2005-01-21 TSUFFOLKOPUAA - Laserfiche WebLink

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COOK:I think that what we received from the County, a one-bedroom,I think, was $956 a month, two-bedrooms are $1,100 and something, and three-bedroom, $1,300 and something. Those are the guidelines. FUKE:The County affordablehousing, and perhaps Mr. Takemoto can speak to that directly, but the County proposed ordinance, they do have like guidelines in terms of, you know, when you try to satisfy the affordable housingrequirement for rental, what would be the rentalratesfor the 80 or 100 percent and whether its one-bedroom, two-bedrooms or three-bedrooms. And, so, those would be the guidelines that they would have to adhere to. The other provision, I think, as I mentioned earlier is that, you know, the Director had recommended per the representation of the Applicant that this be a rental. So you have a 20-year cap that is going to be rental, so you dont have the opportunity for the project to becondominimizednosoonerthanitsdeveloped,youknow.Andtheonlywaythatit can be condominimized, of course, is that you have to, the Applicant would have to go through the same process that theyre going through trying to get the initial entitlement, which is County Council action. SPRINGER:Is that sufficient, Commissioner? SIRACUSA:Yeah, I really, I just -. Im blown away by the thought that a single bedroom apartment could be $900. And I think Im going to have to urge my County Council to review those and make those levels more realistic, because otherwise theyre really not serving theneeds of most of our people. SPRINGER:Thank you, Commissioner. Deputy Director? SIRACUSA:Right now were stuck with what it is, right? TAKEMOTO:Let me just briefly address that. The definition of affordable is pretty much a formula; and its based on the income group that youre trying to reach. For Sale housing, its, I think goes from 100 percent of median income to 120 percent; and the factors that determine the affordable sales price is based on the interest rates prevailing at that time and the income group that youre trying to hit. So were trying to provide homes for sale for income groups that earn less than 120 percent of the median income. Now, rental were trying to dip further lower. So about 80 percent of the median income is the target for the rental housing. And the basis to determine the affordable rent is that the rent should not exceed 30 percent of this median income group income, 30 percent. Those are kind of like Federal guidelines from HUD. Below 80 percent it gets very difficult for private sector to burden, to take on that burden of providing housing that reaches down at that lower levels of rent. And so below 80 percent public policy is that perhaps that should be the realm where government should step in and provide public housing or encouraging non-profits to step in with all kinds of other incentives. 15