evening.
The housing fund is the result of Proposition 1, which approved a $6 million annual levy for the next seven years.
The fund currently has about $5 million in its coffers.
A total of 237 new units will be built in Vancouver, with 80 of those reserved for affordable housing. Funds will be distributed to seven projects, with awards ranging from $250,000 to $850,000.
Peggy Sheehan, Community Development Program manager, said the city didn’t develop specific guidelines for projects allowing developers to ask for what they needed. The city then recommended award amounts based on available funds. Four of the seven projects will receive what was requested.
“The committee came up with a way to fund everybody to capitalize on the appetite for construction,” Sheehan said. “If all of those are funded, it’s $4 million and it will leverage an additional $48 million dollars. That’s pretty huge for our community.”
The fund will also support three housing preservation projects to the tune of $400,000.
“(Preservation is) a way for folks to come to the city and apply for dollars to keep their home affordable,” Sheehan said.
Applicants can either be the individual owner or someone renting their home to low-income residents.
As part of the program, recipients must guarantee 20 years of affordable housing. Councilor Ty Stober said he’s concerned about how realistic that goal is for preservation projects.
Sheehan said those applicants say they’re not sure if they can handle the 20-year requirement, so that element is up for discussion.
“We’re not real sure yet if it’s going to be 20 years,” she said.
The council also considered what makes affordable housing projects more expensive than traditional construction.
“One of the primary reasons is public funds come with requirements related to policy goals,” Sheehan said. Energy efficiency, for example, is mandated.
The initial upfront cost for public housing is larger as well, Stober said. A public housing project requires financing for its entire useful life.
“And you’ve got to make sure when you build it the first time, you do it right,” he said.
All seven applicants will receive funding once the council approves the proposal, but Councilor Bill Turlay questioned whether the city could expect more applications once the program enters its second year.
Sheehan said it’s probable, although only a few applicants are likely waiting to see how the program works.
Councilor Alishia Topper said maintaining an open and transparent process is vital to the program’s success.
“If we want to encourage the private market to be a bigger player in affordable housing, we have to have that predictability,” she said.
The next step is council approval, tentatively scheduled for Oct. 2.
Then at the next meeting Oct. 9, the discussion about homeless prevention programs and $300,000 in Proposition 1 funding will take place.
“What we’re going to do is ask the community service providers to propose ideas on how we can best use that funding to meet the current needs,” Sheehan said.
