Council’s Economic Development and Technology Committee to Deliberate on Modifications to Affordable Housing Priority Guidelines

The City Council’s Economic Development and Technology Committee is expected to approve modifications of the city’s local preference and priority system guidelines for the city’s affordable housing programs.

The modifications are designed to help former residents forced to move due to gentrification and increasing housing costs. 

The committee will meet virtually at 4 p.m. on Feb. 25.

“The Local Preference and Priority System Guidelines was adopted by City Council In 2006 to determine the order in which eligible applicants receive priority to rent or purchase available affordable housing units, including units developed with city subsidy and units created under the lnclusionary Housing Ordinance,” according to the city staff report.

Applicants who live and work in the city currently receive the highest priority, followed by applicants who live in the city, those who work in the city, and those who were voluntarily displaced from Pasadena by government action, improper termination of tenancy, domestic violence, participation in the witness protection program, hate crimes, inaccessibility issues or substandard housing, and homelessness. Currently, all other applicants are considered after those who meet the priority category criteria. 

Although those policies have been successful, policymakers, stakeholders and housing advocates have realized that they fail to address the impacts of housing displacement created by the rising costs of housing and gentrification.

The first proposed modification would create a 20% set-aside of units for former Pasadena residents. 

“This modification is meant to provide households who were unable to remain In Pasadena, whether due to rising housing costs or gentrification, with the opportunity to return to. the city,” the staff report reads.

The modification is modeled in part on Portland’s Local Preference Policy, which has successfully prioritized displaced former residents for affordable housing. 

This set-aside would apply to developments with five or more affordable housing units. Under the set~aside, up to 20% of the units would be available to households who can demonstrate that they had maintained a primary residence in Pasadena sometime in the 10 years prior to their application for available housing. Households would receive priority based on their length of time in Pasadena.

After the Former Resident Set-Aside is met, there is an additional set-aside of up to 20% which gives preference to residents of deed-restricted affordable housing units who are currently considered over-housed, such as a single-person household residing In a three-bedroom unit. 

The new “OverHoused Set-Aside” is intended to address inefficiencies in the match between household size and unit size (which occur over time as dependents in larger households move out) and will allow such households the opportunity to move to smaller units and pay a lower rent while freeing up larger units for larger income-eligible households.

Residents who were forced out of the city due to rising costs and gentrification would become the new top priority on the list followed by over-housed residents.

Residents who live and work in Pasadena will receive preference as the third priority.

The balance (60%) of the units will be available to Pasadena applicants who meet the existing live and/or work preferences. 

The proposed fourth priority provides preference to eligible members of households who live but don’t work in the city. 

The proposed fifth priority gives preference to applicants who currently work but don’t live In Pasadena.

The sixth priority offers preference to households who have been involuntarily displaced.  

Cities around the nation, including Portland, New York, Oakland, and San Francisco have revised their policies in order to address gentrification and over housing. 

“City housing staff have also evaluated Pasadena’s existing Local Preference Guidelines from this perspective and developed proposed modifications to the Local Preference Guidelines intended to factor in displacement and potential displacement,” the staff report reads.