Contact: Peter Schleinz at pschleinz@deperewi.gov

Full RFP on City Website at https://www.deperewi.gov/

A. Summary

The City of De Pere seeks proposals from qualified planning individuals or project teams to prepare a comprehensive housing study and action plan to help elected officials, City staff, stakeholders, and community members develop a meaningful sense of the housing market, as well as an understanding of key housing issues, and how they affect the City of De Pere. The study and action plan are intended to offer community leaders and stakeholders a basis for formulating community-specific housing priorities, policy alternatives and intervention strategies, including land use and zoning decisions. The study should help guide decisions related to the allocation of public funds and other resources.

The process must include updated background information and demographics from the 2020 census information. The Plan should be streamlined to a public-friendly and usable document. The format of the document should be modernized and formatted to utilize modern tables and graphics to the greatest extent possible.

B. Scope of Work

The scope includes general requirements for the planning process and are not intended to be a comprehensive list of tasks and deliverables. Applicants should provide more specific recommendations for approaches, tasks, and deliverables based on their expertise from past work on housing study and action plan projects.

Required Elements:

1. Demographic review and projections with special attention to poverty, homelessness, sensitive populations, disabled, etc. and identify any concentrated areas of poverty about developing fair housing policies.
2. Inventory of existing housing stock.
3. Housing needs analysis and prioritization.
4. Summary of results from focus groups, surveys, and interviews with stakeholders and City Staff.
5. Project Recommendations:
   • Zoning Ordinance Revisions.
   • Comprehensive Plan Revisions.
   • Housing Assistance Programs.
   • Housing Related Investments.
   • Marketing Efforts
6. Comparative analysis of the cost of development in De Pere vs our neighboring communities.
7. Case studies and examples of innovative housing programs in similarly situated communities.

Document design features:

1. The Housing Study and Action Plan needs to be easy to navigate and translate by City Staff and the public.
2. Text that is supported and enhanced with charts, graphics, images, and photos is needed. A graphic rich document is of utmost importance.
3. The document needs to be colorful.
4. The document needs to function online on the City webpage.
5. Maps and graphics need to link directly to document subsections that the maps or graphics represent.
6. A clear, concise, and well-defined document layout is desired.

General Questions that the Plans should Answer:

1. Building off the data in the housing chapter of the 2010 Comprehensive Plan Update and the 2020 Green Bay Housing Market Study, how will future economic, employment, and population growth impact housing demand, especially when it comes to sensitive populations and workforce housing needs?
2. Based on market information, what are the current, 5-year, and 10-year housing needs in our City? Where do gaps exist in terms of housing types and price ranges? Where should the needed housing types be located?
3. Does the City have the right balance between owner-occupied and rental housing? What strategies are needed to improve the balance?
4. What are the City's strategic options for promoting and attracting market rate developers and affordable housing developments, especially those willing to build speculative homes?
5. What are the housing demand shortfalls?
6. How are workforce and sensitive population housing needs impacted by price and community livability? What steps are needed to remedy that?
7. What strategies and programs does the City need to provide for the development and redevelopment of needed housing within the community? How should the community maximize the use of limited public funds to support the potential housing market?
8. How can community partners (e.g., major employers, hospital, school district) support the City as the community of choice, and the preferred location for employees to live? How can community partners support the development of quality housing or rehabilitation of existing housing?
9. Does the Zoning Ordinance allow for the recommended strategies? If not, what needs to change?

Specific Project Focuses:

1. Help the city identify concepts for creative, realistic, and impactful low-income housing projects (e.g., going beyond the idea of backyard cottages for low-income seniors). Concepts may include but are not limited to Identify any successful models for rent-to-own programs or policies.
2. Include exploration of private philanthropy models, community development, financial institutions, use of bonds, and low-interest loan options.
3. Identify existing or potential down payment assistance programs for first-time home buyers and low-income households that could be available in the City. Assess the value and limits of these programs in the current market, along with opportunities to pair them with affordable homeownership programs that may be implemented by the City and partners.
4. Include options for a City program to help convert underutilized and older housing developments into affordable housing projects under a land trust, cooperative model, or redevelopment.
5. Include strategies to target existing regional partners that qualify low-income prospective homebuyers for ownership, such as credit counseling, debt repair, and financial literacy.
6. Include feasibility and support needed for an effective Tenant Opportunity to Purchase program or regulation, Right of First Refusal, notice of sale of low-income housing, or similar policies.
7. Identify other communities that are doing well in similar endeavors and creating meaningful impacts.

Project process and Support Information:

