Improving housing in Boulder might be a priority as the Boulder City Council approaches a major update to the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan at its Thursday meeting.

A comprehensive plan essentially outlines visions and goals for a city to guide its decision-making and policies. This forthcoming update will be the eighth major update to Boulder’s comp plan since it was adopted in the 1970s. City staffers identified seven focus areas for the comp plan in a memo to the Council: Climate action, inclusive local economy, food systems, housing choice and opportunity, multicultural multigenerational community, safety and travel options.

The staff memo said that many community comments singled out local housing challenges as a major point of concern.

“Many comments describe a need for a diverse and multi faceted strategy to provide local Housing,” the memo reads. “Community members proposed a range of strategies to address this focus area, including expanding the types of allowed residential uses throughout the city, increasing the amount of subsidized housing, and raising the city’s height limit.”

City staffers note in the memo that populations that score higher in the city’s racial equity index have fewer housing options than populations that score lower on the scale.

The city’s racial equity index weighs the percentage of people of color in Boulder by their median income, percentage of those living below the poverty line and percentage receiving financial assistance from the city. On the city website for the index, it says that “groups with a higher score are a higher priority for programs and services under the city’s commitment to advancing racial equity.”

The memo states that some policies in the current comp plan may get in the way of solving these issues. The memo proposes flexible land use, concerted planning when improving infrastructure and coordinating with regional partners as options towards solving these issues, as well.

Housing availability and affordability has been a hot topic in the city as of late. Cost of living in the city is higher than the state average and realtor.com lists the median home price in the city at $1.1 million. Estimates of monthly rent averages in the city can range from $1,911 from Apartments.com to $2,350 from Zillow.

Boulder Housing Partners recently celebrated the grand opening of the Rally Flats, a 100-unit affordable housing complex. Boulder Housing Partners said it hopes to reach 2,000 affordable housing units later this year.

The City Council will not be officially adopting any changes on Thursday, which is a special meeting with the planning board at 6 p.m. at the Penfield Tate II Municipal Building.