affordable housing – Page 6

SuzanneSeptember 9, 2017Land Use, Sustainable Livingaffordable housing, development, high-density housing, urban planning

Density helps new homes be more affordable

J.D. Morris, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
A long-planned Roseland housing community designed with affordable prices in mind is moving forward in a big way, with construction poised to ramp up over the next month or so and the first crop of residents possibly moving in early next year.
At the Paseo Vista subdivision on Dutton Avenue in southwest Santa Rosa, houses in the first phase will start at $390,000 — a far cry below Sonoma County’s latest median home price of $644,000. The project keeps prices low through dense development and by having key sections of the homes built at a factory in Riverside before being shipped north for assembly in place by construction crews.
The 12.2-acre site has for about two years hosted three model homes advertising the property’s future potential. As final subdivision maps are recorded next week — they were previously approved by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors in August — the developers expect houses to arrive in mid-October, putting the community on track to welcome its first residents sometime after the first of the year.
The project is planned to include 122 single-family townhouses for sale and 15 triplexes, each of which will include a studio, a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom apartment for rent, the developers said. Among the 45 rental apartments, 32 units will be reserved for low income and very low income households, according to county officials.
Read more at: Santa Rosa developers moving forward on Roseland subdivision where homes start at $390,000 | The Press Democrat –

SuzanneAugust 23, 2017Land Use, Sustainable Livingaffordable housing, high-density housing, urban planning

How the state's housing crisis happened

Angela Hart, SACRAMENTO BEE

Developers, housing advocates and some state lawmakers say it makes sense to build higher-density housing in cities, to accommodate more people, restrict suburban sprawl and preserve sensitive environmental areas. But community opposition often kills large-scale projects and leads to less dense housing.

California’s high housing costs are driving poor and middle income people out of their housing like never before. While some are fleeing coastal areas for cheaper living inland, others are leaving the state altogether.
Homelessness is on the rise. California is home to 12 percent of the U.S. population, but 22 percent of its homeless people. Cities that have seen dramatic rent increases, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, attribute their spikes in homelessness directly to a state housing shortage that has led to an unprecedented affordability crisis.
Read more at: California housing crisis has roots in slow pace of building | The Sacramento Bee

SuzanneAugust 22, 2017Land Use, Sustainable Living, Transportationaffordable housing, development, SMART station, transit oriented development, urban planning

SMART selling land near downtown Santa Rosa station to housing developer

Kevin McCallum, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
The vacant lot next to Santa Rosa’s downtown train station is being sold to a developer with plans for a highly anticipated transit-oriented housing and commercial center.
Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, which begins service on Friday, has agreed to sell its 5.4-acre property west of the Railroad Square station to ROEM Development Corp. of Santa Clara for $5.75 million.
The deal inked Tuesday calls for the sale to be finalized only after the developer wins necessary approvals from the city for the $85 million project, which could include several hundred residential units.
The sale agreement was structured with payments required at key junctures over 28 months to motivate ROEM to move forward with the project quickly, said Farhad Mansourian, SMART’s general manager.
“We didn’t want an open-ended contract,” Mansourian said. “We want to see shovels in the ground. We want action.”
The deal could pave the way for the single largest rail-oriented housing and commercial development in Sonoma County. The property and neighboring land that is the site of a former brick cannery building have been eyed for more than a decade as prime downtown development opportunities.
Read more at: SMART selling land near downtown Santa Rosa station to housing developer | The Press Democrat

SuzanneAugust 5, 2017Land Use, Sustainable Livingaffordable housing, high-density housing, SMART station, transit oriented development

