It’s been 10 years since Habitat for Humanity of Summit and Wasatch Counties built a home in its latter area of service, but the 31-year-old housing nonprofit is hoping to change that.  Representatives from Habitat for Humanity appeared before the Heber City Council on Tuesday to facilitate c onversation and collaboration around affordable housing issues. The organization built six homes in the Heber Valley between 2004 and 2016. Executive Director Shellie Barrus described the barn raising process as finding land and the community raising funds to build the homes one at a time. The local Habitat for Humanity chapter began to shift its model in 2020 following the board’s strategic planning, which left members asking, “Is one house at a time enough?” “We really saw that we wanted to be a bigger part of the solution,” explained Barrus. The nonprofit has been targeting multi-unit projects to provide more affordable housing in one fell swoop because partnering with developers is an easier process than Habitat for Humanity going through the development process on its own. A recent example can be found in Silver Creek Village near Interstate 80 and U.S. 40, where Habitat for Humanity is facilitating 26 affordable units on the 1,300-unit property, including a new 10-plex of townhomes coming this year. The Silver Creek Village project has taken much of Habitat for Humanity’s focus, Barrus said, but progress on the Summit County project has freed up resources to focus on Heber City. Barrus said that two factors have made it difficult to build homes in the rapidly growing municipality: rising land prices and zoning.  Zoning requirements in Heber City have become increasingly restrictive, requiring larger homes and stricter rules around infrastructure and architecture. This has made building the ideal Habitat for Humanity home — a single-story, 1,100- or 1,200-square-foot home with a carport instead of a garage — impossible.  “When we built several homes in Heber, you had to have a detached, two-car garage,” Barrus explained. “That’s just more expensive to build and takes up a lot more land.” She said it’s become more difficult for the nonprofit to target small lots to build many units on because of concerns around density.  “We’re used to single-family lots with lots of space between us and our neighbors and big yards. It’s just a model that we’ve gotten really used to and that we’ve lived amongst, so all of a sudden, it does feel maybe worrisome to have more people in a smaller space,” she said. Time and time again, Barrus has seen the parking and traffic concerns of community members and elected officials stonewall high-density developments. As an example, Wasatch County-based developer Garbett Homes proposed a community of 40 townhomes on its 3.19-acre lot at 830 E. Center St. in November. The current zoning in the area allows up to six townhomes.  The initial proposal included five units priced between $470,000 and $485,000 to be affordable to those making 80% of the area median income, which is $109,120 for a family of four in Wasatch County. But rounds of feedback cut the number of units to 26 priced around $500,000 each. There were no designated affordable units because the developer could not feasibly include them with the reduction in density.  Residents still voiced concerns about the development at a Jan. 20 City Council meeting, particularly around potential parking and traffic effects in the surrounding neighborhood. This led officials to ask Garbett Homes to reduce the number of units further, which could result in price increases. “It might make better sense as six to eight pretty expensive, single-family homes that aren’t affordable. But maybe somebody wants to spend $750,000 to live two blocks from the (Heber Valley) Temple,” City Councilor Aaron Cheatwood suggested. Barrus believed affordable housing negotiations between developers and Heber City leaders would go more smoothly with a trusted third party like Habitat for Humanity involved. She told Jacob Ballsteadt, the representative for Garbett Homes, “Anytime you’re looking for density and trying to do affordability, the (City) Council is going to listen to it in a different way than just, ‘We’re trying to make money.’” She said that comes from the fact that Habitat for Humanity, which is funded by donations, grants and its ReStore thrift store in Park City, isn’t seeking profit — only to cover its costs. City Councilor Yvonne Barney, who has said repeatedly that she struggles to accept high-density developments, referred to Habitat for Humanity’s negotiations with developers as the ability to “be the mouse that talks to the elephant.” For example, the nonprofit’s outreach in Heber City could be in an advisory capacity during City Council and Planning Commission meetings. Barrus said Habitat for Humanity has kept an eye on meeting agendas and sat in on affordable housing discussions.  Habitat for Humanity also hopes to help city leaders identify long-term goals around affordable housing, such as how to provide housing for essential workers, and may partner with developers to pay for or manage affordable housing units.  “There are some of those City Council members who are really adamant about the 60, 70, 80% AMI. And I think, from an analytical perspective, if a developer were to go in with an approach from the beginning, like with us, and say, ‘If you want us to do 15% affordable (units) in this project, we could bring in Habitat or someone like them to do 5 to 7 or 8% of that 15% to reach that lower AMI,’” said Michael Plowman, development director of Habitat for Humanity of Summit and Wasatch Counties. The nonprofit serves families earning between 30 and 80% AMI, which is between $40,920 and $109,120 for a family of four in Wasatch County. Barrus said the big difference between Summit and Wasatch counties is that the former has had an ongoing culture around affordable housing solutions. But Wasatch County’s housing affordability issues are more recent. “It felt so much faster for Wasatch County,” Barrus said. “It has always kind of been an issue for Park City and Summit County. It’s been happening longer, that sort of influx of people moving here, and then it just overflowed into Wasatch County.” But Barrus has been impressed by Heber City leaders’ willingness to tackle affordable housing issues.  One example is in the city’s adoption of the downtown Central Heber Overlay Zone in September. The zone allows for infill, the development of small lots of underutilized land — a tactic Habitat employed in its past homebuilding projects in Heber City. The zone also allows property owners to build additional residential units on their properties, such as accessory dwelling units, duplex and twin homes, flag lots and mansion-style apartments. Both Barrus and the City Council were excited by the prospect of further partnership. “Some cities ignore and don’t address (affordable housing) until much farther down the path. So, I’ve felt really inspired by the kind of effort that Heber City has put in,” Barrus said. “I really appreciate their efforts to not put their heads in the sand and to really try to address it.” The post Habitat for Humanity seeks greater collaboration with Heber City appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less