Pursuing the Plan

In March, Mayor Kamal Johnson announced his intention to create an Affordable Housing Development Plan to "facilitate following through with the Strategic Housing Action Plan." Yesterday, at the meeting of the Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA), the RFP (request for proposals) for consultants to undertake the plan was a topic of discussion. The proposed RFP begins with this statement of purpose:

The City of Hudson is requesting proposals from qualified professional consultants to assist with creating a plan for the development of affordable housing. Informed by the results of previous housing studies and the adoption of an affordable housing action plan, the city of Hudson seeks to increase the development of affordable housing in order to: 

1. Provide stable housing and pathway for residents to find success as well as reduce the associated costs of housing stress 

2. Prevent displacement of residents 

3. Ensure Hudson is inclusive to residents across income levels 

4. Provide housing that will support equitable workforce and economic development 

The creation of an affordable housing development plan will help the city create both a long-term and short-term path to creating more housing that addresses the variety of housing and community development needs.

During the meeting, Johnson explained the task of the consultant being sought as "to identify properties and figure out what use they can be put to as far as housing." He also commented that "the elephant in the room is how we are going to pay for it." The current plan is to have agencies involved in creating and maintaining affordable or subsidized housing in Hudson each contribute $5,000 toward the consultant's fee. Those that have been mentioned in meetings are HCDPA, the Hudson Housing Authority, Habitat for Humanity, and the Galvan Foundation.

The draft of the RFP is now on the City of Hudson website and can be viewed here. Comments on the document are invited.
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