Midway City is exploring workforce housing options.  City Planner Michael Henke said it’s necessary for the city to take steps toward moderate income or workforce housing. It’s something that may not happen otherwise.  “What we found over time is the market itself doesn’t make this happen. There’s quite a few things working against this,” Henke said.  The cost of land is one, Henke said. The cost of water is another. Then there’s interest rates and construction costs.  “All of those things make it so it really doesn’t make sense for a developer to come in and build workforce housing here in Midway,” Henke said. “It’s just not going to happen naturally.” That’s where Midway City comes into play. There’s one solution, Henke said, that will solve the problem: coming up with a way to subsidize workforce housing.  While affordable housing serves households earning below about 60% of the area median income (AMI), workforce housing serves middle-income households earning between 60% and 120% of the AMI.  The AMI in Midway is about $157,000. About $125,652 would be 80% AMI and $94,239 would be 60% AMI.  “A lot of cities, when they’re looking at affordable housing, they’re just looking at 80% AMI, which really you’re leaving a huge part of your working population out of affordability,” Henke said. There are also U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines for determining rent based on household size.  Henke said that it’s necessary to have workforce housing in Midway to ensure people may live where they work. But he added that workforce housing is not “where the money’s at” for developers.  “There’s more money made building bigger homes, not even small homes,” Henke said. “The state Legislature is taking it out of our ability to require a developer to build workforce housing. We just don’t have that as an option.” Henke said Midway City has been able to require workforce housing from developers in the past. Or to pay a fee in-lieu to help the city itself build.  Subsidizing options, Henke said, will help solve the problem. Because the one thing the state Legislature has allowed is what’s called a legislative development agreement — a contract that sets zoning rules or land uses between a municipality and property developer.  “The best way to have the most control is to look at each site individually and then come up with an agreement directly with that property owner,” Henke said.  Henke suggested a few projects to the Midway City Council at a work meeting on July 21. The first he called “low-hanging fruit” at 41 West Main Street. They’d be workforce housing apartments ranging from 660 square feet to more than 850 square feet.  The apartments exist in the commercial zone and are walkable to restaurants and markets in the area.  “This could immediately impact workers here in Midway and allow them to live here … that would raise their quality of life, allow them to be here more often instead of driving for an hour every day,” Henke said.  Additional projects include the proposed Midway mountain village at 115 East Main St. Henke shared concept images of the village at the July 21 work meeting. The workforce housing village would feature apartment buildings and a group parking lot.  “The idea is to create some units that are small, so they’re inexpensive to build,” Henke said.  The buildings would also be less than 30 feet tall, keeping in line with Midway’s height standards.  “Developers always want to go tall, and that’s what helps make things affordable, but that really just doesn’t work in Midway,” Henke said.  Next steps include drafting a preliminary agreement and beginning negotiations with developers. Ultimately, the City Council will make the final decision at a future public meeting. The post Midway City begins to see need for workforce housing appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less