“Every day I get dozen upon dozen calls of people sobbing to me, asking, ‘Is there anything available?’ ‘Is there anything?’ ‘Please, can I rent? I need something. I’m about to be evicted. I’m going to be homeless. I need anything you can give to me,’” Oliver Merritt, a rental coordinator for the Denton Affordable Housing Corporation, told the Denton City Council during last week’s meeting.
“Every day, I have to tell people, ‘I’m so sorry. We do not have anything available. We do not have any units that are coming open because it is all full,’” Merritt said. “We do not have the ability to make more right now because the regulations are so strict.”
Merritt was joined by several other residents who spoke last week during a public hearing to demand that council members pass amendments to the development code that would relax restrictions and incentivize affordable housing in Denton.
Nearly all who spoke said such changes are needed to address the affordable housing crisis.
“I think it is important to understand that our current affordability crisis is happening under the context that is shaped by our current rules,” Kristine Bray, who currently serves on Denton’s Charter Committee, told council members Tuesday.
“So we are going to have to change the current rules to get different results. We can’t get different results without changing things. We have to be willing to change things.”
Council members agreed, and unanimously approved amending the development code to offer incentives in exchange for developers offering affordable units.
The development incentives will vary. It will depend on the percentage of affordable units that developers will offer over a 30-year period.
“This has been a long time coming,” Mayor Pro Tem Mayor Paul Meltzer said last Tuesday night. “We’ve been aiming that arrow for several years. I’m really happy to be here on this night [it passes].”
Leia Atkinson, the city’s housing programs coordinator, told council members that the amendments align with Denton’s affordable housing strategic toolkit and the council’s priority to foster economic opportunity and affordability.
There will be nine development incentives, Atkinson said, including a 20% deviation from the minimum yard and minimum lot width, lot depth and lot area, as well as maximum building height and minimum unit size.
The city is also offering a parking reduction, requiring one spot per affordable dwelling unit.
To receive the incentives, residential developments must comply with affordability requirements.
For example, for three or fewer incentives, 5% of units must be made available for those who earn less than 30% area median income, 10% of units for those who earn 30% to 50% AMI, and 5% for those who make between 50% and 80% AMI, according to the Oct. 15 staff presentation.
If all eight or nine incentives are requested, then 20% of the units must be set aside for those who earn less than 30% AMI, 25% for those who earn 30% to 50% AMI, and 20% for those who earn 50% to 80% AMI.
Atkinson said the incentives and affordability determinations will occur during the normal development process. The developer simply has to submit a request for the affordable housing incentives. If approved, it will be signed by both the city and the developer prior to the issuance of building permits.
The city’s Community Services Department will be responsible for monitoring the development for full compliance.
As for public engagement, staff initiated an online feedback form in late July and received 11 responses, one from a developer and 10 from residents.
A town hall meeting was also held in early August with 30 people in attendance.
During the Oct. 15 council meeting, a few council members shared concerns about the incentives prior to the unanimous vote.
Council member Jill Jester was concerned because not every development is appropriate to every neighborhood, but city staff assured her that developments in need of a zoning change or special-use permit would come before council to request those changes.
Landscaping incentives were on council member Brian Beck’s mind, but then he changed his mind shortly after a public speaker reminded him that people who are in desperate need of affordable housing aren’t concerned about landscaping.
“I grew up in low-income housing, and I can promise you I was not worried about how the landscaping looked,” Tammy Elton told council members last week. “I was worried about having a bed to sleep in. I was not worried about the height. … What we are all trying to get approved today is that people desperately need it. Denton desperately needs it from an economic perspective and not just from doing the right thing.”
Mayor Gerard Hudspeth reminded people that the city couldn’t keep people from places like Frisco from renting an affordable unit in Denton because the areas around Denton are also facing their own affordable housing crises.
“Our hands are tied, and we can’t restrict that,” Hudspeth said. “That is a concern.”
The height incentive was another issue discussed by council member Vicki Byrd. Staff reassured her that the incentive’s 20% height increase is based on an area’s zoning and does not waive the rights of nearby areas.
“Developers can’t lose money on a project,” Suzi Rumohr, a university librarian, told council members last week. “They still have to make money, and we have to give them a good enough reason to make more [affordable] housing.
“We need a whole toolbox and need to throw everything at it because it is a housing crisis, and people are struggling out there.”