“Speaking of HALA and how it dovetails with the housing levy: As people were testifying about the levy in council chambers, neighborhood representatives from the newly created HALA focus groups were meeting downstairs in the Bertha Knight Landes room. And in another coup for the mayor, the group wasn’t so much meeting to debate the HALA plan—which also includes neighborhood upzones, a commercial development linkage fee for affordable housing, urban village boundary changes, and the inclusionary housing requirement—but rather, they were tasked with how to make it all work.

“A parade of Murray staffers and department chiefs such as department of neighborhoods head Kathy Nyland, deputy mayor Hyeok Kim, and HALA point person Jesseca Brand gave an overview of HALA, rebranded mandatory inclusionary zoning as “Mandatory Housing Affordability,” and put the group to work.”
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