A message from Generation Housing Board Chair Ali Negus |
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Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Ali Negus and I’m excited to serve as the new chair of the Generation Housing board, building upon Elece Hempel’s direction as Board Chair over the past two years. It means a lot to me to take the helm of our executive committee, not just because I work in the real estate industry in Sonoma County, but because I grew up here. It’s disheartening when friends and family leave our area because of the lack of affording housing, but I’m not discouraged. If anything, I’m inspired by the resiliency of our community and I’m proud of the work at Generation Housing thus far, and how our organization takes a bold approach at tackling our housing needs. As a board member over the last two years, I’ve seen firsthand multiple, tangible solutions to our affordable housing challenges.
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Environmental & Housing Justice
In Partnership with the Greenbelt Alliance
April 21st, 2022 | 5:30 – 6:45 p.m.
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Our community thrives when everyone has access to housing and we prioritize climate solutions. |
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That’s why we need smart, affordable and transit oriented housing. When done right, housing solutions are climate solutions. Greenbelt Alliance just released Resilience Toolkit that highlights affordable housing development as an essential part of a climate action plan. Join us for a conversation in partnership with the Greenbelt Alliance about the intersection of housing and environmental justice. |
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Watch the virtual release of this 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.
Embarking on solutions requires knowing where we are starting and being able to measure our progress. And so we offer this State of Housing in Sonoma County, 2022, which we aim to be the first annual report. We hope it will be a valuable resource to our community leadership, and one day, we hope it will be a document that helps show how far we’ve come.
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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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Sign up for ACTION ALERTS! |
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POLICY UPDATES
MARCH 2022
The first year of the current 2021–22 California legislative session was marked by the passage of several key housing bills designed to tackle the state’s supply challenges in meaningful ways through zoning reforms and historic investments in affordable and supportive housing. The second year of this session offers some promising ideas to help move the needle on the state’s housing challenges, albeit in more incremental ways.
The political landscape has changed to some extent; the redistricting process that followed the 2020 census has shaken up state Senate and Assembly district lines creating numerous seats that could be reasonably up for grabs. Further compounding the uncertainty of this session is the fair number of resignations by key members of the Legislature. With so much in flux, it isn’t inconceivable to assume we will see less of a policy splash since high-profile bills usually reach the governor’s desk by a one to two vote margin.
So what happens now that the February 18th deadline for introducing new bills has passed?
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Fred
Fred and his wife moved to the unincorporated east side of Sonoma in 2006 and have lived in the same apartment ever since. Over the last fourteen years, their rent has increased from $700 to $940. While he loves living in Sonoma County (“the climate, the geography, the nature, the community!”), Fred feels that the county is very segregated and considers it to be an elite suburban area. He and his wife feel lucky that they have had an affordable apartment all these years, but realize that they will never be able to afford to buy a house. They also acknowledge that if they lost their current housing, they would not be able to stay in SoCo.
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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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.
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Santero Way & East Cotati Avenue,
“Cotati Station” | Cotati
Generation Housing proudly endorses the Cotati Station development at Santero Way & East Cotati Avenue.
The Cotati Station mixed-use project proposes to build 98 multifamily apartments with a unit mix of one-bedroom (58), two-bedroom (33), and three-bedroom (7) options. If approved, the revised plan includes 20 deed-restricted affordable units with rents ranging from 50 to 120 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI). All affordable units will be on-site and integrated into the project. According to the developer, they aim to market these units to the local workforce, in particular to the expanding staff at Sonoma State University which is located less than a mile away.
Located in the Santero Way Specific Plan (Specific Plan or SWSP), this project is compliant with SB-35 requirements which allows for a 50 percent density bonus. We strongly support this maximization of the remaining undeveloped sites in the Specific Plan area as it aligns with our mission to promote community-centered growth where people can live, work, shop, and play in a vibrant downtown core. The Specific Plan includes the SMART station as well, so this site is ideal for transit-oriented, in-fill housing.
Onsite amenities include 5,000 square feet of commercial and common use space and a half-acre dedicated as a public park. The outdoor common space will also feature local art installations, ample bike racks, and other furnishings that encourage community interaction.
