Auburn City Council will vote this week to formally apply for a pro-housing community designation.
Council will vote Thursday on whether or not to support a resolution adopting the Pro-Housing Communities pledge to be sent to New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR). The city will also need to submit a zoning map, zoning code summary, and housing planning and building permit information from the past five years. This step is required to achieve the designation.
According to the resolution, by adopting the pledge, Auburn would commit to taking on the following steps:
- Streamlining permitting for multifamily housing, affordable housing, accessible housing, accessory dwelling units, and supportive housing.
- Adopting policies that affirmatively further fair housing.
- Incorporating regional housing needs into planning decisions.
- Increasing development capacity for residential uses.
- Enacting policies that encourage a broad range of housing development, including multifamily housing, affordable housing, accessible housing, accessory dwelling units, and supportive housing
Under the governor’s proposed budget, communities designated as pro-housing will receive priority consideration for up to $650 million in state discretionary funds.
Last month, Mayor Jimmy Giannettino sent a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul and HCR Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas announcing Auburn’s intent to seek the designation. In the letter, Giannettino cited Auburn’s homeownership rate of 46%, below the state rate of 54%, as evidence that the city should be participating in the pro-housing initiative.
Once all documents are submitted, the City will be notified within 90 days of its certification as a Pro-Housing Community.
