Anchorage officials want to build 10,000 new homes in the next 10 years, amid a housing crunch and rising concerns about people living unhoused in the city.
The initiative comes as housing prices have soared in Anchorage, fewer homes are available and homelessness has reached crisis proportions in the city.
Mayor Suzanne LaFrance admitted that it’s an ambitious goal.
“10,000 homes in 10 years is a bold strategy to bring more housing to Anchorage,” LaFrance said during a press conference Thursday at City Hall. ”We won't fix a housing crisis like ours through simply one single action. We need to be committed to a series of actions that make it cheaper and easier to build or renovate.”
LaFrance highlighted recent efforts to improve the housing situation in Anchorage, like the temporary lifting of design standards on certain homes and expediting the permitting process for new construction.
Assembly member Anna Brawley has introduced an ordinance that would create a temporary tax reprieve for new multi-family home construction. It would reduce the cost of building homes and allow the city to invest in new construction, Brawley said.
“Essentially, the idea, again, is to make it more financially feasible by temporarily giving up some of that tax revenue with the idea that eventually that property gets fully on the tax rolls,” Brawley said.
LaFrance invited local developers like Shaun Debenham to discuss their approaches to building more housing. Debenham spoke highly of the tax abatement proposal.
“We've got some projects in the pipeline right now,” Debenham said. “They're in the design phase, and as this property tax abatement comes through and (is) implemented, we're excited to get the shovel in the ground and start bringing housing and adding to the 10,000 units that need to be built.”
Brawley’s ordinance, which she cosponsored with Assembly members Felix Rivera and George Martinez, is scheduled to have a public hearing April 16, with a vote by the Assembly set for April 22.
