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HOUSING INTENT Create a housing Win-approach that accommodates people in all stages of the life cycle, apd--provides quality housing for people and families at all income levels and builds neighborhoods that attract investment by enhancing the character of the community. BACKGROUND In 2000, Pequot Lakes and Sibley Township combined had a total of 1,145 housing units,23 percent of which were rental units. Since the annexation of Sibley Township in 2002, Pequot Lakes has an established urban downtown surrounded by a rural residential area where protection of natural resources is important. The urban area has a growing population density, which is defined as "the total population in proportion to the total land area".4 According to the Sibley Township Comprehensive Plan 2000, density in Pequot Lakes grew by 57 percent between 1980 and 1990,which was over 20 percent greater than the surrounding townships of Sibley and Pelican as well as Crow Wing County,which had a mere six percent density growth. Almost half of the total housing units in the urban area are rental units. In 1990, Pequot Lakes was in the top 10 Minnesota cities for its proportion of rental housing in its community; ten years later it still has the highest proportion of rentals in Crow Wing County. The Pequot Lakes Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) believes that the City is currently saturated with rental housing options. In most cases, housing affordability is not an issue in Pequot Lakes (Table 3). The Department of Housing and Urban Development considers housing to be at an affordable level if a family is not paying more than 30 percent of its monthly income to either a mortgage or rent: "families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care." As reported in the 2000 Census, 19 percent of Pequot Lakes' homeowners and 40 percent of renters lived in housing calculated to be unaffordable.The rental numbers are inflated slightly by the fact that many of the rental units are occupied by seniors. Although seniors generally have lower incomes, they also generally have lower monthly expenses and more in savings than families.This allows, and in some instances forces,seniors to spend a higher proportion of their income on housing,which is reflected in the rental statistics. Pequot Lakes currently has 10 multi-family rental buildings with a total of 275 rental units. Four of the rental buildings are subsidized by the Pequot Lakes HRA,and three of those buildings are geared directly toward seniors. Of the market rate units,over 50 percent have 2+bedrooms,compared to only 21 percent of subsidized units.Out of 275 total rental units, only four 3-bedroom units are available.This limited supply of multi-bedroom units limits the ability of families to rent and has contributed to the City's low average household size of 1.96. One-third of Pequot Lakes households have an individual who is 65 years or older. Although Pequot Lakes does a great job of serving today's seniors,as a demographic they are much different than tomorrow's seniors. Today's seniors are predominantly widowed women with little discretionary income. In the future, seniors are anticipated to include a broader mix of incomes,with the potential for many to afford a much higher standard of living. A number of baby boomers who have retired to Lake Country will ultimately seek low-