Longmont housing packet sends funding plan, Habitat project and fee update to council

A July 9 Longmont housing advisory-board packet shows a city housing package moving to council, including a roughly $2.6 million affordable-housing fund allocation and about $2.8 million for a Boulder County Habitat for Humanity project expected to serve 161 Longmont households.

According to the packet, those items were discussed in May and were to go to City Council on June 23. The record reviewed here does not show a final council vote, so the published takeaway is that the package had advanced to council consideration.

The same packet includes a staff memo on Longmont's inclusionary-housing fee-in-lieu program. Staff recommended a citywide fee of $13.67 per square foot for for-sale development and $3.98 per square foot for rental development if the city keeps its current methodology.

The memo also analyzed alternatives: $15.94 per square foot for detached for-sale homes, $12.53 for attached homes, and $9.69 per square foot for rentals if the calculation were aligned with the program's 50% area median income target.

The city says the ordinance requires fee-in-lieu rates to be recalculated every three years, with updates presented to council by July 31 and taking effect the following January. Staff said the current rental formula still reflects a 60% AMI gap even though the city's rental compliance target is now 50% AMI.

Longmont uses inclusionary housing as one tool toward its goal of making 12% of housing stock deed-restricted and affordable by 2035.