All developers of affordable housing in Hillsborough County need to be engaged in the County's ongoing efforts to update the affordable housing incentives in its Comprehensive Plan.
On June 9, 2021, the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission held a workshop to discuss an ongoing study on the affordable housing density bonus (AHDB) related to updates to the Housing Element of the Future of Hillsborough Comprehensive Plan for Unincorporated Hillsborough County. The AHDB is essentially a tool used to incentivize the development of affordable housing. The Planning Commission hired Tindale Oliver as a third-party consultant to provide recommendations to improve the AHDB.
The workshop allowed the consultant to provide an update on the AHDB study while providing Planning Commissioners an opportunity to ask questions and submit feedback on the study's progress and findings made to date.
The consultant analyzed the existing Comprehensive Plan to identify policies allowing for an AHDB in Hillsborough County. Per the consultant, a parcel qualifying for an AHDB must be located:
- Within then Urban Service Area;
- On a collector or arterial road;
- Where water and sewer are available;
- Within a mile of transit and economic development projects with jobs;
- In an area that promotes infill; and
- In a residential or mixed-use Future Land Use category with at least four units per acre.
After conducting an analysis of this existing criteria for the AHDB, the consultant reported that the current criteria apply to very few parcels overall. In its effort to update the AHDB criteria, the consultant plans to review the criteria used by state funding programs, such as the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, and apply such criteria to parcels within Hillsborough County through a mapping exercise. Some initial concepts raised by the consultant include:
- Incentivizing workforce housing in addition to affordable housing;
- Expediting approvals through administrative processes versus the current lengthy public hearing processes; and
- Whether there are other viable regulatory incentives beyond density bonus increases, such as the reduction of parking requirements.
The County is in the preliminary stages of the study; the consultant is still gathering information with the goal of providing revised draft criteria in July and a final recommendation and report in the fall. Now is the time for affordable housing developers to get involved to ensure the County develops criteria which will meaningfully incentivize affordable housing for years to come.
Our Land Development, Zoning & Environmental and Affordable Housing Teams have extensive experience advising clients on all aspects of affordable housing developments, including entitlements, housing tax credits, tax exempt bond financing, and other public and private funds for the construction of affordable housing for low and moderate income households. We have also created in-house GIS affordable housing tools to help developers throughout Florida locate the most viable affordable housing properties which maximize state funding opportunities. Our Team is continuously monitoring these important discussions to consider the effects that changing land use and development policies will have on ongoing, proposed, and future projects in Hillsborough County. For more information, please
contact us.
