What is the City of Wilsonville doing to achieve an equitable housing future?
To address Wilsonville’s greatest civil rights issue, drastically rising housing prices, City Council is nearing the completion of an Equitable Housing Strategic Plan. The third and final meeting of the Equitable Housing Task Force was held on January 29 (for history, see recaps of meeting one and two).
Input from the Task Force and the Planning Commission (meeting on February 13), will inform City Council as they finalize a plan that will detail actions for the next two years, set measures to track progress and identify other high-impact items that staff will work to turn into actions.
This is an important time because the City of Wilsonville will be taking a stronger role – necessary in my opinion – to address housing needs. The measures to monitor progress are a crucial element in disrupting structural racism that is inherent in the current system.
Priority actions proposed for the City of Wilsonville to address housing needs
takeaways from the final Equitable Housing Task Force meeting
Previous concerns I had about not specifically mentioning race and the limited outreach to renters, especially with the Latinx community, have been addressed in the draft Equitable Housing Strategic Plan!
The proposed housing equity measures (page 22) to track the number of regulated affordable homes, workforce income, and mortgage denials by race are excellent and address similar equity gaps that I highlighted as important. Additionally, I highly support the following housing equity measures proposed by Task Force members:
Permits issued to non-profits for housing development or renovation
Students experiencing homelessness
Housing units built within 1/2 mile of transit or services
Income and race composition at the neighborhood-level
If you want to understand how affordable housing is a crucial element of Wilsonville, then read the list of benefits (starting on page 2). The first statement about the connection between safe housing and student achievement is close to my heart.
The only thing missing is a direct action to pursue housing equity with infill opportunities at the Town Center and The Piazza at Villebois. I strongly encourage City Council to add this to the high-priority action list. To make this happen, it will likely involve action 2A, securing land for the development of equitable and affordable housing.
Call to action
If you have a few minutes, read recaps of the January 29 meeting from the Wilsonville Spokesman’s Corey Buchanan and myself (see below). Then, go to the Act page, and in a few clicks, email the Planning Commission (before Feb 13) and City Council with your thoughts.
Quick recap
Kim Rybold, City of Wilsonville Project Manager, and Deb Meihoff, Communitas LLC, started the meeting by reviewing the draft Equitable Housing Strategic Plan and feedback received from the community, Planning Commission, and City Council.
If approved by City Council, the following actions would be the most immediate (within two years):
Transit-Oriented Development at the Wilsonville Transit Center.
Equity lens applied to missing middle housing code changes.
Equity lens applied to new growth areas (Frog Pond).
Tax breaks for affordable housing and increasing home ownership.
Resource facilitation at the city-level (City of Milwaukie recently hired a housing point person).
Residential development at Wilsonville’s Transit Center is a top recommendation.
There was a slight delay in scheduling the Task Force meeting due to additional outreach from city staff to gather input from renters and people of color. The following issues arose from this additional outreach (Task Force comments in italics):
Single-level homes
Offer tax abatement for first-floor units, support cluster home development (see City of Milwaukie’s code), entry-level accommodations are required in state (OHCS) backed affordable housing projects, and offer Floor Area Ratio (FAR) incentives.
Affordable starter homes/homeownership help
Offer down payment assistance, scale System Development Charges (SDCs) to unit size, Clackamas County should offer tax abatements for first-time homebuyers, or build with lower-cost materials.
Concerns about increasing rents and displacement (especially single-parent families, fixed-income seniors, lower-income families)
Establish a community land trust, tax abatements per apartment for renovations, increase regional supply of market-rate development, and connect housing with medical services.
The Task Force was directed to review the proposed housing equity measures (page 22), and list their ideas on posters. The following were the most non-traditional:
Permits issued to non-profits for housing development or renovation
Students experiencing homelessness
Housing units built within 1/2 mile of transit or services
Income and race composition at the neighborhood-level
Best exchange of the night
Closing comments by Council West, “equity is not isolating your neighbor,” and Planning Commissioner Kamran Mesbah, “development of an equity lens must inform all of the indicators,” were insightful and encouraging. These individuals will play crucial roles in the process of adoption.
Call to action
Now that you have read this recap, you MUST go to the Act page, and in a few clicks, email the Planning Commission (before Feb 13) and City Council with your thoughts!