One question I've been hearing about the proposed #a2council affordable housing millage is, "why 20 years?"
The quick answer is that a millage less than 20 years reduces our ability to obtain federal funds to build the housing. partnersforaffordablehousing.org
The quick answer is that a millage less than 20 years reduces our ability to obtain federal funds to build the housing. partnersforaffordablehousing.org
The power of the local millage is that it gives us money to leverage federal low income tax credits, the major revenue source for building affordable housing.
Since the goal is that about 1/4 of units would be permanent supportive housing w/ robust services, to access these federal funds we would need to show that we could provide those services for 15 years. If we can't show that, our ability to be get the funds takes a nosedive.
So, even with a 15 year millage, if we complete construction on a housing site in year 3, we're already out of time to show service funding.
A situation like that, where it's just a 3 year gap, we might be able to make up and still be competitive. But we won't get all the housing built even in 3 years, so we're out of contention for the later units.
So, a shorter millage term requires us to either forego federal money or abandon the supportive services necessary to house those at most need in our community.
Initially I was supportive of a shorter millage because of millage renewals give us a chance to keep millages up at their full value (don't worry if you don't follow that, it's a wonky point). Now that I see the federal money component, I'm convinced. We need a 20 year millage.
