Affordable housing strategies for Sedona

John O'Brien, Director of Community Development, City of Sedona

Sedona, AZ - March 28, 2008 - Creating and preserving affordable housing in Sedona is an enormous challenge. Available land is limited as the City of Sedona is 70% built-out on residential lands and 80% built-out on commercial lands. The remaining vacant land is very expensive, and some strategies used successfully by cities around the country would not work here. Some strategies for increasing the stock of affordable housing are appropriate to our community.

The Housing Commission received excellent feedback on possible affordable housing strategies at their recent public forums and thank everyone who took time to attend. For those of you who were unable to attend, I want to talk about two of those strategies - accessory dwelling units and increased density for affordable housing in some zoning districts in the City.

Other communities have found that allowing accessory dwelling units (known as ADUs), primarily guest homes, to be legally rented on a long-term basis is an effective way to meet affordable housing objectives with little impact on neighborhoods or city budgets. Accessory dwelling units, which are generally small, self-contained residential units with complete living facilities that are built on the same lot as the primary single-family home, cannot currently be rented legally in Sedona. The Housing Commission has proposed an ordinance to allow the long-term rental of ADUs in order to increase the number of available rental housing units in our community. Adoption of this ordinance requires public hearings with the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council. The Planning and Zoning Commission held its first review on January 15 and is expected to conduct a second review on May 20. The proposed ordinance is available at www.SedonaAZ.gov/housing.

Accessory dwelling units can provide affordable housing options for people who struggle to find housing to meet their needs and finances, including Sedona's workforce, extended family members, caregivers, and grown children. The long-term rental of an ADU could provide retired homeowners on fixed incomes with financial resources to allow them to remain in their home, or could provide a home for a full-time caregiver. A young family could perhaps afford a home in the community if they could rely on income from the long-term rental of an ADU.

It is important that ADUs fit into existing neighborhoods, and the proposed ordinance includes restrictions on, among other things, the size and design of ADUs, requires that the property owner lives in either the primary residence or ADU, and requires off-street parking.

Accessory dwelling units would slightly increase population density and neighborhood traffic, but the small size of the ADUs will limit the size of those households, and any additional parking will be off-street. Also, the owner of the primary residence will be solely in control of the rental of an ADU and can address any tenant issues directly. We expect that allowing long-term rental of ADUs would result in some additional affordable housing units for our community, but the ordinance restrictions and homeowner association prohibitions will likely limit the number of ADUs that could realistically be produced.

Another approach that could yield some additional affordable housing units would be to allow for increased density in certain zoning districts, such as commercial and multi-family districts. When we talk about increased density, we are not talking about the public housing projects that can be found in large cities. Instead, allowing some additional units in market rate developments could make it economically feasible to include some affordable housing. Currently, the Sedona Community Plan limits density to 12 units per acre. In certain areas of the city, slightly increased density for affordable housing could fit into the context of those areas and not negatively impact current residents or businesses while providing incentives to developers to include affordable housing. We don't expect to create hundreds of affordable housing units with increased density, but this strategy could add some desperately needed affordable units to the City's housing stock without requiring City funds.

To this end, City staff is proposing an amendment to the Community Plan that would allow for densities up to 20 units per acre in certain zoning districts under certain conditions. The Planning and Zoning Commission and Housing Commission will be holding a joint work session on April 7 to discuss this issue. The proposed Community Plan Amendment for increased density would then be presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council for consideration at public hearings this summer and fall.

For more information on the Housing Commission's activities, visit their website at www.SedonaAZ.gov/housing or contact Jessica Williamson, Associate Planner, at 203-5045 or at jwilliamson@SedonaAZ.gov.  

Related articles:

Sedona Housing Commission seeks legislation for affordable housing

Affordable housing can be good for Sedona

Sedona City Council approves affordable housing policy

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