MONTEREY — Monterey is looking at potential city-owned properties for public-private partnerships to help address the dearth of affordable housing in the city.

In a report that will be delivered to the City Council Tuesday, the city’s Community Development department identified a number of sites that could be transitioned, along with private developers, into affordable housing projects.

Kim Cole, the community development director for the city, said there have been several projects that the city has completed with private developers that have worked well in increasing housing stock for working families.

Identifying specific sites is in its infancy, Cole said. The report is asking the council whether it wants staff to develop more detailed analyses of the sites before moving forward with any planning.

The concept of private-public partnerships is a way that allows developers to pencil out a profit margin that they otherwise couldn’t do if they had to build on parcels that they would have to acquire at market-rate prices. By owning the parcels the city is able to provide long-term leases below market value.

One example is the Monterey Hotel Apartments, an 18-unit complex on Alvarado Street built in 2017 through a collaboration between the city and Daniel Silverie III, owner and president of Silverie Properties, LLC. It includes three very-low-income units, nine low-income units and six median-income units.

The report’s origins were with a project proposal from Silverie to build 54 units above the city parking garage on Calle Principal Street in Old Monterey. Cole said that instead of focusing on one project, the planning department decided to look at all properties that had the potential for affordable development.

Silverie said he understands the challenges the city has in increasing affordable housing units. One of the key tools cities used to create affordable housing was through redevelopment agencies, a tax distribution process that kept more tax revenue with cities instead of sending it upstream to the state. But during California’s budget crisis in 2011, the Legislature voted to pull the plug on the agencies in 2012.

“We were not meeting the old housing demand and the new demand is increasing,” Silverie said. “My kids struggle with a place to live. Many young people are leaving because they can’t afford to live here. It seems statistically it won’t get better but people are not statistics.”

Other similar projects include the Osio Plaza Apartments, also in Old Monterey, and the Van Buren Senior Housing project for low-income elderly in downtown Monterey.

The analysis of city properties the council will see Tuesday began with a cursory look at all city-owned properties, but after applying a series of feasibility requirements, planning staff narrowed candidate properties down to five. After staff discussions the most likely properties emerged at 417 Figueroa St. and 442 Adams St.

Further evaluations and public discussion would be needed before any plans could move forward, Cole said.

The council will begin meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chamber, 580 Pacific St.