Mountainlands Community Housing Trust has long been focused on building new affordable units. Executive Director Jason Glidden said that’s becoming harder as construction costs rise. He said policy changes may help offset some of those costs.
“Zoning can be a very easy way for local governments and even the state, to look to drop some of those costs,” Glidden said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” April 27. “So, you know, I'll continue to push on that and try to find ways. I'm not looking to increase the density to 10 stories or anything like that. But I think there are some opportunities for us to increase density, to reduce things like lot size, that have made it really tough for us to get the density that we really need to see.”
The HOPA project involves two apartment complexes off Kearns Boulevard: Holiday Village and Parkside Apartments.
The original plan was to rebuild the existing 122 units and add nearly 200 more, constructed in phases to avoid displacing current residents. Parking was going to go underground, and approved plans included a 20% parking reduction to make room for the new construction.
Glidden said Mountainlands recently failed to secure the low-income tax credits required to move ahead — the fourth time HOPA has been passed over. Now, he says a less ambitious project is being considered.
“It really came down to costs,” he said. “Specifically looking at the underground parking costs that are extremely expensive, especially when you're trying to hit the rent levels that we're trying to hit. Right now, we're in the process of a redesign, and we put out a request for proposal to have a firm assist us in that. We'll decide who we're going to be working with, and this is just for the pre-construction side of things - just the design of the project and then understanding how we're going to put the capital stack together for that.”
The next tax credit application is in June, but Glidden said the redesigned plans won’t be ready in time. He hopes to reapply in January. Depending on the scope of the changes, the project could require another round of planning commission review, potentially adding six to eight months to the timeline.
Meanwhile, Moutainlands is exploring alternative financing options beyond tax credits.
The organization continues to offer its Self-Help program which has built more than 450 units so far.
Mountainlands is also partnering with Habitat for Humanity and Columbus Pacific on additional affordable housing at the Cline Dahle property in Jeremy Ranch.
“There isn't a current zone that would allow for what we were trying to do,” he said. “And so, I know the county is working right now to try to create an overlay zone, an affordable overlay zone that would not only be for this project but, moving forward, for other projects. Creating smaller lots are key for us, smaller homes that we can then sell at an affordable rate.”
Click here for more information about HOPA or self help programs.
