City Council Agenda and Packet 2023 09 26 SP

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Executive Summary The Boulder -Denver region has experienced a major influx of higher income earning households due in part to an increase in high -paying jobs at companies that have chosen to locate in and around Boulder and Denver. This trend has driven housing demand, and as cities across Colorado have fallen behind on housing development, affordability in many local communities has been compromised. In 2021, the City of Louisville was awarded a grant through the HB 21-1271 Innovative Affordable Housing Strategies program by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA). The City allocated the grant toward a Housing Plan to learn how these regional trends affect Louisville and to develop tailored strategies that enable affordable housing in the city. Once the Housing Plan is complete, it will play a crucial role in updating the citywide Comprehensive Plan, particularly related to the City's plans for housing and land use. The first step in creating a Housing Plan is a Housing Needs Assessment (HNA), which evaluates current and projected housing needs using a thorough analysis of the City's demographic and housing market trends. The insights from the assessment help to build a factual basis for the Housing Plan strategies. This document is that first step. As an HNA, it helps answer questions about the current availability of different housing types, who lives and works in Louisville, and the range of housing needed to meet current and future housing needs. Answering these questions provides the foundation for a Housing Plan that not only meets the current and projected housing need for a growing population, but also facilitates the City's existing goals and policies to support an array of local businesses, create more stability and inclusivity for lower -income residents, and reduce the carbon footprint of residents and workers. Specifically, addressing housing affordability supports: • The need to provide diverse housing opportunities, particularly for seniors, empty - nesters, disabled, renters, first-time homebuyers, and the support of retail and commercial centers serving local residents identified in the 2013 Comprehensive Plan; • The effectiveness of multimodal (bike, walk, public transit) options and the availability of higher -density housing along corridors identified in the 2019 Transportation Mater Plan; • The opportunity for homeowners to preserve existing housing stock by providing alternative development options identified in the 2015 Preservation Master Plan; • The desire to preserve downtown as a pedestrian -oriented and mixed -use area identified in the 1999 Downtown Framework Plan; • The expansion of housing options for diverse and low-income communities identified in the 2021 Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Task Force Report; • The goal of 12% of housing to be permanently affordable identified in the 2017 Boulder County regional Housing Strategy; and ECONorthwest