HomeMy WebLinkAboutSection 6 Housing 12.2019 28
Housing
Vision:
Iowa City is a community of neighborhoods with safe, attractive, and affordable housing options to serve
residents throughout their lifetimes. To this end, the City of Iowa City will support policies that preserve
and enhance the character of existing neighborhoods while encouraging diverse and affordable housing
options in all neighborhoods—new and old.
Housing Goals and strategies:
Encourage a diversity of housing options in all neighborhoods.
▪ Ensure a mix of housing types within each neighborhood, to provide options for households of all
types (singles, families, retirees, etc.) and people of all incomes.
▪ Encourage development on smaller lots that conserve land and allow for more affordable single-
family housing options.
▪ Strive to create a healthy balance of rental and owner-occupied housing in all neighborhoods.
▪ Identify and support infill development and redevelopment opportunities in areas where services
and infrastructure are already in place.
▪ Concentrate new development in areas contiguous to existing neighborhoods where it is most cost
effective to extend infrastructure and services.
▪ Encourage projects that attract long-term residents to Downtown, Riverfront Crossings, and the
University Impact Zone.
▪ Encourage publicly and privately developed dormitory-style housing for University students in ar-
eas close to the University campus, but away from single-family neighborhoods.
▪ Ensure that dormitory-style housing for University students includes recreational and open space
amenities that provide for a safe and healthy student living environment.
▪ Promote housing design and features that allow people to age in place, such as universal design.
▪ Encourage green building techniques and promote energy efficiency in all housing.
Neighborhoods should provide a variety of
housing options to serve people throughout
the various stages of life: single working
people, families, and seniors.
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Improve and maintain housing stock in established neighborhoods.
▪ Continue to support and promote programs that fund or provide low-interest loans for housing
maintenance or rehabilitation such as the General Rehabilitation and Improvement Program
(GRIP), the Targeted Neighborhood Improvement Program (TARP), and the UniverCity Neighbor-
hood Partnership.
▪ Encourage the improvement or re-development of substandard multi-family housing.
▪ Identify areas within established neighborhoods where infill development would be appropriate.
Maintain and improve the safety of all housing.
▪ Enforce building and housing codes.
▪ Review existing codes for consistency with the goal to provide safe housing, re-evaluating provi-
sions that have no apparent basis in safety.
▪ Update codes to accommodate the use of new technology and construction techniques.
▪ Explore Home Energy Rating Standards for new construction and significant remodel/rehab-
ilitation projects.
Preserve the integrity of existing neighborhoods and the historic nature of older neighborhoods.
▪ Develop neighborhood plans that help ensure a balance of housing types, especially in older parts
of the city.
▪ Support the Historic Preservation Commission’s efforts to meet its goals.
▪ Support housing rehabilitation programs and re-invest in housing in existing neighborhoods.
Mitigate impact of large scale residential development
▪ Mitigate the impact of redevelopment on occupants of proposed projects involving the remodeling
or reconstruction of existing multi-family residential dwellings by fostering communication be-
tween property owners and occupants through sufficient notice requirements, and encouraging
the developer to create thoughtful transition plans that seek to accommodate the relocation needs
of current occupants.
The UniverCity Neighborhood Partnership
purchases and renovates rental properties in
areas near the Downtown and Campus. These
homes are then resold as affordable owner -
occupied housing. The goal is to achieve a
healthier balance of owner-occupied and
rental properties in near -campus neighbor-
hoods that still retain a single-family charac-
ter.
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Support sustainability initiatives to create more energy efficient development.
▪ Support programs to improve the efficiency and environmental sustainability of housing.
▪ Support compact, contiguous development to ensure the efficient use of land and to enhance oppor-
tunities for alternatives to commuting by car.