Few cities have the resources to become housing providers themselves, but fortunately, it is often more efficient and effective for cities to support the work of their local nonprofit and for-profit housing providers and housing authorities instead. AHA member jurisdictions have additional opportunities for building opportunities for returns to scale through partnering with other AHA members and community partners.
These partnerships can work in many ways. First, cities can serve as leaders and connectors between for-profit and nonprofit housing providers who may be ablae to collaborate to develop mixed income projects. Another option is to work more directly with the housing providers, by providing surplus public land for affordable housing development, or providing some form of fee reduction/waiver or parking reduction for affordable housing developments.
Local Examples
The Snohomish Affordable Housing Group (SNOAHG) is a self-sustaining private nonprofit affordable housing provider serving the City of Snohomish. The organization has a unique model, using funding sources like tax-exempt bonds that are typically used to produce housing for households between 50%-80% AMI, but actually serves households below 50% AMI. This is accomplished by keeping costs of acquisition, development, and administration low. This strategy has been reinforced in the past through a partnership with the City, which has waived certain development fees and provided other assistance to support affordable housing development.
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