Our nation is facing a severe shortage of affordable housing, and Lincoln is no exception. In fact, housing is unaffordable for 46% of Lincolnites that rent at all income levels. That is, 21,655 Lincoln households are cost-burdened by their housing. Indeed, 85% of extremely low-income families in Lincoln spend more than one-third of their income on rent. Lincoln must address these issues before they become worse, and we urge Lincoln’s leadership to put our city at the forefront of national housing reform.
PROPOSALS FOR REFORM IN LINCOLN
Collective Impact Lincoln has identified the following policy changes which, if implemented in Lincoln, would increase the affordable housing stock and/or the resources to increase housing affordability for low-income families.
Varied Income Access Plan
New housing residential developments above a certain size must either:
> Set aside a percentage of affordable units to be rented out below market rate to low-income tenants at a rate proportional to their income, or
> Contribute money to an affordable housing fund that the city uses for the development of affordable housing, or
> Build affordable units in an off-site development.
> In return, developers receive incentives such as expedited plan or permit processing, density bonuses, fee waivers, parking reductions, tax abatements or other similar benefits.
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Reform
TIF is a public subsidy given to developers to help finance redevelopment projects. Because these projects are publicly subsidized, taxpayers should get more than market-rate development in exchange when TIF is used for housing development. TIF can be reformed by ensuring that housing developments subsidized by TIF dollars either:
> Set aside a percentage of affordable units to be rented out below market rate to low-income tenants at a rate proportional to their income, or
> Contribute money to an affordable housing fund that the city uses for the development of affordable housing, or
> Build affordable units in an off-site development.
Sources: National Low Income Housing Coalition, 2019 Advocates Guide (2019); Estimates from 2012-2016 HUD CHAS data, available from the Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) website. Unaffordability is defined as having a cost burden, which means spending more than 30% of income on rent.
