Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday approved a policy that aims to standardize how the city chooses affordable housing projects to award incentives.
Some projects receive funding through the city’s affordable housing trust fund, which comes from a special city sales tax. Lawrence voters in November 2024 approved doubling the affordable housing sales tax to one penny for every $20 spent in town. The funds have supported numerous projects over the past several years.
The city’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board, comprised of volunteers who were appointed by city commissioners, make recommendations, and city commissioners ultimately vote on whether to approve them.
The new incentive policy provides a definition of “affordable” housing, and it “establishes a clear, consistent framework for evaluating and administering City incentives that support the development of affordable housing,” the memo in city commissioners’ meeting agenda summarizes.
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“The policy is intended to increase the production of affordable housing that best addresses Lawrence’s highest community needs while providing prospective applicants with a transparent understanding of eligibility requirements, procedures, and available incentives,” according to the memo.
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Lea Roselyn, affordable housing administrator for the city, highlighted some of the potential benefits of incentivizing affordable housing in her presentation to the commission.
“By leveraging policy and incentive tools, we can make it feasible to build housing that is affordable to our residents and to our local workforce,” Roselyn said. “That supports the local workforce, increases health and educational outcomes, decreases crime, and allows people who love Lawrence to continue living in Lawrence, which sustains our tax base.”
The commission first heard an overview of the draft policy in January. Roselyn said in the time since, she’s streamlined the policy quite a bit, and it’s much shorter. A separate document will outline how projects are prioritized, and how quickly a project can be constructed will be one consideration, Roselyn said.
Earlier on Tuesday, commissioners approved an affordable housing study and 10-year plan to address housing issues. (Read more about that in the article at this link.) Among its findings was that by far the largest demand for housing will be housing that is affordable for people whose incomes are lower than the area median income as defined by the federal government.
For fiscal year 2026, the AMI for a household of one in Lawrence is $77,312, and for a household of four, $110,400. For a household of one, 80% of the AMI would equate to an annual income of $61,850. For a household of four, 80% of the AMI would equate to $88,300.
The incentive policy will require that at least 80% of units in a project be affordable for households with incomes at or below 80% of the AMI, and that at least 40% are affordable for households with incomes at or below 60% of the AMI. The policy also requires that at least 20% of units must be affordable to households with incomes at or below 30% of the AMI, contain three or more bedrooms, and/or be fully accessible.
In addition, “An application may be ineligible if the site has any portion within a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard floodplain; is in, or would have, an impact on a wetland.”
Mayor Brad Finkeldei said he’s a big believer in requiring housing units that receive incentives to remain affordable for a long time — 99 years, as some potential incentives would require — but “I’m also a big believer in, we need lots of units quickly.” He said it can feel like a trade-off.
“I think that the balance is that the most valuable incentives are for the projects that are going to be the most valuable to the community,” Roselyn said. “We have very limited land. I mean, we have spent years evaluating city-owned land that may be good for affordable housing development, and the list is very short. So with this very limited asset, the thinking is that it should serve the highest public good, and I don’t think that it’s a trade-off.”
Commissioners voted 5-0 to approve the incentive policy.
See the complete policy as approved at this link.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at [email protected]. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
More coverage of housing and homelessness:
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
Jacob Rice / Lawrence Times
Jacob Rice / Lawrence Times
