A message from Generation Housing Executive Director |
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Generation Housing has kicked off the year with a busy month!
We released our first Annual State of Housing in Sonoma County Report, which you can find here and are planning for a virtual Report Release event on February 24, 4:30-6 p.m., where we’ll be joined by Congressman Mike Thompson, Board of Supervisors Chair James Gore, and a panel of cross-sector leaders talking about housing solutions moderated by The Press Democrat editor Rick Green. You can register here.
With your support, our advocacy paid off in Cloverdale, where the Planning Commission approved Alexander Valley Apartments, a 75-unit all affordable housing community. But, neighbors, who reported to The Press Democrat that they were feeling “invaded” have filed an appeal to the City Council. So our work there is not done. Stay tuned for opportunities to support this important project.
We’re thrilled to welcome Ramon Meraz to the Generation Housing team as our new Community Engagement Director. Read more about Ramon below.
Finally, the first cohort of the Youth Promotores de Vivienda program, which is offered in partnership by Latino Service Providers and Generation Housing, just completed their first year of training. These bright and passionate young people worked for a year to learn about civic engagement, communications, housing, and housing advocacy, and are going to be an important part of our Gen H Action Team. We're so excited that the YPs will soon be repping Generation Housing at farmers markets and other outdoor events. Please stop by and say hi!
We’re looking forward to a busy year continuing to promote pro-housing policies, support great projects, and providing housing education. Your participation and support, through action or financial support is critical to this work and we thank you in advance.
In partnership,
Jen Klose
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Sign up for ACTION ALERTS! |
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Governor's Budget Update 2022 |
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We applaud his continued commitment to addressing the affordability crisis and appreciate the historic efforts to link investments in affordable housing development with the state’s climate goals. Making sure that people in our community can afford a decent, safe place to live is essential for a strong, healthy, and vibrant Sonoma County. Linking housing to climate goals ensures that we both lower greenhouse gas emissions and make sure that housing is built near jobs, transit, schools, and other essential services.
Read a summary of the housing investments in the Governor’s proposed budget here!
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Read our latest report if you haven't done so already! |
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State of Housing in Sonoma County |
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The State of Housing in Sonoma County report is a comprehensive report, over 60 pages, covers, among other things, housing stock and cost, density, land use, homebuilding, population shifts and demographic breakdowns of housing cost burden and overcrowding.
This report aims to educate the public, community leaders, and policy-makers so that we can make informed, evidence-based decisions on policy, projects, and funding as we address our housing shortage.
Solving our housing dilemmas has positive ripple effects. The availability of safe, stable, and affordable housing for our community members is a critical driver for individual economic opportunity, better educational performance, and improved health outcomes. The future economic vitality and resilience of our county is jeopardized if young workers, students, and families cannot stay or cannot live in a healthy way because of housing cost burden. Investment in housing production is a powerful economic engine and job creator. Well-planned affordable housing is a boon for the environment — decreasing our carbon footprint and preserving our open space.
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Meet Ramon Meraz | Community Engagement Director
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Ramon Meraz was Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, grew up in Huntington Beach, California, and moved to Santa Rosa in 1992. Ramon received a degree in Latino Chicano Studies from SSU then worked for more than twenty years in hospitality, serving as Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel's chief concierge for almost 10 years. Ramon's earned the “Spirit of Sonoma” in 2014 from the Sonoma County Lodging Association. After serving for five years on the Sonoma County Commission for Human Rights, Ramon decided to go back to SSU to study Urban Planning, so that he could turn his talents to solving the housing challenges in our county. After graduating, Ramon pivoted from the private sector to the public/non-profit service sector, first joining AmeriCorps VISTA program through which he worked in the Honolulu Mayor’s Office of Housing, and then managing an island-wide tobacco cessation program for Malama Pono Health Services in Kauai for two years.
Ramon is passionate about building healthy communities and is thrilled to be returning to the mainland to jump into the housing advocacy world. Ramon lives with his partner Terah, who works as a charge nurse at Kaiser hospital in Santa Rosa and his 15-year-old chihuahua, Lentil.
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7950 Bodega Avenue, “Huntley Square” | Sebastopol
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Proposed by Healthy Buildings, 7950 Bodega Avenue, or “Huntley Square” is a deed-restricted, owner-occupied infill project designed to create opportunities for our local workforce members and young professionals to achieve home ownership without breaking the bank. A total of ten 600 sq ft townhome style units will be built and optimized for full-size living. The development includes a central courtyard and rear yards. Parking is centralized away from the buildings.
