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South Carolina
needs a strategy to assure decent housing for people at all income
levels. Nowhere is this issue more pressing than in the Lowcountry.
In Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties, existing rental
housing is being converted to moderately priced condominiums.
At the same time, new rental housing production is minimal.
Growth in population along the South Carolina coast has sent real
estate prices soaring so that there is an ever-widening gap between
cost and ability to pay. Developers are constructing high-end
housing, with the result that low and moderate income households
are squeezed out of the market.
HOW
CAN THE MARKET HELP DELIVER MORE AFFORDABLY-PRICED HOUSING?
One solution is for local and state government to develop and implement
incentives that would encourage developers to produce such housing
while also reducing unnecessary barriers that impede on such developments.
1. Density Bonuses
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The most common form of compensation,
the density bonus, allows developers to build at a density
higher than residential zones typically permit, providing
greater density if the builder provides additional affordable
units in development.
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Or a builder can “buy” density
by paying into a local housing trust fund.
2. Relaxed Zoning Regulations
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Reduce regulations, including but not limited
to: minimum lot area requirements, limitations of multi-family
dwellings, minimum set-backs, yard requirements, variances,
bulk requirements and over zoning and growth management caps.
Reduce parking requirements, modify street standards.
3. Fee Waivers
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·Reduce or waive fees levied on
new development projects where affordable housing is addressed.
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Reimburse permit fees to builder upon
certification that dwelling unit is affordable.
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Reduce portion of Sewer/Water tap in fees
for affordable housing units.
4. Fast Track Permitting
5. Design Flexibility
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Allow greater design flexibility.
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Create pre-approved design standards to
allow for quick easy approval.
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Promote infill development, mixed use
and accessory dwellings.
6. Direct Subsidies and Support
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·Provide added funding through trust
fund revenues
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·Local jurisdiction acquires and
conveys land at reduced cost
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·Assistance with marketing and certification
of affordable units.
Benefits include
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Producing affordable housing for a diverse
labor force;
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Foster mixed-income communities;
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Insuring affordability in tight housing
markets;
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Stretching scarce public dollars by leveraging
market-rate construction
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Ensure economic vitality and community
enhancement
Affordable housing barriers are
defined typically as regulatory or financial systems that make
it harder for developers to create affordable housing.
According to US Housing and Urban
Development Department, a regulatory barrier is, “a public
regulatory requirement, payment, or process that significantly
impedes the development or availability of affordable housing
without providing a commensurate health and/or safety benefit.”
(APA, Practicing Planner, Winter 2004, Responding to HUD’s
Affordable Communities Initiatives: Will it make a difference?
Stowell and Shelburne.)
List of Barriers typically include the following:
• Single-family large lot zoning
• Prohibition on accessory dwellings
• Exorbitant development and impact fees
• Excessive or discriminatory public review requirements
• Shortage of land zoning for multi-family
• Unreasonable or excessive building code requirements
• Lack of incentives for increased density
• Long permitting processes and development delays
• Complicated and confusion system
• Subjective design standards and excessive preservation
requirements.
As an incentive to reduce the
cost of development impact and other review fees may be waived
or reduced in some instances. The county and/or cities have some
power to provide permission to authorize such waivers for affordable
housing units, except where “bond covenants” (i.e.
on water, sewer connection fees) or other legal constraints prevent
such waiving. In some cases subsidies for payment of fees may
be provided in the form of deferred payment or low interest loans.
HOW
CAN INCLUSIONARY ZONING INCREASE AFFORDABLE HOUSING? (.doc)
|
Jennifer Henry, 26,
began looking for her first house in the spring of 2005.By late
summer, she was still paying about $700 a month for her West Ashley
apartment, and she had no leads on a home to buy...>>>(pdf)
Marilyn Everett has
a lot to be happy about, now that she has place of her own. A portable
radio on her kitchen counter plays gospel music all day long, and
she likes to dance to the music when she’s home...>>>(pdf)
David Mandel and Cameron
Blazer have waited nearly two years – longer than
they’ve been married – for their new house to be built.
...>>>(pdf)
Greta Bowick, 37,
would love to find a home in the country for herself and her 10-year-old
twin son and daughter. ...>>>(pdf)
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