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Consultant to study profits of building under draft Bellingham low-income housing law

BUILDER Online |

In Brief...

A consultant will study how much profit developers could make, if any, if they were required to build homes for low-income people as part of their housing projects. Council members agreed the city should spend up to $17,500 for a consultant to study economic impacts of a draft law. David Stalheim, block grant program manager for the city, said staff has worked with consultant Property Counselors on what might be included in the analysis. At an initial glance, the consultant has concerns that it may not pencil out when building rental housing, Stalheim said. They must be affordable for homebuyers making 80 percent or less of the area median income and for renters making 50 percent or less of area median income. The draft law would let developers donate land that a nonprofit or government agency could use to build affordable homes, instead of building the homes themselves. Stalheim said the goal is to hire the consultant this year.

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