Juneau’s assembly members are going to take it upon themselves to deepen their housing market knowledge while they work to build a resource of housing industry insight.
The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly ad hoc housing committee met Tuesday at the City Hall conference room 224.
To nudge Juneau’s housing vacancy rate closer to the desired 5 percent the assembly created an add hoc committee on housing. The committee decided to tap the expertise of Juneau’s housing industry developers, lenders, land owners, Realtors and real estate agents. This expertise will help inform the assembly as to the challenges and opportunities of Juneau’s housing market. To find out why the houses Juneau needs are not being built.
Assembly member Randy Wanamaker said he was concerned the committee was proceeding too fast with its plan to deliver to the full assembly reports on the challenges and opportunities brought forward by housing industry insiders.
“We need to know how to make suggestions,” Wanamaker said. He recommended the assembly hear from CBJ staff on Juneau’s housing market. “A Housing 101.”
City Manager Kim Kiefer said the assembly will benefit from a presentation of the Juneau Economic Development Council’s recently releases housing needs assessment at the Assembly Lands Committee before the Committee of the Whole Jan. 14.
Assembly member Carlton Smith said individuals, as well as groups, are encouraged to share experiences and institutional knowledge.
“People I’ve talked to have shown a high degree of interest,” Smith said.
Assembly Member Mary Becker said interested industry stakeholders will not be asked to join an organized goup to take part in the ad hoc committee report.
“We’re not looking for a committee,” Becker said, “We’re looking for thoughts.”
Those interested in sharing with the ad hoc committee can contact CBJ Municipal Clerk Laurie Sica at www.juneau.org/clerk.
• Contact reporter Russell Stigall at 523-2276 or at russell.stigall@juneauempire.com.
Comments (4)
Add commentCBJ taxes are the problem
Sure it costs a lot to live here but compare our property tax rates to other SE and AK communities. Ours is HIGH! It should be half of what it is now. Almost 3 of my mortgage payments a year go directly to CBJ taxes. That is crazy - need to look at CBJ government and how to reduce the size of that to increase the size of affordable housing. Its not affordable housing it is affordable taxation! It would not be so bad if we did not have a sales tax but to have both a mid-level sales tax and high property tax is killing us. Stop looking at how to rig the market and rig industry - look at creative zoning, more economic development in Juneau and limiting the size of CBJ government.
The main reason
needed housing is not being built is probably that there exists no incentive to do so! Builders usually build for profit, so as to take care of their own housholds, no profit? No building. Is the profit going to excessive taxes? Excessive regulatory costs? Labor costs? That is where the assembly needs to look, where is the potential for incentive to intice a builder to build? Given enough revenue potential, and a market to sell to, that can afford the product, the need WILL be filled.
We need housing for seniors.
We need housing for seniors. There are seniors that want to move out of their homes and into apartments. Building a complex for seniors would make houses available.
Build hundreds of modest
Build hundreds of modest 700-1,200 square foot, 2-3 bedroom, 1-1.5 bath houses on 5,000-7,500 square foot lots in a reasonably central location. There was even a time when one bedroom houses 650 square feet in size were built! Use wood from the Tongass Forest to build them with. Heat them with firewood or wood pellets from the Tongass. Insulate them really well to keep the cost of ownership down. Make rezoning or redeveloping underutilized land a priority to provide space for infill development. Some of these houses don't even need a garage or carport (buyer can add that later). Is it really that hard? These are starter homes folks, and for some of us, forever homes! Nothing shameful in owning a basic home that is cheap to own and maintain and can only hold so much crap. There seems to be a reluctance to live or build within reason. Sick and tired of too many expensive 1,600 square foot plus tract style homes being built in Juneau. Blah! Time to think classic 1920s-1950s cape cod, ranch, retro. Make them vary in height from single story, story-and-a-half, and even two story format like the kind of stuff built in the Casey Shattuck addition downtown near the Federal Building. Basements, as rare as they are in new construction, should be reconsidered. Houses used to reliably be 2-3 times 'one' person's annual income, generally increasing in line with inflation through the years. Somehow society was able to justify ever higher prices with the help and profits made from flipping houses, realtor fees, tax assessments, permitting fees, developer 'red-tape', and interest payments on loans. They say if a house is 10 times annual rent or less, it's usually better to buy. Most of the existing homes in Juneau are still going for over twice what they should be, but many existing homeowners, developers, realtors and the city would not really want a large price correction to take place nor is a correction likely to occur as long as Juneau is economically insulated from the foreclosure ills of much of the Lower 48 and the unoccupied housing stock remains limited.