To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Rick Tooker, Community Development Director
Prepared By: Lark Ferrell, Housing Manager
TITLE:
Title
Proposed Ballot Measure to Increase Transient Occupancy Tax to Fund Affordable and Workforce Housing
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Provide direction to staff on proposed City ballot measure to increase Transient Occupancy Tax by 1% to fund affordable and workforce housing.
Body
DISCUSSION:
Background
There is a critical shortage of affordable and workforce housing throughout California, including in the Napa Valley. Market rents and home prices continue to increase in Napa and now exceed what low- and even moderate-income households can afford. Vacancy rates remain extremely low. Employers report difficulties recruiting and retaining employees due in part to rising housing costs in the region. Affordable housing was identified in the City's 2016, 2017, and 2018 communitywide surveys as a top concern, and City Council has identified affordable housing as a top priority.
In 2013, an Affordable Housing Task Force, convened jointly by the City of Napa, City of American Canyon, and Napa County, issued a report with recommendations to help address the lack of affordable housing in the community. One of the recommendations was to have major industries help fund housing. In Napa County, major sectors of employment include manufacturing, which is primarily wine or wine-related production, with over 12,000 workers, hospitality, including lodging, restaurants, and tasting rooms with roughly 11,700 workers, government and education with close to 11,000 workers, and health care and social services with over 8,000 employees.
Over the past several years, the City of Napa has implemented policies to increase affordable and workforce housing. These include:
* Making excess public land available for affordable housing
* Streamlining the approval process for housing projects (with a special emph...
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