Will these changes make housing more affordable?

Question: My real concern is that we're currently pretty badly under supplied in the lowest income, uh, level of housing. So, and it's sort of kind of assumed that alternatives two and three is simply by changing zoning. We'll be able to make up for that. And my question is, is, is that really, uh, is that realistic? Well that's Kind of what this next slide was to lead into, is that the commerce guidance and the recommendation is that, uh, people in the zero households in that zero to 80% income band are very likely to need the moderate and high density type of housing. But, but that's, that doesn't answer the question. My question is, will the builders want to build that kind of housing?

Answer: Yeah, and I guess the, the, that's the difference from our perspective about supply versus capacity with the planning work that we're doing, our requirement is to focus on capacity because that's what cities can control. I understand that and we totally understand that there, that having capacity does not inherently lead to the production of housing that's meeting those needs. But it's the tool that's most readily available for us as a city. And so our focus is on capacity. Does our zoning allow for, uh, the amount of housing needed at those different levels, how that housing actually gets produced? We, um, I mean there are some things that we are trying to consider in the planning process, but it's ultimately a different question than what we're trying to answer through the comprehensive plan and the EIS And layered on top of like, this has to come first. Right? So it's an important question. I'm not saying it's not important, that's probably the important question. But for the purposes of the comprehensive plan and um, especially the, the mandated housing study that we have to do from the state, the focus is really on capacity through the zoning code, not necessarily what units are, is this actually gonna produce? Because ultimately that's decisions that are made by private property owners in the marketplace. If I, and we do have a new requirement to, separately list all of the incentives that the city is providing. 'cause there is an interest in making sure we're have some incentives. But as, as you know, you know, the housing market is very complicated. You can read articles about the cost of insurance, the cost of construction, the cost of labor, the cost of land, you know, it's goes on and on. And it's not really a closed system, although we kind of assume it in here. It's a, it's a regional market as well. So If I can simplify it for you in one scenario, Linda, um, you talk about in, in my job and Tim's former job actually, we talk about building housing and uh, I go to my supervisor, I say, I wanna build housing in Spokane. I found an area, here's what we can do. He goes, what's the zoning? That's his first question. And so zoning really does play a role, but the city can control. But it is a small piece. Yeah. And it alone does not make people build to your point.