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LINC HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOODS PRIORITIES
First - Increase public information on affordable housing and ownership education
Second - Establish a Housing Advisory Committee.
Third - Expand incentives for construction of affordable housing.
Fourth - Plan comprehensively and coordinate a Housing/Neighborhood Plan.
Fifth - Expedite utilization of adjudicated properties for housing priorities.
Sixth - Increase public and private funding for affordable housing.
Seventh - Facilitate public/private support for neighborhood organizations and plans
Eighth - Establish public/private funds for housing preservation and restoration.
Ninth - Coordinate training/education for housing construction trades people.
LINC HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOODS ELEMENT POLICIES
1. Provide home ownership opportunities to targeted low and moderate income families.
Background: There are government programs in existence (some federally funded, some locally funded) which are currently available to assist low income families to purchase or build a home. There are even private programs, such as Habitat for Humanity, assisting in this community goal. But these efforts are a drop in the bucket compared to the overwhelming need. The LINC Steering Committee noted Lafayette Parish has enjoyed a great deal of new housing activity over the last several years. However, the free market has not produced sufficient numbers of "affordable housing" for the working poor. Housing units are not being constructed in the critical $50,000 - $60,000 range.
POLICIES:
1.A) The Planning Commission shall annually review the needs and available resources in home ownership opportunities for targeted low and moderate-income range families in Lafayette Parish.
1.B) The Planning Commission shall review and adopt a five-year Housing and Neighborhood Improvement Program (HNIP) annually.
1.C) The Planning Commission shall work each year to budget public and private funding for experimental housing construction, design, materials and techniques to produce two new affordable housing units annually.
1.D) The Planning Commission shall sponsor every three years an "Affordable Housing Exposition" in cooperation with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the Acadian Home Builders Association, the Lafayette Parish School Board Career Center, the Lafayette Consolidated Government, the State of Louisiana and such other public and private entities, groups and individuals deemed appropriate.
1.E) The Planning Commission shall consider an annual award through a design competition for an "affordable house", as defined.
1.F) The Planning Commission shall require the construction of one "Affordable housing unit", as defined, for every fifty new single-family residential units approved for development in Lafayette Parish thru agreement with the AHBA.
1.G) The Planning Commission shall pursue the adoption and enforcement of a universal building code throughout Lafayette Parish.
1.H) The Planning Commission shall annually review the number of adjudicated properties of record and evaluate progress in reducing these properties number primarily for affordable housing and neighborhood improvement purposes.
2. Create a parish-wide housing advisory committee.
Background: The LINC Steering Committee recommended the establishment of a Housing Committee comprised of neighborhood organizations located within the I-49 Connector Corridor to assist coordinating the affordable housing initiative in this area as a priority. The Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee (CPIC) determined affordable housing to be a parish-wide priority need and recommended a Planning Commission Housing Advisory Committee comprised of appointments from each of the nine City-Parish Council Districts. The Planning Commission established the General Advisory Panel (GAP) to address selected issues (including housing) and assist the Commission in its deliberations. However, the Commission noted the lack of comprehensive public and private information on housing assistance programs and determined that a professional Housing Advisory Committee be established to work with local agencies and groups to build affordable housing.
POLICIES:
2.a) The Planning Commission shall appoint and maintain a Housing Advisory Committee comprised of representatives of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the Acadian Home Builders Association, the Lafayette Parish School Board Career Center, the Lafayette Consolidated Government, Habitat for Humanity, financial institutions, and such other representatives deemed appropriate.
2.b) The Planning Commission will meet quarterly with the Director of the Lafayette Consolidated Government's Community Development Department to coordinate LCG resources on housing with the preparation of a parish Housing Improvement Program (HIP) and Financially Constrained Housing Plan (FCHP).
2.c) The Housing Advisory Committee shall regularly provide the Planning Commission with a summary briefing of its work every six months.
2.d) The Planning Commission shall require the Housing Advisory Committee to focus its activity on development of "affordable housing" in Lafayette Parish as defined by the Commission.