Developer seeks to add units to downtown west Santa Rosa apartment project

Kevin McCallum, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
The developer of a large apartment complex in downtown Santa Rosa is hoping for permission to pack even more apartments into the project.
Rick Derringer won approval in May to build 185 apartments on a large industrial property along the railroad tracks in the city’s West End neighborhood.
His four-story DeTurk Winery Village project was already one of the largest apartment projects planned for the downtown area. Now he’s hoping to add more units into the project, boosting the number of proposed apartments by 30 percent to 240.
Derringer is holding a neighborhood meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the DeTurk Round Barn to discuss his proposed changes.
“The city wants density and affordability, and this project provides more density and affordability,” Derringer said.
The project has undergone several iterations in the more than a decade since Derringer acquired the property. The effort has been complicated — and controversial — in part because it involves reuse of a historic building.
Read more at: Developer seeks to add units to downtown Santa Rosa apartment project | The Press Democrat

SuzanneAugust 3, 2017Land Useaffordable housing, sustainable development, urban planning

Sonoma County begins community meetings about West College Avenue building planned for housing

J.D. Morris, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

The next public meeting is set for Sept. 13 at 6 p.m., also at the Finley Community Center, and there may be another meeting — or more — after that if necessary, officials said.

Santa Rosa residents on Wednesday night began to weigh in on Sonoma County’s plans to transform a vacant public property on West College Avenue into a new apartment complex.
At the first of at least two public meetings regarding the 7.5-acre site, county and city officials informed about 40 attendees why they see the land as a prime spot for new residences, including the property’s proximity to a transit hub and shopping, as well as the county’s perennial housing crunch.
They also heard from numerous residents who weighed in with concerns about traffic, crime and how affordable the new housing might be, among other issues.
Development of the site at 2150 W. College Avenue, the former headquarters of the Sonoma County Water Agency, has been a long time coming.
Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, whose district includes the area, told attendees at the meeting in the Finley Community Center that she often heard questions about the property while she was campaigning for her first term last year.
“I cannot count the number of times that I heard people say, ‘What the heck is happening to that derelict Water Agency building that’s been sitting on College Avenue for who knows how long, when we have a tremendous need for affordable housing in the community?” Hopkins said.
The Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed in June to sell the site to the county’s Community Development Commission, which plans to sell the land to a housing developer.
Read more at: Sonoma County begins community meetings about West College Avenue building planned for housing | The Press Democrat

SuzanneJuly 24, 2017Land Use, Sustainable Livingaffordable housing, in-fill development, transit oriented development

Petaluma crafts granny unit policy

Hannah Beausang, PETALUMA ARGUS-COURIER
As Petaluma’s housing market continues to constrict, the city council Monday unanimously voted to relax regulations on the construction of additional living spaces on residents’ land and in their homes.
The updates to the city’s zoning ordinance, driven by three state laws signed into effect last year, are intended to make it easier for residents to build accessory dwelling structures, or “granny units” that are attached to their residences or built separately on their properties. It also creates a new classification and associated rules for converting an existing bedroom in a single family home into independent living quarters, or a so-called “junior second unit.
”Accessory dwelling units are regarded as an economical way of providing housing for a wide range of family members, care providers or local employees inside the footprint of existing neighborhoods.“
Businesses and people in Petaluma are looking for ways to create more affordable housing and this is a brilliant strategy,” said Rachel Ginis, the founding director of Novato-based Lily Pad Homes, a nonprofit that supports education about the development of second units and sponsored the junior second unit legislation.
Read more at: Petaluma crafts granny unit policy | Petaluma Argus Courier | Petaluma360.com

SuzanneJuly 13, 2017Land Use, Sustainable Livingaffordable housing, Chanate development, development, in-fill development

