Affordable Housing in Davis County
Davis County fosters a diverse and balanced community with housing that offers a wide range of choices for all income levels of households. A balanced housing environment would include housing choices for children of existing families and their elderly grandparents who no longer need large family homes. An emphasis on large-lot single family homes forces young adults and elderly to move to more developed cities in neighboring counties. The County supports mixed-income, mixed-use and transit-oriented development, as well as adequate reliable public transportation so that residents may access employment, goods and services and affordable housing. As the participating municipalities Moderate Income Housing Plans are updated and amendments to zoning ordinances are proposed, reviews of the potential impacts on housing are required to ensure that barriers are not being created. Zoning ordinances need to effectively address the County's changing housing needs.
One of the most pressing barriers to affordability is the concept of fair share. Some cities have a preponderance of moderate income housing while others have little or none.
The high cost of housing in Davis County coupled with a shortage of affordable housing for low-income households is a significant barrier to affordable housing. This has been exacerbated by current economic conditions: housing foreclosures, subprime loans and rising unemployment.
Some landlord programs are also becoming obstacles to obtaining housing for low-income households. Some local jurisdictions are adopting 'good landlord' programs which provide discounts on license fees for apartment owners who agree to run credit and criminal background checks on all applicants and refuse to rent to high risk tenants. Programs need to be developed that assist landlords to rent to such high risk households.
The Davis Community Housing Authority (DCHA) is located in Farmington and serves low-income County residents. DCHA operates 158 units of public housing in Davis County, of which 72 are one-bedroom units designated to house low to very-low income elderly and/or disabled households in Bountiful. The remaining 86 units are two, three and four bedroom units located in Clearfield, Layton, Centerville and Bountiful which house low to very-low income households. It also manages 1,036 Section 8 vouchers, with 143 other types of vouchers for low-income households. The Authority reports that over 1,379 households are on one or more waiting lists for section 8 assistance and over 440 people are waiting for public housing. This represents a two-year wait.
In addition to the Davis Community Housing Authority, several private property managers maintain 602 units of assisted housing for low income residents. These residents pay up to 30% of their income for housing while the remainder of the cost of rent is paid by housing vouchers provided by federal programs.
The County's Consolidated Plan describes a plan to use Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to specifically assist eligible moderate and/or low income families obtain suitable and decent housing and to maintain that housing. The County will continue to support local service providing agencies that provide immediate and long term housing assistance to income eligible residents.