Lewes is one of nine communities in the state participating in a pilot program aimed at creating more affordable housing through changes to city laws. Last week, members of the city’s Planning Commission got an update on the process and a look at the next steps.
Changes will not happen overnight, however. At last week’s meeting, Tom West, a former Lewes city planner working with the pilot program, explained a lengthy process involving a lot of data-gathering.
Part of that process includes looking at what factors create affordable housing problems, including things that may be inadvertently built into the city’s code, West explained.
“There could be barriers to doing things that might help that process,” West said. “Each community, we would go look at their zoning and cite what those could be.”
The goal for the pilot program goes beyond helping Lewes and the other eight communities involved. West says DSHA hopes to provide actionable ideas for other communities in the future as well.
“It's kind of a novel process in what Delaware is doing is to come out to the municipalities and work with them through this pilot, he explained. “But one of the intents is to have good examples to take to other municipalities who aren't in the pilot.”
DSHA and the private firms working with pilot program participants have identified a number of areas where code changes could benefit municipalities like Lewes. One of those, more permissive guidelines for accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, is already being worked on by the planning commission. Other possible avenues include increasing density and allowable building heights, and turning to pre-reviewed design plans for some housing types.
One possible change could put the city’s affordable housing needs in conflict with another city priority - parking. That was something that planning commission member Alan Roth was quick to point out.
“We have an entire other committee that has been working for weeks on this issue, going in exactly the opposite direction of what is being talked about here,” he said.
For now, the next step is for planning commission members to weigh in on the list of suggested directions for policy changes and to add their local knowledge to the process by deciding which ones are appropriate for Lewes and which ones are not. Then, staff with the pilot program can begin looking in detail at the city’s zoning and land use ordinances.
West told planning commissioners that the median monthly housing cost in Lewes is some $1,250 per month, meaning that someone would need a monthly income of almost $4,200 per month in order for that amount to be considered affordable. That number includes homeowners. When looking at just rentals, the numbers grow, with the average one-bedroom apartment costing $1,725 per month and the average rental overall coming in at $2,200 per month.
In Delaware, 50% of renters and 22% of homeowners are considered “cost-burdened,” meaning that they spend more than 30% of their income on housing and related costs, like utilities.