Sonoma County approves sale of old Santa Rosa hospital site to housing developer

J.D. Morris, THE NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL
Sonoma County has approved a deal to sell an 82-acre former county hospital site where a developer plans to build 800 rental units, housing for veterans, a grocery store, an amphitheater and other amenities.
County leaders have touted the sale to Bill Gallaher, a politically connected Santa Rosa developer, as a clear-sighted move to meet an urgent regional need — expanding the housing supply, especially for renters, who’ve seen rates skyrocket in recent years.
The deal was approved 5-0 by Sonoma County supervisors on Tuesday.
The health care complex is centered around the former Community Hospital, built in 1936 and vacated in 2014 after Sutter Health moved into its new hospital off Mark West Road. The aging building did not meet current seismic building standards and racked up costly maintenance bills, according to the county. Much of it is slated for demolition under Gallaher’s proposal.
Though a sale of the property was first raised as a possibility more than a decade ago, the deal approved Tuesday has faced strong criticism from neighbors, health care advocates and others since it was first unveiled as a proposal in February. Opponents raised concerns about the loss of health care services on the site and the future of open lands on the property.
But proponents, including Gallaher’s representative, have emphasized all along that the details of the project will ultimately be Santa Rosa’s permit and planning process is complete, and officials expect that period to last about 18 months.
Read more at: Sonoma County approves sale of old Santa Rosa hospital site to housing developer | The North Bay Business Journal

SuzanneJune 25, 2017Land Use, Sustainable Living, Transportationaffordable housing, development, high-density housing, mixed-use development, public transit, urban planning

Yes In My Backyard, says Bay Area housing advocate

Richard Scheinin, BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

Brian Hanlon used to work for environmental agencies and regards himself as a political progressive. Then several years ago, he began to feel the crunch of the Bay Area housing crisis. Why was everything so insanely expensive? And what was with all these zoning laws that were preventing new houses from being built?
Hanlon switched careers and became a full-time housing advocate, one who says, “Yes In My Backyard,” to affordable housing as well as to luxury housing, condos and mixed-use projects near transit hubs. That motto is now the rallying cry for the region’s growing YIMBY movement, of which he is a leader. YIMBYs say the region must get its head out of the sand and expand its meager housing supply. How else will it ever reduce the competition for homes that keeps driving prices up – and pricing so many people out of their own communities?
“I’m someone who supports whichever housing policies are going to benefit people who need housing the most,” says Hanlon, who concedes that being a YIMBY can make for unpredictable bedfellows – for instance supporting developers while opposing aging and otherwise left-leaning NIMBY homeowners who block any new housing in their neighborhoods.He is policy director of the San Francisco YIMBY Party and co-executive director of the California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund (CaRLA), which has targeted local governments that block residential development. And, oh, yes – he and his girlfriend pay $2,000 a month for a “tiny” one-bedroom apartment in an old building in downtown Oakland.
This interview (keep reading) was edited for clarity and length.
Read more at: Bay Area housing crisis won’t end without a big buildout

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Assemblyman Marc Levine is pushing for a bill that would exempt Marin County from housing density standards that apply to the rest of the Bay Area for more than 10 years.
For anyone who has contemplated California’s devastating housing shortage and wondered how the state got in this mess, here’s one short answer: Senate Bill 106.
Of course, this single unfortunate piece of legislation is not responsible for a crisis rooted in decades of bad state and local government decisions. But the bill, which would exempt Marin County from housing density standards that apply to the rest of the Bay Area for more than 10 years, does embody the sort of parochial policymaking that has been ruinous for the state’s greater good.
Pushed by Assemblyman Marc Levine, a Marin County Democrat who secured a similar development dispensation for the state’s wealthiest county in 2014, the bill would extend the exemption, currently scheduled to expire in 2023, to 2028. It would continue to classify the county, including its largest cities, San Rafael and Novato, as suburban, excusing it from the high-density housing developments prescribed for metropolitan areas.
The Legislature’s ruling Democrats introduced the exemption, as the Los Angeles Times reported, as part of a budget trailer bill addressing a wide variety of unrelated issues and escaping the level of public scrutiny applied to most legislation. Now before the state Senate, it was passed by the Assembly this week without a single Democratic or Bay Area lawmaker voting against it. David Chiu, D-San Francisco, who abstained, was the lone member from the housing-starved region who did not vote for the bill.
“Every part of our state must create housing to help solve the affordability crisis,” Chiu said in a statement, “but this policy makes that harder.”
Read more at: Marin bill SB106 shows how housing crisis was created – San Francisco Chronicle

Environmental Center of Sonoma County

Tag: affordable housing