ACLC Affordable Housing activists Pam Paris and Sheila Payne attended two housing workshops hosted by the City of Gainesville in June 2022. Pam Paris took excellent notes so the community remain informed. Please see her notes below.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING WORKSHOPS HELD IN GAINESVILLE IN JUNE 2022
The Office of the City Manager for Gainesville, FL defines Affordable Housing as “housing in which the occupant is paying no more than 30 percent of gross income for housing costs, including utilities.” Other definitions pertinent to discussions about affordable housing were included in a handout provided during the June 2022 workshops. That handout which is included in the full 8-page version of the Affordable Housing Framework for Discussion can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/AH-Framework-2022. It’s worth reading and it includes a chart that shows all the 16 agencies partnering with the City, and the services they offer.
Gainesville’s Affordable Housing Strategic Plan recommends “high-impact strategies to expand housing affordability in Gainesville through a combination of incentives, policy changes, and funding sources.” These strategies are grouped in the following manner:
- Diversifying Funding Sources
- Increasing Zoning Flexibility
- Promoting Permanent Affordability
The two city-sponsored workshops in June 2022 (6/1 & 6/4) at Bo Diddley Plaza included a review of these strategies and a call for input from the participating citizens. More details can be found at the link above.
The June 1st workshop that Pam & Sheila attended was designed to explain Inclusionary vs Exclusionary Zoning but it also provided the City with the opportunity to hear from many members of the community who were very angry with how the development of areas around the University of Florida has been conducted and the impact on the surrounding neighborhoods.
In the June 4th workshop, there were 8 breakout sessions offered, as follows:
- Affordable Housing 101
- Affordable Housing Preservation
- Community Land Trust
- First-Time Homebuyer Programs
- Funding Priorities
- Housing Vouchers
- Infill Housing*
- Rental Housing Program*
*Pam was able to attend these on 6/4 and can provide more details on the discussion around these. Some highlights:
The Infill Housing breakout group provided the opportunity for at least one member of the community who is very familiar with the needs of east Gainesville to speak about the need for affordable housing, including infill. The pros and cons of Infill were discussed too.
Some notable info shared in the Rental Housing Program breakout group was that only 450 inspections out of 6,000 have been completed. However, many of those 450 had to be re-visited by City staff due to the lack of appropriate zoning experience of the undergraduate engineering students that were hired by the firm the former city manager contracted with to perform the inspections. As a result, the City is trying to hire 4 or 5 more inspectors (code officers) to catch up with the backlog, rather than use a contracted service. The City is having trouble finding good candidates at this point.
Based on a review of the session’s whiteboard notes, the Affordable Housing Preservation breakout session hit on all the areas that the ACLC has heard about from members of the rental community – for example, the fact that property managers don’t honor vouchers, renters being evicted if the renter reports the landlord for code violations, etc.
It is notable that the City of Gainesville Affordable Housing Initiatives from 2018 – 2022 (to date) have extensive timelines in which the following initiatives were discussed with various groups in the Gainesville community:
Housing Action Plan – met 7 times (2018 – 2021) in public meetings
GNVRise – met 8 times (2018-2019) in public meetings/workshops
GCRA 10 Year Reinvestment Plan – met 17 times (2019-2020) in public meetings; draft creation, review, and finalization meetings.
GCRA Pleasant Street Affordable Housing INFILL Opportunity Project – met 5 times in 2020 for presentations and neighborhood engagement meetings.
GCRA Porters Affordable Housing INFILL Opportunity Project – met 3 times in 2021 for engagement meetings and presentation meetings.
GCRA Housing Programs Community Outreach Campaign – met 10 times for presentations to various neighborhoods, and planning sessions.
Decisions by City Commission regarding Affordable Housing Initiatives – 4 decisions in 2020, 1 decision 2022 (so far), as follows:
- Adopted recommendations of the Rental Housing Subcommittee
- Passed Multi-part Housing motion
- Expand allowance for Accessory Dwelling Units
- Expand allowance for Single Room Occupancies, and Reduce tree mitigation for Affordable Housing
- Approval of Bright Community Trust, Inc. as the City’s Community Land Trust Partner
ImagineGNV Comprehensive Plan Update – met 7 times in 2021 for listening sessions on racial equity, housing justice, economic justice, the community cultivators program, “conversations in a box”, the Konveio Website. There were 16 public meetings in 2021 to discuss various aspects of the Comp Plan Update.
Current Inclusionary/Exclusionary Zoning Process – 5 public hearings/meetings held around this (one in 2020, one in 2021, and three in 2022). For definitions and details about Inclusionary Zoning and Exclusionary Zoning, please see page 6 of the Affordable Housing Framework, which can be found here: https://bit.ly/gainesvilleEZIZ. This 55-page document provides many details about Affordable Housing Initiatives in the City of Gainesville plus some nationwide statistics for greater context.
HANDOUTS PAM COLLECTED DURING THE JUN 2022 MEETINGS:
GCRA – Gainesville Community Reinvestment Area – 10 Year Reinvestment Plan (120+ page picture book)
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Income Limits for Gainesville MSA 2022
Home Energy Tune-Up Programs
Affordable Housing Framework for Discussion
Exclusionary Zoning (EZ) – definition, benefits, limitations
Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) – definition, benefits, limitations
City of Gainesville Fair Housing Ordinance – mission statement and contact information
For xerox copies, contact Pam Paris with ACLC at 352-262-1317 – or contact the City of Gainesville for full color copies.