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A message from Generation Housing
Board Member Craig Anderson!
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Over the last 25 years, I’ve devoted myself to acting with the community and engaging the community as stewards and part of nature as the executive director of LandPaths, an environmental education and conservation nonprofit with the mission to foster a love of the land in Sonoma County. Some may wonder, how is it possible for someone passionate about nature like myself to be on the board of a nonprofit that advocates for increasing housing production? Isn’t new construction bad for the environment?
Here’s the truth of the matter: when done right, constructing new homes in Sonoma County is good for the environment, and good for the health and well-being of our community. I’m proud to serve as a board member of Generation Housing, which promotes sustainable solutions to our local housing challenges and values equity and cross-sector collaboration. Affordable housing that incorporates the beauty of the landscape and connects with transit networks, and infill development that saves wild and agricultural lands, should be part of any cohesive ecological planning effort for a region. Affordable housing is an issue that equity-minded, conservation-oriented people can’t — or shouldn’t — ignore.
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It's Affordable Housing Month!
How can we engage?
It's that time a year when we acknowledge the importance affordable housing plays in the health of our community and our community members, that we recognize that we do not have enough affordable housing to serve our hard working low wage earners or our young families, that we learn about solutions to our housing scarcity, that we celebrate the progress we have made, and most of all, that we commit to be part of those solutions.
Click here for a number of options to get involved in solutions, here to become a member of Generation Housing to support our work championing production of more affordable housing, and here to sign up for action alerts. And join us on May 26 for a virtual webinar on how you can seize a once-in-a-decade opportunity to influence the housing in your city or town.
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Join us for a HouseWarming party at our new offices in downtown Santa Rosa, at the coLAB!
Meet and talk to fellow Gen H housing champions, and receive updates on housing happenings across the county! Bring a friend!
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Seize Your Once in a Decade Chance to Speak Up for Housing! | |
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May 26th, 5:30-6:45PM
Zoom Webinar
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Did you know that right now YOU have a once in a decade opportunity to help shape the future of housing in Sonoma County? This year, all jurisdictions in the North Bay – including cities, towns, and the unincorporated county – are updating the Housing Element, a plan for the housing needed in every community. Public input is ESSENTIAL for Housing Elements! To undo decades of exclusionary housing policies, we need you to show up, speak up, and make your pro-housing voice be heard. Join us to learn how YOU can do something about the future of your community! | |
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Housing Events from Our Partners | |
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Accessory Dwelling Unit Roundtable Conversation and Live Q&A
Tuesday, May 3 from 12 -1 pm
Are you a homeowner anywhere in Napa or Sonoma County? Join us for a roundtable conversation about ADUs, including:
- Preview of our new Standard ADU Plans program
- ADU small space design tips
- YOUR ADU questions, answered live!
Register in advance for this webinar
Presented by the Napa Sonoma ADU Center, a nonprofit organization fiscally-sponsored by Napa Valley Community Foundation with support from Community Foundation Sonoma County.
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Seminario de web: Cómo construir y pagar por una unidad de vivienda accesoria
el Martes, 17 de mayo desde 6:00 - 7:30 pm
¿Usted es propietario de una casa en los condados de Napa y Sonoma?
Únase a nosotros para aprender sobre el proceso de planificación, construcción, y como financiar unidades de vivienda accesorias (también conocidas como segundas unidades, cabañas en el patio trasero, apartamentos tipo granny, garajes convertidos) desde profesionales.
REGÍSTRESE PARA EL WEBINAR EN VIVO GRATUITO EN ESTE ENLACE
Presentado por el Centro ADU de Napa Sonoma, una organización sin fines de lucro patrocinada fiscalmente por Napa Valley Community Foundation con el apoyo de Community Foundation Sonoma County.
Para obtener más información, comuníquese con info@napasonomaadu.org o visite nuestro sitio web sin fines de lucro lleno de recursos para propietarios de viviendas sobre ADU en www.napasonomaadu.org. Haga clic en el botón en la esquina derecha de la página web para traducir al español.
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414 Petaluma Groundbreaking
Thursday, May 26th
11:00-12:00pm
Join MidPen Housing as we celebrate the groundbreaking of 414 Petaluma, which will provide 44 affordable homes for families, including farmworker households and residents experiencing homelessness.
This in-person, outdoor event includes remarks, the official golden shovel ceremony, and light refreshment reception.
Register in advance for this groundbreaking event!
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Sign up to volunteer at community events to meet people, talk housing, and engage them in our work. | |
Sign up for ACTION ALERTS! | |
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Yasmin is a 22-year-old dental hygiene student who lives with her parents in Petaluma, where they own and run a local restaurant. Yasmin was studying abroad during the 2017 fires, but was terrified when they Facetimed her asking her what things she wanted from her room since they had to evacuate. Thankfully, their house was unharmed.
Yasmin has lived in her family’s home for the last 20 years, and she hopes to be able to someday afford to buy a house of her own in Sonoma County. In order to do so, Yasmin is considering having her parents buy a new house so that they can copay and live separately.
She loves living in Sonoma County because people are kind, it’s wine country, and there are open, green spaces like the local soccer fields, where she often goes to watch games.
