Rima Shah
Developers looking to build in the San Fernando Road Corridor
Redevelopment Project Area in Glendale will have to pay considerably
less to meet the affordable housing requirement after a joint meeting
of the City Council, Redevelopment Agency and Housing Authority set
the "in-lieu" fee at $17 per square foot.
State law requires developers to make 15% of their development
affordable housing in a redevelopment zone, and the in-lieu fee is an
amount that developers can pay to the city as an option instead of
including affordable housing in their projects. The money is then
used by the city to build affordable housing.
The earlier amount suggested by the Housing Authority was $29 per
square foot for ownership projects and $39 per square foot for rental
projects. These rates were reduced from the original rates of $50 and
$56.
The new rate of $17 for the San Fernando Road redevelopment
project is comparable to Burbank and Pasadena, who have similar rates
for their in-lieu fees collected from residential construction
projects throughout the city.
Burbank's in-lieu fees include $12.60 for ownership projects and
$15.30 for rental projects.
There was some concern, initially, that the lower amount, which
although similar to Burbank's and Pasadena's, might not generate
enough money to build the affordable housing units that the state
requires the city to build.
"If you establish a lower rate that's comparable to Burbank and
Pasadena citywide, you won't raise enough money to provide the units
that you'd be taking the obligation for," City Manager Jim Starbird
said.
The in-lieu fees collected from the city, however, will then be
subsidized with the federal affordable housing funds and state
housing funds to build the required amount of units, said Andrea
Hipps, senior administrative analyst for Glendale's Housing
Authority.
In the 15% of affordable housing units mandated by the city, 6% is
reserved for very low-income housing and 9% is reserved for low and
moderate-income housing.
