The City of Madison Housing Committee recommended placing on file the proposal to repeal the city's inclusionary zoning ordinance, essentially rejecting it Wednesday.

The committee's suggestion to keep the ordinance intact will be heard by the plan commission before it reaches city council for a final decision.

The current Madison IZ law requires developers to include a certain number of affordable units in their new housing projects depending on criteria of building specifics. According to the ordinance, the purpose of inclusionary zoning is to further the availability of housing choices for families of all income levels in Madison.

Ald. Jed Sanborn, District 1, who proposed the repeal of the law, explained his reasoning, citing potential long-term impacts of the ordinance.

"Over time, the cost of housing is going to become too expensive," he said. "The cost of market rate housing will have to increase to balance the losses from IZ units. I would prefer that we focus on helping people on an individual level and not distort the marketplace."

Sanborn said he proposed the repeal because the cost of the program, in his opinion, far outweighs any of its benefits.

Ald. Austin King, District 8, who is a member of the committee and stands opposite Sanborn with regard to IZ, admitted the rates of renting IZ is not ideal right now.

"The problems with the ordinance have been caused by sustained low interest rates in the marketplace," he said. "But I think this period has been wonderful and it probably won't happen again for a long time. To repeal the ordinance based on market fluctuations is short-sighted."

King also discredited Sanborn's point that IZ will drive the market price up for housing.

"Given the way the ordinance is structured, I find it to be impossible that the cost of IZ falls on people buying at market price," King said. "That is the idea of capitalism, people buying at the highest price the market will allow."

However, Sanborn said someone would have to pick up the slack left by the ordinance.

"The extra cost is going to be born by someone," he said. "Either the developer, the landowner or the people that buy the units are going to have to pay more."

Though the committee did not recommended repealing the law, members did concede the ordinance has problems the city must see through.

Delora Newton, executive director of Smart Growth Madison, said the only way for the program to fix itself is for people to start renting affordable units.

"When inclusionary zoning was introduced two years ago, we participated in discussions because we believe in the need for the city to provide affordable housing for citizens," she said. "However, the program will remain broken if people don't want to rent IZ units."

King said current housing problems likely would not exist in the future.

"Rental housing has certainly been hurt, but 10 years from now, 30 years from now, that won't be the case," he said.