City staff and Grow America outline housing tactics: CDBG home repair, missing-middle, opportunity zones, and HFC/PFC options

Richardson city staff and consultant Maureen Milligan (Grow America) reviewed a housing needs assessment and recommended four priority tactics to expand and preserve housing: a federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)-funded home repair program, proactive measures to enable missing-middle housing, pursuing Opportunity Zone nominations to attract private capital, and establishing a Housing Finance Corporation (HFC) and a Public Facility Corporation (PFC) to broaden financing options.

Milligan told council CDBG funds could support a targeted home-repair program focusing on older, low-income homeowners and estimated roughly $700,000 annually in entitlement funding could be available. She described typical eligible activities (home repairs, acquisition, targeted administration up to 20%) and a sample program cap (e.g., $15,000 per project to serve about 35 households per year once running). She also reviewed federal AMI thresholds and suggested program design should prioritize lower AMI households despite Richardson's higher area median incomes.

On missing-middle housing, Milligan recommended code updates and preapproved prototypes (duplexes, townhomes, cottage apartments) consistent with Envision Richardson to expand for-sale and rental options. On Opportunity Zones, staff explained how Qualified Opportunity Zone funds defer and reduce capital gains tax liability to incentivize investment, and discussed coordination with the governor's office and Dallas County for any nominations. Council members and staff discussed using local incentives, TIF-like gain-share structures, and case-by-case review to ensure public benefits and guardrails.

Finally, Milligan recommended creating both an HFC and a PFC to provide flexibility: HFCs typically align with deeper affordability (often paired with tax-credit financing) while PFCs can enable mixed-market projects; structuring both gives the city more options when evaluating redevelopment proposals. Staff suggested follow-up briefings on Opportunity Zones and missing-middle housing in spring/summer and deeper dives on CDBG and HFC/PFC in summer/fall for council direction.

Next steps: Council directed staff to proceed with additional briefings and to begin preliminary work on Opportunity Zone outreach and CDBG planning for future consideration.