Affordable Housing in Arden Hills – Reprinted from The Official City Newsletter for Arden Hills Residents July 2022
An aspect of Arden Hills that makes it a great city to live in is its varied mix of housing stock that offers many affordable options from starter homes to senior living residences. The Metropolitan Council is tasked with defining and tracking affordable housing in the metro area. Affordable housing is defined by the Met Council as housing that is affordable to households that earn 80% or less of the Area Median Income (AMI). Per the Met Council in 2021, 80% of the AMI for a family of four was $89,400, meaning it was calculated that a family in such a situation could afford a house worth up to $355,600. Affordable housing can occur naturally based on a number of factors, but new affordable housing is generally paid for with public subsidies and/or tax breaks coming from Federal, State, or Local governments, which can result in tax increases for taxpayers.
The Met Council’s most recent affordable housing study is based on 2019 data. At that time, approximately 40% of the houses in Arden Hills were considered affordable. Arden Hills had 3,277 housing units, 1,298 of which fell within the category of “Affordable Housing,” as previously defined. Of those 1,298 affordable units, 347 units (27%) were affordable at 80% of AMI, 468 (36%) were affordable for AMIs between 60% and 31%, and 483 units (37%) were affordable at AMIs less than 30%. Units that are affordable at 30% or under are considered “deeply affordable.” Different housing styles and affordability levels are scattered throughout Arden Hills.
An easy way to understand the context of affordable housing is by looking at neighboring cities. You may not know that 15% of Arden Hills’ total housing units are considered “deeply affordable” to households with incomes that are 30% of the AMI. In comparison, 4% of St Anthony’s housing stock can also be considered “deeply affordable,” 6% of Shoreview, 8% of Vadnais Heights, 8% of Roseville, 10% of New Brighton, 19% of Mounds View, and 22% of Little Canada. Arden Hills is among the top three cities with the highest percentages of deeply affordable housing in the surrounding north Ramsey County area.
The Met Council ranks cities based on the affordability of infrastructure built in the past ten years. Cities with high growth, new construction, or high preservation/rehabilitation will generally receive higher scores than those that do not have as much growth. For a fully built-out city like Arden Hills, the score will generally be lower. For example, in the last few years Shoreview built 1,005 new townhouses and apartments which increased their Met Council Housing Performance Data retrieved from the Metropolitan Council 2019 housing stock estimates. Score; however, only 46 of those units, or 5%, were considered affordable. Of those 46 units, 38 of the units were affordable at 80% of AMI and the remaining 8 units affordable at 60% of the AMI.
Although Arden Hills has not seen similar growth in the past decade, the Rice Creek Commons project, also known as TCAAP, is poised to bring significant affordability to the City. The recently approved term sheet between the City and the developer, Alatus, calls for 1,460 housing units, 326 (22%) of which will be affordable. Of the 326 units, 180 units are planned to be affordable at 50% and 60% of the AMI for Ramsey County. These affordable units will become a reality when the County and developer reach an agreement and the County begins to sell the vacant land to the developer to begin construction.
The City of Arden Hills, like all metro cities, has an established Comprehensive Plan that is updated every ten years. The most recent plan, adopted in 2019, acts as a developmental roadmap for the next twenty years. The current plan sets a goal for 373 additional affordable units in Arden Hills. The recent agreement on Rice Creek Commons brings the City closer to the goal outlined in the recent Comprehensive Plan, and substantially increases housing, and affordable housing, in the area. The City Council will continue to pursue goals and policies that make Arden Hills a great place for all to live, work, and play.