The Washoe County Board of Commissioners is one step closer to adopting an ordinance that would give incentives to developers who build units for low-income residents. An affordable housing trust fund would designate public funds to help get these projects moving forward.
"We need to think about this as an infrastructure and investing like we do in other infrastructure," J.D. Klippenstein, Executive Director for ACTIONN said. "Developers will respond if there's more tools at their disposal to actually build the housing."
"When they consider should they build market-rate, if we can nudge them towards affordable housing with incentives, I think that's a really good opportunity for our region," Kate Thomas, Assistant County Manager said.
Many residents are feeling the pinch as rents continue upward. Affordable housing is considered anything less than 30 percent of household income. Many people pay much more than that and it is getting harder to make ends meet.
"There are so many people that are seniors and disabled folk who live on a fixed income and as rents of course increase, there's no place for them," Greg Horton, Reno resident said.
Horton lives in a weekly/monthly motel near downtown Reno. The 66-year-old lives off social security and disability and says there are many people with similar circumstances. He says he knows people who pay up to 70-80 percent of their income on rent. That is why he supports the trust fund.
"We can get a lot of these people out of weekly/monthly motels into a reasonable environment," Horton said.
The board could adopt the plan on March 26. If it does, it would have to find a way to pay for it.
"The important thing is to get the trust fund set up, so that if we do realize funding opportunities in the near-term, we can go ahead and put that into place," Thomas said.
Klippenstein says he wants to see about $5 million of funding per year. If the revenue is not there, it could require a government service tax. That could generate $14 million per year, and the money could be used for other infrastructural needs, including the trust fund.
"We can't plan, we can't prioritize, we can't meet anywhere what the need is, so having a designated revenue sourced at the local level helps us be much more strategic and leverage even more resources," Klippenstein said.
"We're going to look far and wide to make sure that the affordable housing trust fund is well-funded," Thomas said.
Thomas says the program would be just one piece of the puzzle, saying it is important to work with the affordable housing units and programs that are already available, while striving for more solutions.
"While we have our eye on this prize, we have to make sure we make a conscious effort to keep our eye on the other issue, which is the existing affordable housing market and making sure that stays strong and sustainable," Thomas said.
Dozens upon dozens of supporters attended Tuesday's board meeting. Klippenstein spoke on their behalf, and he is confident that the county will adopt the program. He says he is looking at what other cities do to solve this problem, and says local leadership is needed to solve local problems.
"What do other communities do?" Klippenstein said. "They have local and regional investments. They take responsibility for the housing needs of their community and don't wait for some magic wand somewhere else, in Carson City or Washington D.C. to fix the problem for them."
