Title
Resolution Approving Big Picture Project and Endorsing Its Recommendations
Body
Whereas the City of Saint Paul has developed both citywide goals around the preservation and construction of affordable housing, and specifically identified the maintenance of affordability along the Green Line Light Rail corridor in the Central Corridor Development Strategy, which has been adopted as part of the City’s Comprehensive Plan; and
Whereas the City of Saint Paul believes that the investment in the Green Line/Central Corridor Light Rail Project is a wonderful opportunity to realize economic development and revitalization of the corridor, but also believes that this new vitality must include the preservation and continued construction of housing units that will be and remain affordable to residents of all incomes; and
Whereas the City of Saint Paul wants to prevent displacement of current residents, and mitigate the impacts of anticipated growth on land values and rents through specific, targeted action to help current residents stay in their homes and to ensure that new housing built along the corridor includes a healthy component of units that will be affordable to low and moderate income households; and
Whereas the City of Saint Paul values the racial, ethnic, and income diversity of the neighborhoods along the Green Line/Central Corridor, and seeks through its housing policies and goals to maintain and reinforce our community’s strength through that continued diversity; and
Whereas the City of Saint Paul, represented by Councilmember Russ Stark, Deputy Mayor Paul Williams, Mayor’s Senior Policy Advisor Nancy Homans, as well as Department of Planning and Economic Development staff has participated heavily in the Big Picture Project working group, in order to develop a specific set of goals and strategies around the preservation and construction of affordable housing along the Central Corridor/Green Line; and
Whereas the Big Picture Project, facilitated by Twin Cities LISC and involving a broad cross section of stakeholders, including community and faith-based organizations, affordable housing advocacy organizations, local, regional, and state government housing officials, for-profit and nonprofit developers of affordable housing, and local elected officials; and
Whereas the Big Picture Project Recommendations include efforts around keeping existing residents in their homes and preventing displacement of current residents, preserving existing affordable housing, and construction of new affordable housing units; and
Whereas the Big Picture Project Recommendations include the baseline goal of preserving and/or developing 2,540 units of affordable housing along the Green Line/Central Corridor over the next decade, and the “stretch” or aspirational goal of preserving and/or developing 4,500 units of affordable housing along the corridor over the next decade; and
Whereas the City of Saint Paul, based on current funding sources and trends, feels confident that by working with its partners including nonprofit and for-profit housing developers, the Family Housing Fund, Corridors of Opportunity, the philanthropic sector, the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, the Metropolitan Council, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and others, can achieve the “stretch” goal over the next decade; and therefore
Now Therefore Be it Resolved, that the Saint Paul City Council hereby approves and endorses the work of the Big Picture Project and the recommendations put forth by the Big Picture Project working group, and commits to working diligently toward those goals, while also acknowledging the continued need to spread resources for preserving and constructing affordable housing throughout the rest of the City of Saint Paul.