Moab Assured Housing
City of Moab and Grand County, UT
Facing intense market pressures due to a booming tourist economy and limited construction of new workforce housing, the City of Moab and Grand County retained BAE to prepare a feasibility study for implementation of assured housing policies.
In the first part of a two-phase study, BAE first conducted a detailed market analysis and affordable housing needs assessment, to identify housing affordability gaps in the local market rate single-family and multifamily housing supply. BAE prepared financial feasibility development pro-formas for a range of real estate product types, including single- and multifamily housing, retail, office, and lodging uses, to identify their ability to incorporate payment of assured housing (i.e., housing in-lieu) fees to mitigate for impacts on below market-rate housing demand.
Based on the findings from the phase one analysis, BAE’s second phase analysis analyzed the maximum justifiable assured housing requirements (inclusionary percentages as well as in-lieu fee levels) and compared those to the maximum financially feasible fee levels as identified in the phase one pro-forma analyses. From these findings, BAE recommended assured housing fee levels and also provided recommendations for program implementation that would help the jurisdictions achieve affordable housing goals while not excessively burdening market rate development and providing flexibility in how projects comply with requirements.