Title
Building Blocks for Affordable Housing - Work Plan in Development (B)
Explanation
On March 17, 2022 the Affordable Housing Framework for Discussion was presented to the City Commission. After that presentation, the City of Gainesville began the process of building a new foundation for an innovative, collaborative and strategic path forward to develop a Work Plan to address the issues highlighted in the Framework.
The City of Gainesville and community partners, including the Alachua County Housing Authority, Bright Community Trust, Gainesville Housing Authority, HR&A Advisors, Neighborhood Housing and Development Corporation, and Rebuilding Together North Central Florida, worked together to plan, organize and successfully execute three community workshops designed to generate feedback from participants about strategies to improve affordable housing in Gainesville. Topics discussed during these meetings included: affordable housing basics, affordable housing preservation, development and management of a community land trust, first-time homebuyer programs, funding priorities for affordable housing, housing vouchers, infill housing, rental housing programs, inclusionary zoning, exclusionary zoning, information on housing resources and programs offered by the City and other partners. The three community workshops were held on May 9th, June 2nd and June 4th.
Due to the heightened community interest in the discussion around affordable housing, especially on the topic of Exclusionary Zoning, the City Commission directed staff to organize neighborhood workshops to continue the discussion and information sharing. Through the date of this report, staff has facilitated four neighborhood workshops in the following communities: Springhill (June 9th), Azalea Trails (June 14th), Porters (June 16th) and 5th Avenue (July 12th). In total, approximately 200 neighbors attended these meetings and more neighborhood workshops are in process of being scheduled.
The Building B...
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