The ordinance passed 13-1, with only Twelfth Ward Councilman Hyde Clarke opposing it.
The legislation now heads to Mayor Kathy Sheehan, who vetoed an earlier version of the legislation. The council will need 10 of its 15 members to vote in favor of overriding her veto for the legislation to stand.
The council was forced to repass the legislation after discovering it made some procedural errors prior to the bill’s first pass in February that would have left the law vulnerable to legal challenges from developers.
The city already had an existing quota that required developers of buildings with more than 50 units to dedicate 5 percent of the building as affordable units.
The changes will create a staggered system that increases the percentage of affordable units as a development gets larger. Developments with 20 to 49 units will need to keep 7 percent of their units as affordable housing. The number rises to 10 percent for developments with up to 60 units, 12 percent with developments up to 75 units and is capped at 13 percent in buildings with more than 75 units.
The new legislation also changes the income requirements. Developers must now make the units affordable to renters who make 60 percent or less of the area’s median income.
The increase has been discussed for more than a year as the council wrestled with how high to push the percentage of affordable units.
Several housing advocates spoke Monday in support of the legislation, arguing that it would ensure affordable options in the city are not restricted to just neighborhoods that were formerly redlined.
The council approved the legislation over the objections of the Sheehan administration and the city’s economic development arm, arguing the law would put the city at a competitive disadvantage and drive developers to surrounding…
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