11-24-25-WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

AGENDA ITEM - 3C -z3�HILLS MEMORANDUM DATE: November 24, 2025 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers Jessica Jagoe, City Administrator FROM: Jake Reilly, Community Development Director SUBJECT: Affordable housing policy Budgeted Amount: Actual Amount: Funding Source: N/A N/A N/A Council Should Consider Council should consider and provide direction on approaches to increasing the supply of housing in Arden Hills. Background At the October 27, 2025, work session, the City Council received information and discussed various approaches to increasing the supply of affordable places to live in Arden Hills. Based on that conversation, staff has generated answers to questions that were raised during and after the meeting and identifies in this memorandum three approaches designed to offer market -driven solutions. As established in earlier memos on the subject, housing is considered affordable when it costs the owner or renter not more than 30 percent of their income, including taxes, utilities, and insurance. In many cases for rental properties, that amount must also include any fees necessary to rent a unit. For example, cable or internet fees, parking fees, pet fees, etc. In today's rental market, separating out different fees from the rent has been a mechanism for multi -family property owners to both right -size the cost of living to the tenant and recoup as much of the cost of the development and maintenance of a multi -family property and its amenities as possible, including addressing future property maintenance needs. For example, management companies at newer apartment complexes constructed in recent years in the metropolitan area typically attempt to "unbundle" aspects of the rent in one or more of the following ways. Parking spaces are rented separate from the unit, allowing for resident preferences Page 1 of 6