The Clovis City Council is preparing to take up an ordinance to ensure affordable housing gets built, as part of a 2024 settlement over the city’s housing plan.
However, despite thousands of affordable housing units promised at the time of the settlement, the actual number may not come in all that high due to flexible alternatives offered in the proposed ordinance.
The backstory: Local homelessness activist Dez Martinez sued Clovis in 2019, claiming the city’s 2015-2023 housing plan did not meet the state’s requirements under the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) program.
Dating back to 1969, RHNA requires local governments to build a certain number of new homes. It includes metrics on affordability as well.
In 2021, a Fresno County Superior Court judge ruled against Clovis, and an appellate judge agreed in a 2023 decision.
Clovis agreed in a settlement to establish a Local Housing Trust Fund and to contribute at least $1.8 million to support affordable housing developments, among other things.
The big picture: Last week, the Clovis Planning Commission approved an affordable housing-focused zoning ordinance required under the settlement. It will now head to the City Council for consideration.
The Mixed-Income Zoning Ordinance requires developers to ensure that at least 5% of new units are for lower-income residents when building a residential project that has at least 11 units.
Zoom in: The ordinance includes some alternatives to the 5% requirement in order to provide developers with some flexibility.
Chief among them is a $2.80 per square-foot fee that developers can pay in-lieu of constructing deed-restricted low-income housing units.
For a 3,000 square-foot home, Clovis’ in-lieu fee could mean an increase of $8,400 to the purchase price for buyers.
Developers can also dedicate or convey land to the city that is sufficient for constructing the required number of mixed-income units.
The ordinance would also allow for developers to not build mixed-income units in a certain development if the number of required units is added into another development with the city.