Building an Analysis of Impediments to Affordable Housing (AI)

City of Seattle - Debra Rhinehart, Panelist

Context--Consolidated Plan 2010 Federal Funding

• CDBG $13,000,000

• HOME $ 4,615,512

• HOPWA $ 1,760,439

• ESG $ 535,274

• One time ARRA grants over three years:CDBG-R $ 3,300,000HPRP $ 4,993,052

Who Manages Consolidated Plan Money?

• City of Seattle Consolidated Plan funds administered by:

• Human Services Department (HSD)

• Economic Development Department (OED)

• Office of Housing (OH)

2010 Proposed Allocation by DepartmentsAll Funds

OH40.4%

HSD37.1%

OED22.4%

Seattle’s 2010 Estimated Housing Funding Includes:

• CDBG $ 2,762,293

• HOME $ 4,615,512

• Housing Levy$20,714,286

• Other state, county, private foundation and federal sources

• Funding provides for:LI Rental production & preservationHomebuyer assistanceRenter assistance

Seattle Affordable Housing Strategies

• Address housing needs of low and extremely low-income households;

• Boost supply of housing for moderate wage workers in the city;

• Support the City’s Ten-Year Plan to end Homelessness.

• Affordable Housing Strategies summary http://www.seattle.gov/housing/planning/docs/SeattleAffordableHousingStrategiesSummary.pdf

Developing the City’s 2008 AI

• Review of laws, regulations, policies

• Assess effect of laws/policies on location, availability of housing

• Evaluate public and private conditions that affect affordable housing

• Data analysis for housing inventory in range of unit sizes

• Strategies to address identified impediments

• Integration of AI into 2009-2012 Consolidated Plan

2008 AI Challenges• Coordinate the work: consultants and in-

house staff in multiple departments• Use of both Census and ACS data, but

there are reliability and comparability issues with the two sources; leads to qualifying conclusions

• Many types and sources of data, from discrimination complaints to lending data to federal statistics.

• Difficult to create coherent conclusions and recommendations to address impediments.

Selected AI Data SourcesAnalysis Topic Method/Data Source(s)

Background Data:• Demographic• Income• Employment

• US Census 2000• American Community Survey (ACS) 2004 and 2006• 2002-2004 Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics, OntheMap

Housing Profile:• Housing Supply Characteristics• Homeownership Market• Rental Market• Subsidized Rental Housing• Housing Tenure• Cost burden and Affordability• Housing Segregation

• US Census 2000• ACS 2004 and 2006• Seattle Housing Authority• Northwest Multiple Listing Service• Dupre & Scott Apartment Advisors, Inc.• Office of Housing Assisted Housing database

Impediments in Private Sector:• Fair Housing complaints• Lending and Financing Trends• Rental Ads• Mortgage & Foreclosure Trends

• WA State Human Rights Commission• Seattle Office for Civil Rights• Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data (HMDA)• Northwest Rentals, Seattle Weekly• WA Center for Real Estate Research

AI in the Westchester County decision era• Lessons learned • Will 2010 US Census help? Gives us

back census tract and GIS tools• Increasing interest in tools available at

City/County level to help with analysis; potential regional collaboration

• Role of HUD in assisting grantees to conduct AI– Anticipating rule refinement?– Integration of CHAS/2010 Census

data?– Consistency in policy and interpretation?

Contacts & Websites• Debra Rhinehart, Senior Planner, CDBG

Administration, HSD, (206) 685-0574 debra.rhinehart@seattle.gov

• Laura Hewitt Walker, Policy & Program Development, Office of Housinglaura.hewitt@seattle.gov

• City of Seattle 2009-2012 Consolidated Plan at http://www.seattle.gov/humanservices/community_development/conplan/default.htm

• City of Seattle 2008 Analysis of Impediments to Affordable Housing at http://www.seattle.gov/housing/planning/docs/Analysis_Impediments.pdf