Generation Housing is proud to give Cotati Station our full-throated support and endorsement!
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Sonoma County Housing News Digest, ICYMI
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It’s going to take all of the above. That’s the only way we’ll be able to get there. But it’s doable. With housing costs, there’s a direct relationship between supply and demand,” Executive Director Jen Klose said, further pointing out a lower inventory since out-of-town remote workers started moving in during the pandemic. “We didn’t have the spare housing to deal with this influx of demand.”
The County updated its Portrait of Sonoma County which delved deeply into inequality concerns in the county. A striking statistic is that 52% of Sonoma County renters spend 30% or more of income on rent, and that number is 59% for Latino renters and 68% for Black renters. This report has incredible detail and shows the work we need to keep doing in Sonoma County. The Sonoma County NAACP recently hosted a discussion on the state of Black housing, and our office and County staff have had conversations with the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative about the need for local investment to close the housing gap.
Close to Home: A not so golden age for senior housing | Press Democrat
A woman walks in and approaches the receptionist. “I need an apartment in two weeks. My landlord is selling the house I’ve been living in for the past 20 years,” she says with a look of exhaustion on her face. “I’ve been looking for three months and there is nothing out there that I can afford.” “I’m sorry, but our waiting lists are closed for most of our properties,” says the Receptionist with a sympathetic smile. “Our waiting lists are closed because it’s taking more than six years for someone to secure a unit.” “Six years,” she gasped. “I’m 82 years old. Where will I live for the next six years?”
Built in 1960, Golden Gate Village consists of eight high-rise and 22 low-rise buildings on about 32 acres. Some 300 low-income families live in subsidized housing there. Some apartments have been occupied by the same family over several generations. The residents’ plan calls for renovating existing apartments while preserving structures and landscaping that have been deemed historic. It also calls for incorporating energy efficiency and offering sustainable features, job training for residents and opportunities for homeownership. According to the new timeline approved by HUD, the housing authority is supposed to issue a request for qualifications for a development partner to complete the renovation by the end of the third quarter of 2022 and to begin the environmental review process for the project by the end of this year.
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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.
DISPLACEMENT
Direct or Physical Displacement occurs when existing homes are torn down to make room for new buildings and tenants are forced to leave their homes and neighborhood. Indirect or Economic Displacement occurs when new development causes rents to increase, forcing people to move when they can’t afford the higher rents.
GREEN BUILDING
A ‘green’ building is a building that, in its design, construction or operation, reduces or eliminates negative impacts, and can create positive impacts, on our climate and natural environment. Green buildings preserve precious natural resources and improve our quality of life.
HOUSING ELEMENT
A required element of all California city general plans, housing elements identify and analyze housing needs and include goals, objectives, policies and programs for providing a city’s fair share of affordable housing needs. Although state law mandates that jurisdictions rezone enough land to meet their regional housing needs allocation and each jurisdiction is required to have an approved housing element, jurisdictions retain local land use control and Housing Elements are only plans for housing. Advocates then push for implementation of these plans and work tirelessly to get these cities and counties to produce the homes their communities desperately need.
EXCLUSIONARY ZONNING
Exclusionary zoning is an oft-mentioned policy that keeps affordable housing out of neighborhoods through land use and building code requirements. It’s a legal practice that has been used for decades to keep lower-income people—disproportionately racial minorities—out of wealthy and middle-class neighborhoods across the country. It can have a damaging effect in that it prevents these low-income families from having access to the education and employment opportunities typically found in wealthier neighborhoods.
REGIONAL HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT (RHNA)
Association of Bay Area Government (ABAG) assessment that produces regional, sub-regional and local targets for the amount and type of homes needed over a seven year period, based on new growth. RHNA takes into account anticipated housing demand generated by employment growth and population increase, however is not enforceable, which has led to the Bay Area vastly under producing housing for lower income individuals and families. RHNA also does not take into account prior unmet housing needs, which leads to the Bay Area falling farther and farther into a housing deficit.
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