"It’s really unrealistic for millennials to be able to buy a home -- we need to make it more affordable so that we can keep our community here!"
Yasmin Sahagun, Petaluma CA
Read more about Fred and other housing stories here.
Help Generation Housing ensure housing availability for people like Fred 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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4744 Hoen Avenue, “Lago Fresca” | Santa Rosa
Generation Housing has endorsed the Lago Fresca development proposed at 4744 Hoen Avenue in Santa Rosa.
Lago Fresca is a 50 unit multi-family apartment project comprising four 3-story buildings and a Community Room. It will offer a mix of 1, 2-, 3- and 4-bedroom apartment dwellings that will either be affordable (6 units, 60 percent AMI) or market rate housing alternatives which are affordable by design. Lago Fresca will add a measurably significant number of family-sized apartments in an area which is contextually well-suited for the development of higher density housing. Each unit is provided with a private patio at grade or an above-grade balcony. Storage
space for each unit is provided in assigned garages and/or in a closet at the balcony/patio.
Each unit is provided with one secure long term bicycle parking space in addition to short-term bicycle parking offered at the front end of the development.
Lago Fresca is adjacent to office/commercial uses (including a hospital) and low-to-medium density residential area. The proposed project is proximate to four bus stops (all within a 1/4 mile, or less than 5-minute walk), an elementary and middle school, Annadel and Howarth Parks, Whole Foods Market (less than a mile) and a variety of other retail services.
Site amenities include an arbor – portal to the project from Summerfield Road, a fountain at the project monument sign on Summerfield Road, fire pits, a play structure, a roof terrace, a barbeque area, and a rain garden-dry stream bed in a landscaped courtyard.
Generation Housing looks forward to supporting this project as it will play a critical role in integrating affordable housing and family-sized apartments into an established, predominantly single-family and commercial high-resource neighborhood. This aligns strongly with our mission of creating vibrant communities that feature a diversity of homes across the income spectrum.
Generation Housing is proud to endorse this project and looks forward to it successfully coming to fruition upon successfully navigating the design review and planning process.
To learn more about the project, click here. To review the initial Santa Rosa Design Review Board meeting, click here.
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Sonoma County Housing News Digest, ICYMI
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According to a study, less than 1 in 5 Black and Latino households can afford to purchase the $786,750 statewide median-priced home in California.
Housing Efforts Santa Rosa Downtown | Press Democrat
Santa Rosa’s plan to turn downtown garage into housing on pause amid opposition from business interests
Sustainable & Affordable Housing No Longer a Pipe Dream |Planetizen
Fresh interest in green building among investors, new incentives, and stricter building codes are making it more possible to include green building practices in affordable housing production.
The need for senior affordable housing is significant, especially for those trying to get by on Social Security. Many seniors have health issues, and it limits their ability to work. Even if they can work, it is exceedingly difficult for seniors to secure jobs.
The roots of California’s housing crisis are no secret: People want to live here, and many who already live here oppose any more housing.
An Idaho-based company has again submitted a plan to build a controversial 84-unit affordable housing project in Sebastopol, with half of the units reserved for agricultural workers and their families amid the Bay Area’s housing crunch.
Cities around the state are trying to circumvent California’s new law allowing duplexes to be built on properties previously zoned as single family. Their methods include everything from removing parking and forbidding vehicle ownership to requiring arbitrary amounts of mature vegetation.
After March 31, state applications close for more than $5 billion in emergency federal funding set aside to pay California landlords back for pandemic rent debt and keep tenants in their homes. Lawmakers on Thursday signed off on a measure, AB2179, to further extend some eviction protections through June 30.
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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.
ELEMENTS OF THE GENERAL PLAN
The General Plan must contain seven (7) state-mandated elements. It may also contain any other elements that the legislative body of the county or city wishes to adopt. The seven (7) mandated elements are: Land Use, Open Space, Conservation, Housing, Circulation, Noise, and Safety.
INFILL HOUSING
New homes or apartments built on smaller tracts of land, often in older neighborhoods, urban renewal areas or inner cities.
HOUSING ELEMENT PROCESS
To update the plan, an entity must:
- Update previous housing element as a draft.
- The local government must make the draft available for public comment and participation BEFORE draft is presented to HCD, for 30 days and if any comments are received, take at least 10 business days to consider and incorporate those public comments.
- Submit draft to HCD for review/approval.
- Revise and adopt (or adopt without changes).
- For any subsequent revisions, the local government must post the draft revision on its website and email a link to all individuals and organizations that have previously requested notices relating to the local government’s housing element at least seven days before submitting the draft revision to HCD.
- Submit revised draft/adopted housing element to HCD.
LAND TRUST
In the strictest sense, a nonprofit organization that sells affordable homes but retains ownership of the land under them in order to control, through the lease, the long-term affordability of the homes. The lease ensures that the home is resold to a low-income family, sold at a below-market price, and/or sold with a share of the appreciated value going to the nonprofit. The term is used more loosely to describe programs that subsidize fee simple homeownership for low-income families and impose similar kinds of long-term affordability controls.
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.
Visit our website to learn more housing terms at our Publications and Resources page and check out our Housing Glossary.
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