The city of Austin is using density bonus as an incentive for developers to include affordable housing in new developments.
"[The Austin] City Council unanimously approved the Affordability Unlocked bonus program," reports Ryan Thornton. The ordinance "[amends] city code by loosening site restrictions and promoting construction of more units in affordable and mixed-income housing developments."
"The program applies to developments without more than a quarter of space dedicated to commercial use in all base commercial and residential zoning districts as well as most special use zoning and overlay districts," adds Thornton.
To qualify, 50 percent of all units in a development must be income restricted, set at "60 percent median family income or below for rental units and 80 percent MFI for ownership developments."
Thornton's coverage of the new ordinance includes a lot more specific details about how and where the new Affordability Unlocked ordinance works, and the political process that got the ordinance across the finish line.
FULL STORY: Council passes affordable housing density bonus program
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research