City Council Study Session Agenda and Packet 2016 10 25

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1 rn N 0 2 0 0 0 - to E a A 0 V L d 0 IN ■ ■ ■ hold members can afford a monthly rent of $745 per month. Households with only one member at 30% AMI can afford only $523 in rent per month. While the number of units in this price range have not declined dramatically, there were very few available in 2009 or in any year since. Units Affordable to Households at 30% AMI Over Time, 2009 — 2014 x t other and many additional households for units within prop- erties owned by local housing authorities, other nonprofit or- ganizations or in privately held properties with income and rent restrictions. Waiting lists for these units are long, and vacancies are rare. Agencies stressed that many households who are able to secure a housing first or transitional housing rental assistance voucher often have to turn them back because they are unable to find a unit to live in. Families and individuals seeking an affordable housing unit or housing choice voucher face long waits throughout Boulder County. The Longmont Housing Authority has a waiting list of 412 households for Housing Choice Vouchers. In the past 14 months, the agency has been able to serve 14 families that were on the list. alma _ ti X]t hr,: SOIL OL4 —34714, 11149 /twos,. 4iamahsld —last ARS OM Pwm n tsw *dd Source: American Community Survey Gap Between Median Boulder County Rent and Rent Affordable to Households at 30% AMI 4.140 $L.4€ ) 5.0 I Porican 3 Pim JI Itirbon # PIrIm Source: American Community Survey Lap Boulder Housing Partners, which serves the City of Boulder, opened their application process in April of 2016. Applicants had choices for Housing Choice Vouchers, and three properties. There were a total of 1,538 applications for the Housing Choice lottery 650 of whom received a local preference (they live and/ or work in the City of Boulder and are a family, elderly person or a person with a disability). Households from this lottery will be accepted into units or receive a voucher as they become available in the next 12 months. According to BHP, households can wait for years to secure a unit. The Boulder County Housing Authority keeps multiple waiting lists. There are a total of 1,768 households on the waiting lists for Housing Choice Vouchers (1,032), and at nine properties - located throughout the County With such long waiting lists, homeless households cannot be guaranteed any sort of perma- nent housing solution upon exiting short term housing programs, and can end up facing the same instability that they did when they first became homeless. Agency staff interviewed for this study expressed frustration with finding units for their clients. Households who have secured a rental assistance voucher, allowing them to find a unit under a maximum federal threshold in the private market with a rent subsidy paid by HUD, cannot find landlords willing to take the vouchers. Some landlords who used to take vouchers are now turning them away as higher income households can pay more than the voucher payment standards. Some older, lower cost properties that providers had relied upon to take their clients have been sold to investors, who undertake major renovations and increase rents significantly. Other properties are being torn down for the construction of high end luxury housing units. Often, voucher holders are competing with each Homeless households, especially chronically homeless house- holds, have the added burden when trying to find an affordable rental unit, of poor rental histories. Often these households have multiple evictions, poor work histories or are unemployed, have criminal records and other issues that make them less desirable to landlords than other potential tenants. Though they may have the support of an agency that will provide case management and services, landlords are still not often willing to lease to them. Agencies that have secured rental assistance vouchers targeted to homeless and chronically homeless persons are having an increasingly difficult time using this scattered site approach to providing permanent (or short term) supportive housing for the homeless in Boulder County. With rising rents, low vacancy rates, and reductions in available rental housing stock, affordable housing providers throughout Boulder County are finding it increasingly difficult to serve those in need within their existing properties and are continu- ally working to develop or acquire new rental housing units throughout the county The Colorado Multi -Family Affordable Housing Vacancy and Rent Survey for the third quarter of 2015 reported a 1.1% vacancy rate in Boulder and Broomfield Coun- ties for price restricted rental units. A vacancy rate of 5% is considered market equilibrium, and 1% indicates that units are only vacant as they are prepared for the next tenant to move in. r Market Conclusion Rents throughout Boulder County are rising at a uch higher than incomes. Vacancy rates in a tight ousing market, where development has not 'th demand. The loss of over 4,000 affordable units 2009 highlights the struggle many Boulder County ho holds face in finding a housing unit. Homeless and forme homeless households, and the agencies serving them, are having an increasingly difficult time finding any housing unit that is affordable or available to these lowest income households. Because of market challenges in Boulder County, multiple strategies must be used to provide Permanent Supportive Housing to Boulder Coun esidents, and local communities must think creativelyrecute these strategies. .11 Irl rn VI 0 2 w 0 0. 0. ++ w ra E w a ++ c 0 U al 0 m ■ ■ ■ ■ 21 18 19