EASTON, Pa. – Easton City Council approved legislation amending affordable housing requirements for developers Wednesday night at the Easton Neighborhood Center.
The changes, introduced by Councilmember Frank Pintabone, focus on what is called “workforce housing,” which is described as rental units “that are affordable to households based on various income-based guidelines.”
Those income-based guidelines include that studio/efficiency units should be affordable to households making no more than 75% of the median income, one-bedroom units with same criteria at 80%, two-bedroom units at 90% and three or more bedrooms at 95%.
This would apply to all new multifamily housing developments within the city containing 10 or more dwelling units that also utilize any form of public funding or participates in the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) or other tax incentive programs.
“Affordable” is defined in the legislation as housing for which an occupant is required to pay no more than 30% of their gross household income for total housing costs, including rent or mortgage payments, utilities and any applicable fees.
Currently, all developments within the city that meet the workforce housing applicability standards have a minimum 10% set-aside of the total development units requirement. With the amendment, that number would increase to 25%.
For example, a development with 40 studio units, 80 one-bedroom units, and 40 two-bedroom units should provide 10 studio units, 20 one-bedroom units and 10 two-bedroom units of workforce housing.
With the percentage increase, the in-lieu fee option would increase also from $10,000 to $30,000 per unit not designated as affordable housing. For example, should a developer want to build a 100-unit property and designate no units as workforce, the developer would have to pay $750,000 for 25 units. The in-lieu fee shall be reviewed every five years by City Council.
According to the legislation, all in-lieu fees will be collected and deposited into a dedicated fund “to support the development, preservation, and accessibility of workforce and affordable housing projects and initiatives within or otherwise supporting City residents.”
WFMZ-TV | Steve Althouse
Public advertisement
The legislative body forwarded a bill to require advertisement of committee agenda items.
The bill’s premise is to “establish a consistent policy for the public advertisement and dissemination” of city council committee items. These items will have to be posted by 5 p.m. on the Friday immediately proceeding the committee meeting.
Inspection consultants
City Council advanced legislation entering into an agreement with National Fire & Safety inspection consultants.
The deal means, in part, the company will serve as Easton’s third-party provider for maintenance of inspection records, issuance of inspection reports and coordination of compliance activities.