September 2022 Newsletter

What’s Happening Locally?

Housing element season is in full swing here in Sonoma County. So far, the City of Santa Rosa, the City of Rohnert Park, and the City of Sebastopol have submitted their draft to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (“HCD”). More importantly, several of our jurisdictions will be opening up their mandated 30-day public review periods of their drafts in the month of October. We need your local knowledge and input on housing in your community NOW more than ever!

• Cloverdale: A draft Housing Element is expected to be released in early October.
• Click here to track their website
• Click here to get Cloverdale specific action alerts!
• Cotati: A draft Housing Element was released on Tuesday, September 27 - you can review it here!
• Click here to read the draft Housing Element
• 30 day comment period will end on Thursday, October 27
• You can submit comment by emailing Cotati@TheCivicEdge.com or mailed/delivered to Cotati City Hall (201 West Sierra Avenue) by Thursday, October 27
• Click here to get Cotati specific action alerts!
• Healdsburg: The draft Housing Element went live for public review today, Friday, September 30.
• 10/17 Housing Element Work Group Areas of Additional Focus and Workplan
• Click here to read the draft Housing Element
• 30 day comment period will end on Sunday, October 30
• You can submit comment housingelement@healdsburg.gov or mailed/delivered to Healdsburg City Hall (401 Grove Street)
• Click here to get Healdsburg specific action alerts!
• Petaluma: The comment period for the draft Housing Element closed Wednesday, September 28 after which the City will submit their draft to HCD for review.
• Click here to track their website
• Click here to get Petaluma specific action alerts!
• Rohnert Park: The comment period for the draft Housing Element closed on September 4 and has been submitted to HCD for review.
• Click here to track their website
• Click here to get Rohnert Park specific action alerts!
• Santa Rosa: The revision of the Housing Element, after receiving public comment and feedback from the HCD, is expected to be released in mid-October. The public comment period for the second draft will be only 7 days.
• Click here to track their website
• Click here to get Santa Rosa specific action alerts!
• Sonoma: The comment period for the draft Housing element closed September 16, after which the City will submit their draft to HCD for review.
• Click here to track their website
• Click here to get Sonoma specific action alerts!
• Windsor: The comment period for the draft Housing Element closed September 23, after which the Town will submit their draft to HCD for review.
• Click here to track their website
• Click here to get Windsor specific action alerts!
• County of Sonoma: The draft Housing Element is expected to be released in late October
• Click here to track their website
• Click here to get Unincorporated County of Sonoma specific action alerts!

To learn more about the Housing Element process and to track the progress for each jurisdiction, click here. You can find information about the Housing Element process here as well. If you want more information on how to get directly involved with Generation Housing’s Housing Element work, email us at info@generationhousing.org!

Downtown Santa Rosa Surplus Parking Update

25 percent of the total landmass of downtown Santa Rosa is dedicated to parking - and even during our highest peak times of the week such as 1:00 PM on a Friday afternoon, our utilization of this parking averages about 26 percent. 

The City of Santa Rosa has launched a study session series that will provide a holistic overview of the opportunities and challenges of intensifying underutilized parking assets in the downtown core. During the second study session, the City proposed several options for a Santa Rosa Civic Center Project. 

Generation Housing has spoken in favor of Option A as it is the only option that includes a clear housing component, doesn’t maintain parking stock within the envelope of the proposed redevelopment plans, and it maximizes the buildout for housing and mixed-use development which will spur greater investments in the Downtown Core and support the City Council’s stated vision for city-centered growth. That’s why Generation Housing is supportive of the proposed plan in both Option A and B to relocate Public Safety to Stony Point Road, which is more consistent with the current use of that land and includes fire training, fleet maintenance and storage, and other public services as identified in the staff presentation. To read the full staff report on the Feasibility Analysis, click here, and for the presentation of the options, click here.

Don’t miss the last opportunity to engage on this important issue!

• October 11, 2022: Surplus Lands Act and its impact development opportunities; direction from City Council on next steps (Review the agenda here) This meeting will discuss the consideration of designating some public-owned parking assets as surplus parking which then allows developers the opportunity to submit proposals for redeveloping the site. Previously, the discussion has largely centered around redeveloping the 3rd Street Garage (built in 1965) which now has an estimated repair cost of $4M to $6M and would only create 15 to 20 more years of useful life. The D Street Garage (built in 1970) would similarly require an investment of $6M+ to prolong service life. Parking garages have an average service life of 40-50 years.

Want to be notified of Santa Rosa specific action items? Sign up for Action Alerts here.

What’s Happening at the State?

It’s official, since our last update, Governor Newsom has signed AB 2096 (Residential, commercial, or other development types: parking requirements) - a historic bill years in the making! All parking requirements for new housing are now eliminated within a half-mile of train, ferry and bus-rapid stations and major stops in California. This is the biggest parking reform law in the Country!

