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Draft Definitions for "Workforce Housing" Below are two possible definitions for workforce housing, one focused on local wages as defined by reliable and readily available data, and another that uses AMI as a metric. "Workforce housing" draft definition #1: "Housing intended for and affordable to employees and households earning local wages, as defined by the Decennial Census, American Community Survey, or other approved data set." "Workforce housing" draft definition #2: Housing intended for and affordable to households that earn over 80% area median income (AMI), but which cannot afford market -rate housing. While both definitions have similar intent, staff recommends the second option, since AMI is oftentimes used in affordability criteria for housing. Housing Element Policies for Workforce Housing Should the Planning Commission want to incorporate additional policies in the Housing Element regarding workforce housing, staff recommends incorporating a definition of workforce housing into the Housing Element, along with policies that could be aligned with affirmatively declaring support for the production of workforce housing in Pleasanton. Affordable by Design Another concept related to providing varied types of housing is that referred to as, "affordable by design." Generally, units that are affordable by design have been referred to in the context of smaller units that command a lower rent or for -sale price, and are therefore affordable due their more compact size, compared to traditional detached single-family homes. One example of such a unit is an accessory dwelling unit (ADU). The City's ADU Ordinance, in accordance with state law, limits ADUs with two or more bedrooms to 1,000 square feet. These modestly sized infill units are therefore likely to require a lower payment compared to a larger, single- family unit. Another example of units intended to be affordable by design are those constructed as a result of SB9. As the Commission may recall, SB9 allows up to four infill units on properties that are zoned for single-family use'. One of the objectives of SB9 was to allow for infill in traditionally single-family zoned properties to create modestly -sized housing. While it is noted that, unlike ADU law, SB 9 does, not limit the size of new homes, it is nonetheless likely that factors such as smaller lot sizes, and other applicable restrictions such as allowable Floor Area Ratios (FAR), will tend to reduce typical unit sizes. A concept related to affordability by design is commonly referred to as, "missing middle housing." This term typically refers to housing that is smaller and more compact than traditional single-family residential homes; examples include duplexes, triplexes, townhomes, courtyard - style homes, as shown in Figure 2, excerpted from Exhibit A. As mentioned above regarding ADUs and SB9 units, the concept of missing middle housing is to allow for house -scale buildings with multiple units in areas of the jurisdiction where infill is appropriate. Some examples in Pleasanton of missing middle housing include the older housing stock seen downtown, with multiple units in a single building, constructed prior to the traditional single- family neighborhoods found outside of downtown. Some of the more recent projects that include attached housing types such as townhomes also provide examples of missing middle 7 Two of the four units would be ADUs or Junior ADUs, if there is no urban lot split proposed pursuant to SB9. Housing Element Update, P21-0751 Planning Commission 6of10