1. Project Management: Project Management includes effective coordination with staff, representative committees, and the Common Council. Consultant shall conduct an initial project management team meeting with City Staff and prepare a project process roadmap that that will guide the project management team and lists the project phases, schedule of events/activities, and products on a timeline and assigns roles and responsibilities for each task. Project management tasks shall include at a minimum the following:
   • Conduct an initial project management team meeting to create a shared understanding of the project purpose, process, and schedule between the project team and City Staff.
   • Conduct an initial stakeholder analysis by identifying key stakeholders, their issues, levels of involvement, and strategies for outreach.
   • Prepare the necessary draft project management materials.
2. Assessment: Assessment includes conducting an initial review of the existing community planning reports and studies. Links to the City website for documents and GIS are provided in the below list of plans and ordinances:
   • Housing and Housing Affordability Reports
   • Zoning Ordinance
   • 2010 Comprehensive Plan
   • Downtown Master Plan (2010)
   • Cultural District Master Plan (2018)
   • Historic Districts, Structures, Sites (GIS Historic Layer)
3. Public Engagement: The City of De Pere values the participation of citizens in every stage of the decision-making process. Participation of citizens, landowners, business owners, appointed and elected officials, and other stakeholders throughout the community is paramount to the success of the Housing Study and Action Plan; therefore, the City will look for a project team that has facilitation skills.
4. Staff Support: The City has several staff members with significant experience in public engagement and expects to participate in the engagement process. The selected project team will be responsible for working with City Staff to prepare the framework for the most impactful ways to obtain public participation. The project team will be responsible for organizing and then co-leading public events with City Staff.

C. Deliverables

All items delivered as part of this project shall be the sole property of the City of De Pere. The consultant shall be responsible for the submittal and execution of the following:

1. Progress Reports and Research: The consultant shall be responsible for submitting monthly progress reports and research information relative to the project. The consultant shall clearly communicate how the document may differ from Wisconsin regulations, Zoning Ordinance regulations, and other County and City documents.
2. Draft Document and Maps: Copies of the draft documents are required during the development stages of the project for review, presentation, and use by the Plan Commission and City Staff.
3. Meetings: The consultant will be responsible for meeting with City Staff, Plan Commission, and Common Council for document reviews and approvals. The consultant will also meet with City Staff as the project develops on a regular basis. The number and frequency of the meetings will be determined in consultation with all parties before the project begins. The purpose of the meetings will be to establish objectives, discuss alternatives, provide direction, and review progress.
4. Final Work Products: The final Comprehensive Housing Study and Action Plan must be provided in both print and electronic format compatible with the City website. Easy-to-use and editable charts, checklists, graphics, and images/photos within the document are required. The consultant shall provide the following specific ordinance products:
   • One (1) electronic Microsoft Word version and PDF version of the document, in a format that can be edited by the City Staff.
   • A copy of the map data that is compatible with the City's GIS System, in a format that can be edited by the City Staff.
   • A digital version/shape files of maps with the individual parcel level for use in and compatible with the City's Geographic Information System, which uses ESRI platform and can be edited by the City Staff.

D. SUBMITTAL QUESTIONS

All questions shall be submitted in written form to the contact by Friday, June 16, 2023. Answers will be provided via the City website.

E. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Submit one (1) complete original hard copy proposals and one (1) electronic copy in PDF format on USB Flash Drive of the entire proposal in a sealed package with the project name, “De Pere 2023 Comprehensive Housing Study and Action Plan” marked on the front of the package. Proposals must be received no later than 4:00 PM, Central Time, July 31, 2023, and delivered to:

Peter Schleinz, Senior Planner | Zoning Administrator
City of De Pere
335 S. Broadway
De Pere, WI 54115

Proposals received after the deadline will not be accepted. Faxed or emailed proposals will not be accepted. Postmarks before the deadline are not sufficient for acceptance. The City will not be responsible for any errors or omissions in the proposals or any delivery delays.

Proposals should include the following information, presented in a clear, comprehensive, and concise manner, to illustrate the project teams' capabilities and technical approach to the work. Each proposal must include the following information, in order as shown below:

1. Title Page and/or Cover Letter. Show the proposal title, the name of the organization, address, telephone number(s), email address, name of the primary contact person, the date, and other relevant company information. Provide the name(s) of the person(s) authorized to make representations for your team, their title(s), address, email address, and telephone number(s). Include a list of contact information for any proposed sub‐consultants and the work they will perform.
2. Statement of Qualifications. Brief introduction of the Project Team organization. Summary of your understanding of the project and why your team is best suited to complete the scope of work.
3. Key Staff. Identify the designated project manager or primary contact and key supporting staff. Include resumes for each of the individuals and identify any sub‐consultants.
4. Experience and Examples. Describe your team's experience in the required areas of expertise, and its ability to provide the needed services for the City. Include at least three examples in the last five years. List a minimum of three references related to similar work; references matching the three examples are preferred but not required. The focus of provided examples should be on work performed by the key staff members involved in the project.
5. Scope and Approach. State the services your team is proposing to provide. Describe the process and timeline that would be utilized to complete the project.
6. Schedule. Illustrate the Scope and Approach including a breakdown of tasks, timeline, meetings, deliverables, and task responsibility.
7. Cost. Provide a fee to complete the project.

Failure to complete the above documentation may be grounds to declare an RFP non‐responsive and the City may reject the statement of qualifications in whole or in part.t

F. Budget

$50,000 -- Funding is considered sufficient to accomplish the defined scope with assistance from the City in engagement and mapping. Proposals should provide a work plan that best meets the objectives and scope including all travel and incurred costs. The proposal should illustrate additional items that could be out of budget but feel would be a benefit to the project.

G. TENTATIVE TIMELINE

• RFP Distribution: June 30, 2023
• Questions Due: July 21, 2023
• City Responses Due: July 26, 2023
• Submittal Deadline (4:00 PM CT): July 31, 2023
• City Review of Responses: August 1-4, 2023
• Interviews (if necessary): August 10-14, 2023
• Consultant Completes Project: November 15, 2023