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maintenance living arrangements with high amenities. These may or may not be directly on the shoreline. Although the City has an abundance of rental properties,the current rental stock would not satisfy this anticipated need. If the City is to retain retired baby boomers over the next 20 years,flexibility for development densities and types of housing units will need to be provided.An emphasis on providing high amenities should be placed on any new publicly subsidized senior development. Young families are also not being accommodated in the current housing stock. Life-cycle housing does not exist in Pequot Lakes, which means that housing is not available for people in all stages of their lives. Starter families cannot live in most of the existing rental buildings since they are available only to seniors or lack the space a family needs. Many young families may not have the time, maintenance skills, or financial resources to commit to homeownership. Housing options available to young families are most often comprised of substandard housing on the outskirts of downtown.This is not a healthy situation for families,especially those with young children. Homeownership is difficult for people and families who have only had past experiences with renting property. Lack of education can lead to serious mistakes that may affect a family financially,resulting in the inability to ever reach the goal of homeownership. Proper homeownership education prepares people for the responsibilities associated with homeownership and greatly improves their chances of finding the right home to meet their needs. Part of the Pequot Lakes HRA future service plan focuses on replacing some of the old, substandard homes that young families are now renting. Replacement would be done through either rehabilitation or razing. At the time this plan was written, the HRA had received a grant for one home, but it has been unable to find a landowner willing to sell his property. This can be attributed to the high demand for low-cost rentals. Many blighted or substandard housing units are being rented,despite health and safety concerns.These properties do not have the land value that would prompt a developer to purchase property and redevelop the lot. As long as renting the property is profitable,there is little incentive for the property owner to reinvest in the lot. Redevelopment potential, which occurs when land values greatly exceed the value of buildings or other improvements to the land,will be naturally transformed by the market. Where the market will not naturally step in, some public subsidy might be needed to redevelop blighted properties to a condition that allows the neighborhood to naturally prosper. Many properties in Pequot Lakes have a high redevelopment potential,which will greatly impact efforts to provide a wide variety of high quality,affordable,and life-cycle housing. POLICIES The following policies are proposed to guide future housing decisions in Pequot Lakes: Work to build neighborhoods that provide a variety of housing styles, are interconnected to the rest of the community and serve to enhance the public realm.Traditional approaches to zoning are too inflexible, separating different styles of housing from each other and disconnecting neighborhoods in a way that is destructive to the character of the neighborhood. Placing large apartment buildings next to smaller-sized housing units detracts from each structure.The City's approach must be to provide many housing options—single-family, duplex, multi-family, studio apartment and more—but in a form that complements the existing character of the neighborhood. Expand 1i°^' y housing options and regulatory flexibility in the city's urban areas. iR ,itiable Of*M.. . Fal� wFba.,....nsit;eR aeRe Pequot Lakes is saturated with rental housing in large,multi- family buildings.The majority of this housing is located in the downtown which is an appFepFiate piece 4^F it ^e-^ easy aeees-q to the a,,,.,,,t,,WR rzemppe rGia aistpirt,which is appropriate for the density but not necessarily for the