3. Promote and facilitate the preservation of neighborhoods and housing over 50 years old.
Background: Neighborhoods are major community investments. They are the incubators of succeeding generations of families. Neighborhoods, established fifty years ago, have recycled through one generation and witnessing a second generation of residents. Different technology, lifestyles, architecture, building materials, time period and infrastructure produce differences that are unique, but generally compatible. Some neighborhoods have suffered. Economic conditions, deteriorating housing, lack of new investments, location, security problems, age and poor maintenance can lead to what might be called disadvantaged neighborhoods. The housing stock in these neighborhoods is the first physical sign of deterioration. Fifty years of local taxes should have cover public infrastructure investment cost. Where are the taxes revenues from these older neighborhoods being spent today? Odds are the public funding base is being invested in new expanding growth areas at the periphery of the community. Imagine building your home with a thirty-year mortgage. At the end of thirty years, the bank or financial institution determined that arrangement worked very well and extends a new thirty- year payout schedule with little or no repairs or remodeling to the existing structure. Public reinvestment is needed in older "paid-off" neighborhoods. Housing rehabilitation and reinvestment should be a major goal in such areas.
POLICIES:
3.a) The Planning Commission shall promote and encourage housing that is neighborhood appropriate as defined.
3.b) The Planning Commission shall work in cooperation with the Lafayette Parish Historic Preservation Commission and the Preservation Alliance to identify and preserve residential housing units within the parish through a ranking order or priority.
3.c) The Planning Commission shall annually review crime data throughout Lafayette Parish and identify neighborhoods in need of "safe neighborhood" assistance.
3.d) The Planning Commission shall annually seek public (Federal, State, and Local) and private funding for a parish-wide housing historic preservation initiative and perpetual fund.
3.e) The Planning Commission shall annually review Capital Improvement Programs by local governments for resources dedicated to affordable housing rehabilitation and preservation and older neighborhood reinvestment.
4. Develop, implement and maintain the I-49 Connector Corridor Plan, as approved and adopted, with an emphasis and priority given to residential neighborhoods.
Background: The I-49 Connector has been a long debated freeway infrastructure facility through the Lafayette urban area. The "alignment" or actual path of the freeway is separately defined from an overall "corridor" or study area of the roadway. The Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) determined in its recommendations that the adjacent neighborhoods to the freeway be separately treated, protected and enhanced. The following policies of the Planning Commission will help focus and mitigate CAC concerns and priorities for the adjacent neighborhoods within the defined corridor.
POLICIES:
4.a) The Planning Commission shall review, adopt and formally include the Plan for the I-49 Connector Corridor in LINC as an identified "Special Area" inclusive of all subsequent amendments.
4.b) The Planning Commission will coordinate with the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) advisory committees (CAC, TTC and TPC) in the implementation of the I-49 Connector Corridor Plan.
4.c) The Planning Commission will coordinate and work with recognized neighborhood organizations in the implementation of the I-49 Connector Corridor Plan.
4.d) The Planning Commission will coordinate with the Bayou Vermilion District, Downtown Development Authority and Lafayette Consolidated Government Departments in the implementation of the I-49 Connector Corridor Plan.
5. Develop and implement the Lafayette Parish Comprehensive Plan on a defined and organized neighborhood level through the preparation and adoption of neighborhood plans (LINC Designated Neighborhoods).
Background: Residential land use comprises the largest single developed classification in the parish. Obviously, this is where citizens live, children play and increasingly where people may work in the future. The parish must be planned on a realistic and viable neighborhood level. Older neighborhoods should not be allowed to deteriorate and new neighborhoods must not be allowed without adequate basic services, infrastructure, planning, and citizen involvement. Designated neighborhood plans should be developed and approved with property owners, businesses and residents engaged in a consensus building process. LINC Designated Neighborhood Plans are the foundation and heart of the Comprehensive Plan. Neighborhood Plans, however, must not be in contradiction to the overall parish plan.
POLICIES:
5.a) The Planning Commission shall work to complete a minimum of one new LINC Designated Neighborhood Plan each year for approval and adoption.
5.b) The Planning Commission shall require the planning and construction of one new neighborhood park, as defined and designed, for every eight hundred housing units existing or approved within a designated area.
5.c) The Planning Commission shall allow three-year staggered review of LINC Designated Neighborhood Plan amendments requested by LINC Designated Neighborhoods or the Planning Commission.
5.d) The Planning Commission shall facilitate the organization and coordination of LINC Designated Neighborhood Plans, as approved and adopted, with the Comprehensive Plan through a recognized representative group or coterie acceptable to the Commission.
5.e) The boundaries for establishing LINC Designated Neighborhoods shall be made in consultation with parish councilpersons in whose districts the Designated Neighborhoods are proposed at the time they are proposed.
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