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Affordable Housing Policy
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Summary and Background Information:
The City of Commerce City has identified the need for the strategic construction of additional housing units to serve low and moderate-income households through the implementation of an Affordable Housing Policy. To meet this need, the City will add more affordable units each year with the aim of increasing the proportion of affordable units to 15% of total housing units by 2040. Additionally, the City will strive to ensure that 3% of all new residential units constructed each year are affordable. By working to construct economically diverse neighborhoods with a wide range of home types throughout the City, the Affordable Housing Policy is designed to help meet the City’s need. Further, both the annual and 2040 goals are in line with Proposition 123 and the parameters outlined within that document for the City to be eligible to receive tax revenue from the State for Commerce City’s Affordable Housing Policy and associated Affordable Housing Fund. It is the intent of this Policy to provide guidance to staff and elected officials as to the appropriateness of applications from developers to construct affordable housing and to guide possible future City investment in such housing with the adoption of an inclusionary zoning provision in the Land Development Code. All new residential development projects must provide 15% of the total dwelling units as permanently affordable housing. Further, the City’s goal is to have 15% of all residential units be deemed affordable by 2040. For the purposes of this Policy, an affordable housing unit is defined as one that is affordable to persons with income below 80% of AMI paying no more than 30% of their income for housing. All units must be deed restricted to require this level of affordability for 30 years.
Staff and the development community have seen the need for affordable housing units and staff is concerned, for several reasons, that affordable ho...
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