Golden Valley Approves Affordable Housing Program
Golden Valley took steps this week to support affordable housing options in the city. The Golden Valley City Council on Tuesday night approved what’s called the 4d affordable housing program. It’s called 4d because there are four ways a property can be deemed affordable.
Under the program, the city would offer financial assistance to qualifying property owners who would agree to keep 20 percent or more units affordable. Those property owners would qualify for a rate reduction in property taxes.
“I’ve consistently supported this program as another tool in addition to our mixed-income housing policy and our renter protection ordinance in order to provide and protect affordable housing,” said Steve Schmidgall, Golden Valley City Council member, who is running for mayor this fall.
“This is going to be an ongoing issue and so I encourage us to realize that we’re going to have to keep chipping away at this,” said Golden Valley Mayor Shep Harris, who is running for re-election. “And it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be challenging to address this whether it’s through advanced notification or other types of protections.”
If all Golden Valley property owners participate in the 4d program, the cost to the city could go up to $135,000. St. Louis Park and Edina already have the 4d program in place. The city plans to start accepting applications for the program next year.