Since publicly-owned land may be sold or transferred for any number of purposes, communities that wish to use publicly-owned land for affordable housing development will need to clearly articulate that as a priority. Legal mechanisms, such as local ordinances, can authorize or require the use of suitable public land for affordable homes and clarify procedures for finding appropriate developers and ensuring that affordable housing goals are met.

Click on the links below to learn more about prioritizing the use of publicly-owned land for affordable homes:

Photo courtesy of Chris Palladino/Mansur Real Estate Services, Inc.

Adopt a policy requiring the use of suitable, unused public land for affordable homes A well-crafted local ordinance or state law or regulation can ensure that, whenever feasible, underutilized or surplus public land is used for affordable homes. Make affordable homes a priority use of underutilized or surplus public land in state and local codes When authorizing transfers of public land, state or local codes can give preference to proposals that would create affordable homes.

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You are currently reading: Prioritize the use of suitable publicly-owned land for affordable homes Through legal mechanisms such as ordinances and codes, governments can authorize the use of underutilized or surplus public land for affordable homes whenever feasible. Ordinances and codes can also clarify procedures for marketing available parcels and ensuring that affordable housing goals are met. Other pages in this section: Identify opportunities on publicly-owned land across all agencies Numerous government departments and agencies, with and without housing-related missions, hold surplus or underutilized property which could be suitable for the development of affordable homes. An interagency task force can ensure that the inventory of potential parcels is as comprehensive as possible. Reduce barriers to the disposition of publicly-owned land for affordable homes Standard disposition procedures may hinder the transfer of publicly-owned property for affordable homes. Special transfer procedures, including expedited timelines and the authorization of below-market sales can facilitate the use of publicly-owned land for affordable homes. Click here to view other resources on the use of publicly-owned land.

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Adopt a policy requiring the use of suitable unused public land for affordable housing

Requiring the use of suitable publicly-owned land for affordable housing is an option worth considering for communities that want to establish an ongoing public commitment to the creation of affordable homes. A local ordinance, state law, or regulation can establish periodic inventories of surplus or underutilized publicly-owned land, require the transfer of suitable parcels to increase the supply of affordable housing, and create safeguards to ensure that transfers lead to the development of homes that are affordable over the long run. In crafting a requirement, it is important to bear in mind that not all properties are suitable for residential development. Properties will need to be examined for their suitability, and the requirement may need some flexibility to allow for this.

Ensuring Ongoing Affordability The sale of publicly-owned land for below-market values can be a substantial subsidy. Some would argue that a policy that transfers that subsidy to a single family or property owner would amount to a windfall rather than an investment in the community's future. When any subsidy is particularly large, communities may want to seriously consider requiring that affordability of the home must be retained over the long run. Learn more about what communities can do to ensure that homes created on publicly-owned land remain affordable over the long run.

Solutions in Action

King County, Washington's Ordinance 12394, approved in 1996, states that any surplus parcels that are suitable for housing should be sold or leased for the development of affordable housing. Each year the surplus property list is updated, and suitable properties are offered for development as affordable homes. Factors considered in determining suitability include topography, zoning, and availability of utilities. In 1997, a thorough examination by the county found that 52 out of 750 surplus county-owned parcels had housing development potential. By the beginning of 2007, the ordinance had generated 400 new affordable housing units, including 170 units in the Greenbrier Heights development in Woodinville. Click here to leave this site and read about Greenbrier Heights. San Francisco, California, is another example of a community requiring suitable publicly-owned land to be used for affordable homes. In 2002, the City of San Francisco passed an ordinance requiring the transfer of underutilized or surplus property to the Mayor's Office of Housing for the development of affordable housing, particularly housing for the homeless. Properties that are suitable for housing development are to be sold or leased to a non-profit for the development of: affordable housing for the homeless and households earning less than 20% of AMI, on-site services for the homeless or non-profits serving the homeless, or affordable housing for households earning less than 60% of AMI. Properties that are not suitable for housing development are to be sold in order to generate financing for affordable housing. Although the ordinance has not generated as much development as anticipated, the city is on target to achieve the goal of at least 100 new affordable housing units developed on publicly-owned land by 2010. Learn more about how San Francisco's requirement works.

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Make affordable homes a priority use of underutilized or surplus public land in state and local codes

State and local legislatures can increase the supply of land for affordable housing through preferences in the procedures for the disposition of publicly-owned land. While this approach does not go so far as to require agencies to transfer properties to create affordable housing, it does require agencies to first offer publicly-owned land (whether for sale or lease) to affordable housing developers, and potentially to any entities focused on other priority land uses, before opening up the offer to a broader audience. Through this sort of disposition preference, states can rank their priorities for land use and facilitate the use of publicly-owned land for these goals.

Solutions in Action

A state code in California gives first preference for transfers of publicly-owned land for the development of low- or moderate-income housing (California Government Code Section 54220-54232). The code applies to surplus real property held at the state or local level. State and local agencies must send a written offer of sale or lease of any surplus land to housing developers and designated public agencies for the purposes of affordable housing development, parks and recreation, school facilities, or open space. If more than one offer is received, the statute gives preference to proposals for developing affordable housing. In Oakland, the code has facilitated the development of affordable multifamily rental homes, such as the 17-unit Bishop Nichols Senior Housing Complex on the site of a former fire station, and scattered site single-family ownership homes on surplus parcels that resulted from street-widening.

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