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Economic & Planning Systems, Inc. 31 Affordable Housing Impacts <br />4. Affordable Housing Impacts <br />This chapter evaluates how the proposed Ordinance could affect affordable <br />housing operations and production in Redwood City. Because the proposed <br />Ordinance does not exempt deed restricted affordable housing, it may create <br />financial and operational challenges for buildings that already operate under <br />federal, State, and local requirements. These challenges are related to income <br />restrictions, rent limits, lender and investor reporting, and, in many cases, voucher <br />or operating subsidy contracts. <br />Affordable housing providers interviewed for this study stressed that because <br />these properties are already subject to layered oversight, an additional local <br />compliance framework could increase costs, reduce operating flexibility, and <br />create duplicative or conflicting requirements. Among cities that have rent <br />stabilization policies, most exempt deed-restricted affordable housing for this <br />reason and because these units are critical to meeting local RHNA goals. <br />Composition of Redwood City’s Affordable Housing <br />As documented in the initial 9212 Report, deed restricted affordable housing <br />plays an important role in Redwood City’s housing market, accounting for almost <br />10 percent of all rental units. As summarized in Table 14, the City has an <br />estimated 48 buildings and about 1,506 deed restricted, or below market rate <br />(BMR), units. Of this, 197 are inclusionary units (i.e., integrated in mixed-income <br />buildings) and the remaining 1,309 units are contained in buildings that are 100 <br />percent affordable (excluding manager units). <br />It is also important to note that about 676 of the City’s deed restricted units (45 <br />percent) are in pre-1995 buildings. These pre-1995 affordable units face the <br />greatest exposure because they would be subject to the proposed Ordinance’s <br />rent stabilization provisions in addition to existing local, State, and federal <br />affordability requirements. In contrast, post-1995 affordable units would <br />generally be exempt from rent stabilization under Costa-Hawkins, though they <br />would still be subject to other elements of the proposed Ordinance, including <br />fees, reporting requirements, relocation provisions, tenant safety plans, and <br />related protections. <br />8.A. - Page 90 of 168 <br />100