Citywide Housing Strategy Consultant

City of Lakeland Community Development Department

The City of Lakeland, in partnership with Lakeland Vision, Inc., is seeking proposals from consultants to assist with the development of a Citywide Housing Strategy that provides a comprehensive and coordinated approach to the improvement, maintenance and development of housing for all income levels throughout the City of Lakeland. The proposed strategy will seek to maximize public and private financial and organizational resources in order to have the most substantial impact across the entire spectrum of housing needs. As stated above, the strategy's focus will not be limited to affordable housing issues. An urban housing market with a wide variety of housing types and price ranges will support and strengthen affordable housing opportunities. Therefore, the strategy must provide a comprehensive analysis of all levels of the housing market in order to focus resources where they will have the most impact. The housing strategy development process will:

Reflect significant involvement from all segments of Lakeland's residential development community;

Examine the current supply and demand for housing in Lakeland and the surrounding areas, with special emphasis given to income clustering, spending patterns;

Define the qualities that make residential units in the Lakeland urban area "substandard" and quantify the number of such units;

Assess current residential development programs;

Recommend incentives for private investment;

Focus CDBG, HOME, SHIP and other public resources on projects that maximize the effective use of these funds and the return on investment;

Identify additional funding sources for the development of affordable housing in particular;

Assess existing regulatory obstacles and potential opportunities including review of City Land Development Regulations and key rules regarding Federal and State Housing Program Fund expenditure;

Develop a summary table of key regulatory and funding constraints at the local and other levels; follow table with recommendations for any possible actions to remove constraints;

Assess opportunities for combining and/or coordinating organizational resources;

Leverage significant new private investment;

Provide for a continuum of housing resources to meet all of the Community's housing needs.