Generation Housing welcomes this “Missing Middle” type housing as it helps further advance our goals of unlocking more, more diverse, and more affordable housing. Projects such as this ensure our workforce can live locally, own locally, and enjoy being proximate to local businesses and essential services. A walkable community is a sustainable community. Generation Housing is proud to give Huntley Square our support and endorsement!
Huntley Square will be up for review by the Sebastopol City Council on Tuesday, March 1 at 6:00 PM.
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7716 & 7760 Bodega Avenue, “Woodmark Apartments” | Sebastopol
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The Woodmark Apartments is a high-density, all-affordable, 84-unit multi-family development located approximately a mile from a variety of essential services and key amenities such as Ives Park, the Sebastopol Regional Library, and two grocery stores. Most importantly, 48 units will be restricted to farmworkers and their families - a critically underserved community in Sonoma County. The other units will be restricted to folks earning 30-60 percent of the area median income (AMI), also an underserved population. This site was also identified in the Sebastopol 5th Cycle Housing Element as a key site for high-density multi-family development.
Generation Housing proudly endorses this project because it is well-located, well-designed, and creates an opportunity for further integration of the surrounding neighborhood’s proximate to Sebastopol’s downtown core.
Generation Housing is supportive of this project’s invocation of SB-35, a key statute that aims to expedite the approval process of housing developments, including affordable housing, in order to address the state’s housing shortage crisis.
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701 Wilson Street, “Pullman Phase II, Building C | Santa Rosa
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Pullman Phase II (Building C) is an additional phase of a larger project being proposed by Phoenix Development Company. A mixed-income development, Pullman Phase II aims to create 20 units of 1 bedroom units (varying sizes) and 20 units of 1 bedrooms with office space, to be marketed to the missing middle population, i.e.: servers, administrative staff, baristas, etc. Two units will be deed-restricted affordable (80 percent AMI) per the City of Santa Rosa’s Inclusionary Housing Policy. Target completion is Spring 2023. The project will also share amenities with Pullman Phase I, of which include a pool, BBQ area, fire pit, lounge, coffee bar, package area, offices, conference room, dog wash station, dog run, bike storage and repair area.
While our equity lens moves us to spend the lion’s share of our time on affordable housing, we are in need of housing at all income levels and infill mixed-use housing such as this project is an important part of our total housing ecosystem and in building a sustainable community.
The project receives an outstanding walk score for the number of nearby amenities that would allow a resident to run daily errands without requiring a car – an important asset needed to help meet our climate action goals. Generation Housing is also a strong supporter of the City’s Downtown Station Area Plan and we’re pleased that Pullman Phase II (Building C) aligns superbly well with the City of Santa Rosa’s vision for an invigorated downtown area.
Generation Housing strongly endorses the Pullman Phase II (Building C) at 701 Wilson Street.
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Sign up to volunteer at community events to meet people, talk housing, and engage them in our work. |
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Ivonne
Ivonne considers herself lucky. Even though she has deep roots in Sonoma County, she and her husband never thought they could purchase a home in the area and for a while they rented a Santa Rosa apartment.
Then they were introduced to Housing Land Trust, which helped them buy a Healdsburg home they love in 2016 with zero down payment and an affordable mortgage.
“We qualified for the Housing Land Trust program, which at the time felt like it was too good to be true, but ended up being the reason we were able to purchase our house. If we hadn’t been accepted, we’d still be renting an apartment,” said Ivonne, who works as a medical assistant at Sutter Health in Healdsburg.
Ivonne and her husband, who commutes to Sebastopol for work, live at their Healdsburg home with their two sons. Ivonne grew up in Sonoma County, and never wants to move away.
Aside from HOA fees, which fluctuate, Ivonne is very happy to be a homeowner and raise her family in a place she loves and feels rooted to. She believes everyone should own a home, and is excited organizations like Housing Land Trust and Generation Housing provide support and resources to help everyone get just as “lucky.”
Help Generation Housing ensure housing availability for people like Ivonne by joining #WeAreGenH now!
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We are teachers, first responders, farm workers. We are grocers, we are artists. |
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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.
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State of Housing in Sonoma County Webinar| February 24th 4:00 - 6:00PM, Virtual |
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Join us for a virtual release of our State of Housing In Sonoma County Report! This report aims to educate the public, community leaders, and policy-makers so that we can make informed, evidence-based decisions on policy, projects, and funding as we address our housing shortage.
