Ventura Affordable Housing Fee Study
City of San Buenaventura, CA
The City of Ventura commissioned BAE to prepare a study to evaluate commercial linkage fees and residential inclusionary in-lieu fees to support the production and preservation of affordable housing in Ventura.
Like most cities throughout the State of California, Ventura faces significant challenges in addressing affordable housing needs and has a limited set of tools and financial resources to address these challenges. As part of the City’s efforts to address these its housing needs, the City is currently in the process of updating its residential inclusionary ordinance to create a single citywide ordinance with a potential in-lieu fee and is considering adoption of fees on new commercial real estate development projects to support the production of affordable housing.
BAE prepared an in-depth assessment of the number of new worker households that new commercial and market-rate residential development generates, the household income distribution among these worker households, and the cost to provide affordable housing to workers that are not able to afford market-rate rents or sale prices in Ventura. BAE’s work for this study also included financial feasibility analysis to determine the fee rates that new development can absorb, as well as three stakeholder meetings to obtain input from developers and affordable housing advocates.
The City of Ventura plans to take the full fee study report and revised inclusionary ordinance to City Council in Summer of 2019.