Hurdles for Housing Diversity

Lack of public transportation to diverse social services network in Portland area. Procuring land that is acceptable to the CE population. Public perceptions that housing affordability and diversity will have negative impacts on the community.

@douglas babkirk Thanks! All of these I think are great points.

@Jen Thanks for this comment! Would love to at a high level get your thoughts if you'd share on maybe high level thoughts on density...do you think our existing zoned density is best? Or what is actually in place and built in town today? Or would you potentially support density in a range of current neighborhoods in town (Elizabeth Park/Oakhurst/Colonial Village) were new construction geared toward the groups you identify above (current residents/people who work in town/young families)?

Perhaps the biggest hurdle is simply cost. With property taxes increasing and the looming tax increase to pay for any new school construction, building housing that is affordable seems unlikely to me. Not to even mention the valuations existing Cape housing goes for today.

@Thomas Kirner Thank you for this comment. We have heard the rough cost of a new housing unit is about $300,000, plus if infrastructure is needed another $75,000 per unit for that (roads, water, sewer, etc.) If public funds (property taxes) or private funds (for example, sales of federal tax credits) were available to offset those costs, and new tax revenue were generated for the town, do you think those could potentially make development more affordable to those who would live there?

Thank you all for taking the time to come in and think about these topics! We value each piece of feedback from the community, and deeply appreciate the time and thought everyone has given and is giving to this topic.

I am unclear about your comment. If Cape were to subsidize low cost housing through taxation, would that not make Cape MORE unaffordable for more people?Not sure how federal tax credits are “private funds” . If my tax burden increases not sure how that helps. Taking more from me to subsidize any housing dos not seem like a good path.

@Thomas Kirner Sorry I wasn't clear...I differentiated between using property taxes to fund potential solutions or using private incentives like federal tax credits - federal credits are sold to investors who then fund housing creation, so they are a private form of financing, and don't impact property taxes (or if they do, it would be to lower them because of the new taxable value created.) In either case the housing created would be deed restricted to be affordable to those living in said housing. Certainly the cost of local subsidy would make property taxes higher to some extent, the question is really are the trade-offs (teachers being able to live in town, seniors able to downsize if they want to) worth whatever cost that might be - and of course speaking in the hypothetical for someone that trade-off might be worth $0, for some maybe a 0.5% tax increase is palatable, for others more.