Sonoma County Board of Supervisor James Gore will join us as keynote speaker, followed by a panel discussion.
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Generation Housing Members' Monthly House Party | March 17th 4:30 - 5:30PM, Virtual |
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Being a Generation Housing member comes with its perks, and one of them is free admission to members-only educational, networking, and advocacy events.
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Sonoma County Housing News Digest
In case you missed some of the key news items of the last few weeks on local housing, Generation Housing has procured a bevy of news articles from around Sonoma County.
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2021 Portrait of Sonoma County: Well-being study finds new successes, ongoing challenges along race, ethnicity, gender and geographic lines | The Press Democrat
Jen Klose, the executive director for Generation Housing, a local housing advocacy nonprofit, said that data made sense given that the construction of homes in Sonoma County has long failed to keep pace with local demand.
The nonprofit Generation Housing Sonoma County, a Santa Rosa-based local affordable housing advocacy group*,sent the commission a letter on Dec. 23 expressing its “strongest support for the immediate approval” of the project on Asti Road, north of Railroad Avenue, in Cloverdale, which includes farmworker housing.
The housing shortage in Sonoma Valley requires “ground trooping,” according to Calum Weeks, policy director of Generation Housing, where local sympathizers seek and identify the best place for new housing elements to be developed. However, Sonoma Vice Mayor Kelso Barnett said that housing scarcity in Sonoma Valley is not something that can be addressed as simply as creating more housing.
Sonoma County’s new state housing goals seek to spur more aggressive local response to chronic shortage | The Press Democrat
Generation Housing, a fledgling housing advocacy group in Sonoma County, aims to help hold local governments accountable in distributing their housing allocations fairly and equitably across the region, a key objective handed down by the state for the upcoming housing cycle. Calum Weeks, policy director with Generation Housing, said local officials should put a focus on planning for more housing and upgrading infrastructure in undeserved areas such as the predominantly Latino neighborhoods in southwest Santa Rosa.
"Enter Generation Housing, which launched in early 2020 with the goal of convincing officials, business interests and residents that more housing, even in their own backyards, is in everyone’s best interest. The group’s executive director, Jen Klose, an attorney and former Santa Rosa School Board president, has led the group’s efforts to endorse residential projects, create marketing campaigns in support of growth and help local officials seek public grants affordable housing."
Cloverdale city, school district officials at odds over developer obligations to schools | The Press Democrat
“The district is trying to push an anti-housing agenda,” Bagby said. “But it’s strange that they bought a piece of property in the town, built a new gym and refurbished a football field so they’ve maxed out their bond money. ... I don’t they have their priorities set right. I think they are trying to cover up for their own mistakes.”
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Demystifying Housing Policy:
Five Housing Terms Everyone Should Know
Housing affects all of us, yet the terminology used to discuss housing can be fraught with insider lingo and it can be difficult to fully grasp. So we’ve compiled a brief list of some of the most common terms used in the housing policy world to help everyone better understand and engage in the housing conversation.
LOW INCOME PERSON OR HOUSEHOLD
As widely defined by governmental and nonprofit organizations, person or household with
gross household income below 60% Area Median Income, often including receptionists,
preschool teachers and security guards, or 80% Area Median Income, often including
construction workers, firefighters, and teachers in the Bay Area (depending on program
eligibility requirements) adjusted for household size.
MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT
A building or group of buildings that combines multiple revenue producing uses in an
integrated and coherent plan. As an example, a mixed-use development might include retail
space on the ground floor, offices on the middle floor, condominiums on the top floors and a
garage on the lower level.
NIMBY: NOT IN MY BACK YARD
Neighborhood opposition to housing development built near their own homes.
PRIORITY DEVELOPMENT AREAS
Areas designated by cities and approved by the Association of Bay Area Government, as places where new growth (housing, jobs) should be concentrated. PDAs must meet certain requirements, including location close to transit. PDAs are supposed to be “complete communities” with housing, shopping and services accessible by bike and walking and homes for a range of economic levels. Plan Bay Area is based on concentrating growth in these PDAs.
SPECIFIC PLANS
Plans prepared by city government to attract, stimulate and guide development in a particular neighborhood. Often specific plans streamline certain requirements to make it easier for developers to get approvals to build projects.
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