A bill that increases local government's obligation to affordable housing moved out of its home chamber along party lines Thursday.
State Senator Russell Huxtable’s SB 23 asks Delaware's county governments and towns larger than 2 thousand to include affordable housing plans in upcoming comprehensive plans. Localities are required to adopt a comprehensive plan every 10 years and review its plans every five years.
Huxtable (D-Lewes) championed a package of housing reform bills signed by then-Gov. John Carney in 2024. These were largely aimed at creating more funding avenues for affordable housing.
And he co-chaired to The Affordable Housing Production Task Force, which published a report with recommendations last year. Objectives from the report included local zoning reform and streamlining building permitting processes.
He said a key issue noted while creating the report is, "we already require local governments to plan for housing, but too often those plans don't actually translate into homes being built, particularly homes that people can afford."
His bill this year, dubbed The Housing for Every Delawarean Act, requires towns to rezone within 12 months to match their plans and creates a benchmark– that 20% of housing qualifies as affordable.
The legislation also asks localities to include at least five of 11 strategies outlined in the bill for increasing housing stock, listing options like creating incentives for developers to include affordable housing units in building plans, and creation of transit-oriented developments.
A report from Delaware State Housing Authority in 2023 said 50 thousand renters in the state were cost burdened– and half of those were severely cost burdened. Cost burdened is defined as paying more than 30% of income for housing.
Huxtable said to fix the shortage, Delaware needs more diverse housing types, smaller units, higher densities, and make the residential development process faster and more predictable.
The measure received pushback from local government officials earlier this year. And during the senate floor reading, Republican Senator Bryant Richardon (R-Seaford) said the bill's approach infringes on businesses and local control.
"There's a limited amount of land in each municipality," Richardson said. "In order to reach that 20% threshold, some high-density housing is going to have to take place."
Huxtable said he won't be able to address concerns of the town leaders he spoke with "100%" because much of the input, "was 'consider, consider, consider,' and we want actionable items to move us forward in this crisis, instead of just considering and admiring the problem."
He said he did soften some of the bill’s language in response to his conversations with local leaders. Towns and counties will work with the Delaware State Housing Authority to develop affordable housing plans. But the state agency doesn’t sign off on or veto the plans.
The bill requires annual reporting from local governments on progress to meet goals of affordable housing tot he state.
If the bill passes– DSHA and the State Office of Planning will publish an annual report each May starting in 2028, showing each towns’ progress towards meeting affordable housing plan goals.
