HRA Meeting Date: January 29, 2024 (work session)
To: Members of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority
From: Melissa Hanson, Housing Coordinator
Jake Reilly, Community Development Director
Title
Comprehensive and Housing planning discussion and exercise
Body
Action Requested:
None.
Summary Report:
The Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), whose mission is to provide a sufficient supply of adequate, safe, and sanitary dwellings in Northfield, has the statutory ability to construct homes, alone or in partnership with others. HRA levy dollars may also be used for development activities commonly associated with economic development programs and projects. The HRA also has the authority to apply for additional funds from other government agencies and not-for-profit entities and the ability to manage direct allocations from applicable sources. To be effective stewards of those resources, staff will lead the board, including the two members whose terms ended in December, through a comprehensive planning conversation and exercise and a work program planning conversation and exercise.
Background
The primary stated goals of the HRA are to:
• Protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Northfield;
• Clear and redevelop blighted areas;
• Perform said duties according to the city’s Comprehensive Plan;
• Remedy the shortage of housing for low- and moderate-income residents;
• Redevelop blighted areas in situations in which private enterprise would not act without government participation or subsidies.
The HRA also partners with organizations such as Community Action Center of Northfield, Northfield Union of Youth, Rice County Habitat for Humanity, and Three Rivers Community Action, among others, to implement housing initiatives in Northfield. In these partnerships the goal is to ensure the community continues to be able to offer housing opportunities available along the entire housing spectrum from renters to homeownership including for those buying a home for the first time, or selling their last home prior to moving to a senior living facility, including those along the continuum of car. Ensuring an adequate supply of housing choices that are affordable to all aspects of the community - whether that’s workforce housing, homes for large and small families, or homes for empty-nesters - is a primary component of the HRA’s mandate.
As challenges continue to affect the supply of adequate housing in the nation, state, county, and City, the HRA has the opportunity to take a more active role in development and redevelopment of housing in Northfield, as well as seek out new partners and/or approaches to meeting the needs of those who live, work, play and learn in Northfield and Rice County.
Given that engagement and planning for the adoption of a 2045-horizon comprehensive plan is underway, and that there are two new members to the HRA board, staff thought it wise to spend time working through comprehensive planning issues, followed by a related discussion of potential priorities to guide the HRA in decision-making activities that align with the city’s Strategic Plan goals, and respond to the current housing market dynamics as related to that comprehensive planning effort.
2045 Comprehensive Plan
The first Steering Committee meeting was held on Monday, December 18th in the second-floor training room at City Hall. Meeting materials used at that meeting were included in the January HRA packet. City staff and the consultant team are starting to hold conversations with boards and commissions during standing meetings. The presentation and exercise for this meeting is representative of the approach for those sessions and aligns with the approach taken with internal staff groups, and two advisory bodies, the Northfield Arts and Cultural Commission and the Mayor’s Youth Council. Specific interest groups are also participating in providing insights and feedback through standing meetings or pop-up events.
The consultant team from NEOO and Stantec, along with several City staff, have completed the “Discovery” phase of the planning process. The “Vision” phase is now underway and takes advantage of the engagement completed before the end of the year to craft a draft vision and guiding values document. The Vision phase will extend through March 2024 in order to account for additional engagement opportunities, including those with this group and each board and/or commission with interest. Additional engagement with an expanded set of community groups will allow the consultant team to “test” the vision and guiding values with stakeholders and ensure alignment with the broader community values. The Monthly Comprehensive Plan Update (Attachment 1) has additional detailed information from the consultant team.
Staff will lead the members of the HRA through an exercise based on the attached, “Stakeholder Interview guide” (Attachment 2). Please review the guide prior to the meeting and be prepared for a lively, staff-facilitated discussion on an appropriate subset of discussion questions derived from the guide, in consultation with the planning commission. As the comprehensive planning team works through the visioning phase and concurrent engagement Staff will provide monthly updates to each board and commission similar to the attached.
HRA work plan
Existing work in Northfield, by the HRA board, staff and others, including the Northfield Promise Council of Champions and its member organizations, has contributed greatly to the shared understanding of the housing situation in Northfield. The situation during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting supply chain and labor economics issues along with the concurrent impacts to the climate by the built environment and how we use it (buildings/structures, pavement, vehicles, etc.) are directly and indirectly related to housing production in the United States. These two factors aligning (1. the excellent past work by the City, HRA and partners and 2. the current work updating the 2008-adopted City of Northfield Comprehensive Plan) seem well-timed to generate productive conversations about the goals and outcomes of the HRA board in relationship to ensuring housing choice across the continuum of life while addressing climate mitigation opportunities and the similarly pressing need for enough safe, affordable housing for people who live, work, play or learn in Northfield, regardless of socio-economic status. In addition, record-setting legislative decisions about the housing landscape in Minnesota and recent changes to rulemaking at the Federal level offer new opportunities to government and its partners in both for-profit and non-profit housing initiatives.
Following an overview of and discussion about the 2045-horizon comprehensive plan through a housing and HRA lens, staff will summarize what is known about housing supply from the macro level to that in and around Northfield, the funding and financing landscape, existing, potential and stakeholder-identified approaches-of-interest to solving the housing shortage. The HRA board members will have an opportunity to share and discuss desired outcomes for housing as well as approaches they are aware of or interested in and ask questions. We will also work through an exercise associated with the HRA budget in order to develop a shared understanding of the relationship between the HRA levy, outside funding sources, and the City’s own property tax levy and how they are tied to projects, programs and stated or desired outcomes. A link to the existing 2008-adopted Comprehensive Plan along with associated policy plans and documents and or websites associated with the initial housing landscape analysis by Enterprise Community Partners, housing market studies from 2018 through 2021, are included in this packet.
If there are specific questions or concerns about the process, the monthly update, or other Comprehensive Planning or housing issues, please do not hesitate to contact Jake Reilly, Community Development Director at jake.reilly@northfieldmn.gov or 507-649-7018 or Melissa Hanson, Housing Coordinator and HRA staff at 507-645-3047.
Alternative Options:
N/A
Financial Impacts:
N/A
Tentative Timeline for the Comprehensive Plan and related work:
• December 18, 2023 - First Steering Committee meeting held R
• December 20, 2023 - Northfield Youth on Boards/Mayor’s Youth Council R
• January - March 2024 - Vision phase: Staff/consultant team meets with other boards/commissions for structured/facilitated conversations about desired outcomes of 2045-horizon comprehensive plan.
o Tentative draft engagement schedule (to date):
§ December through March, 2024 - Enterprise Community Partners convenes, “Housing Solutions Teams”
§ January 17, 2024 - Northfield Area Transportation Advisory Committee & Environmental Quality Commission
§ January 22, 2024 - Economic Development Authority
§ January 24, 2024 - Human Rights Commission
§ January 29, 2024 - Housing and Redevelopment Authority (work session)
§ February 5, 2024 - Parks and Recreation Advisory Board
§ February 7, 2024 - Heritage Preservation commission
§ February 14, 2024 - Library Board
• January through April 2024 - Analysis phase for comprehensive plan
• 1st and 2nd Quarter 2024
o Southbridge neighborhood community meeting (February 22, 2024)
o Updates to the 2018 Maxfield Research housing market analysis for both Rice County and the City of Northfield (separate efforts)
o Work by Visible City associated with tax base implications of development/redevelopment
o Wrap up of the Northfield Promise/Northfield Racial and Ethnic Equity Collaborative-sponsored Enterprise Community Partners, “Housing Solutions Teams”
• April through July 2024 - Plan development and writing phase
• December 2024 - Adoption of final document