On Wednesday (9/28), the Governor signed AB 2011 (Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022) - a landmark piece of legislation that creates a ministerial, streamlined approval process for 100 percent affordable housing in commercially-zoned areas and for mixed-income housing along commercial corridors. He also signed SB 886 (California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: public universities: university housing development projects) which now makes it faster and easier for the University of California, California State University, and community colleges across the state to build student and faculty housing on and near their campuses!

The passage of these combined bills represents an unprecedented victory for housing advocates across the state.

**For more information, visit our website where you can find a detailed Airtable of our endorsed legislation.

Affordable by Design Fee Reform in Santa Rosa

Generation Housing is urging the Santa Rosa City Council to make one small, but impactful change, immediately, to help accelerate production of housing that sustainably meets our workforce needs. 

Generation Housing has created endorsement criteria to help identify projects that will be prioritized for support. The endorsement criteria are designed with three key factors:

• Generation Housing’s guiding principles,
• Projects that will have a large impact in addressing local housing needs, and
• Projects that may require greater levels of support relative to other comparable projects.

The endorsement criteria are designed to serve as a tool for Generation Housing to prioritize allocation of its organization capacity in helping advance impactful projects for our community.

Together, each of you, all of us, and all residents of Sonoma County. We Are Gen H, and we all need affordable places to live. 

The “We Are Gen H” pro-housing campaign lifts up the experiences of workers, artists, and students in the community and organizes community members to take action and show support for more construction of more types of housing in Sonoma County. 

The team at Generation Housing attended the grand opening event of Caritas Village, a first-of-its-kind model to address homelessness operated by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, on September 9th, 2022. Caritas Village is a seven-year vision in the making, which broke ground prior to the opening of Generation Housing - and would have otherwise received highest endorsement from Generation Housing.

At the heart of Caritas Village is Caritas Center, which features multiple wrap-around services that will help participants navigate their journey to permanent housing, while also preventing at-risk people from falling into homelessness. A 192-bed family shelter, childcare, healthcare clinic (operated by Santa Rosa Community Health), drop-in center, and 38 recuperative beds are available in a facility built from the ground up with critical, life-changing services in mind. Next door, Caritas Homes includes 128 affordable homes built in partnership with experienced nonprofit developer Burbank Housing.

“Caritas will be the only facility of its kind to bring all these elements under one roof, provided by THE experts in the community,” said Jennielynn Holmes, CEO of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa. “By replicating this model, we can dramatically alleviate if not end homelessness, not only in the county, but across the state and beyond. Our organization and all of our partners are ready to share the blueprint and invite others to the table. So many cities around the country are working hard to end homelessness, and we want to link arms with others who share our mission.”

Photo Credit: Justin Warmack

Gender & Housing in California| Gender Equity Policy Institute

An Analysis of the Gender Impacts of California's Housing Affordability Crisis

Rent caps come to the fore as hikes spike| Marketplace

Home prices are still rising, though not quite as fast as they have been for much of the last year or two. Prices were 18% higher in June than a year earlier

Can Churches Help With Affordable Housing Crisis? | KQED

As California’s housing crisis becomes more dire and cities feel mounting pressure to build more housing, many are eyeing church-owned real estate as a potential solution.

California fights its NIMBYs| San Francisco Examiner

For the past six years, through boom, bust and pandemic, California’s Legislature has ended each session with a blitz of new laws that aim to make housing more plentiful and affordable.

California’s Most Important Climate Bill You Haven’t Heard Of | Legal Planet

It took a decade, but the California legislature has finally delivered to the governor one of the most critical climate and equity bills in the country. 

Suburbia Was a Housing Program | The Deleted Scenes

Suburbia, as the folks at Strong Towns put it, was an experiment. But it was an experiment in the service of building lots of housing very quickly. What confounds this insight, I think, is the very common but somewhat vague idea that suburbia is good for families and therefore desirable as such.

California Doubles Down on Its Housing Laws | The NY Times

The state has passed a flurry of pro-housing laws in recent years. But there was little enforcement — until recently.

Another housing battle has erupted over 1,000 homes in Wine Country. Here’s why residents aren’t likely to win | SF Chronicle

Now state and county officials want to build 1,000 units of housing, office and retail space, and a boutique hotel on nearly 200 acres of the 945-acre site, much of which is open space.

Santa Rosa earthquake raises concerns about redevelopment of Chanate Road campus | Press Democrat

A coalition of Santa Rosa neighbors near the former county hospital complex on Chanate Road are raising concerns over potential earthquake hazards as the new property owner gears up to submit plans for hundreds of housing units on the site.

Petaluma emerges at forefront of battle over tenant rights amid Sonoma County housing crunch | Press Democrat

The latest one is a Sonoma County ordinance that prevents eviction for tenants who can prove that they can’t pay the rent because of financial distress triggered by the pandemic. It is set to expire on Sept. 22.

Naming the Cost of Housing All of Our People: A Tale from New Orleans| NPQ

Since then, the housing plan has developed into a 10-year strategy and $37 billion implementation agenda that was co-developed by the organization I lead, HousingNOLA, along with our coalition partners, including New Orleans residents, elected officials, housing providers and advocates, policy makers, and lenders.