Affordable Housing Week to highlight value of low-cost homes

Affordable housing advocates hope to demonstrate the benefits of
low-cost housing to the community next week, as the 10th Affordable
Housing week begins with the Sonoma County Housing Coalition’s
Annual Leadership Breakfast.
Affordable Housing Week will run through May 16 and include the
Housing Hero Award presentation, the release of the SCHC’s annual
housing progress report, and tours of low-income housing
developments throughout the county. Additionally, there will be
presentations to the Board of Supervisors, as well as workshops
dedicated to educating the public on securing affordable
housing.
“People need to see a face on affordable housing,” said Margo
Warnecke Merck who will be honored with the SCHC 2010 Housing Hero
award. “We want to show (affordable housing developments) off to
help people better understand.”
Merck has worked for more than 15 years to help provide housing
for extremely low-income persons with disabilities. She has been an
advocate for special needs housing throughout the County, and is a
founding member of HAG — the Housing Advocacy Group — which works
with local governments to provide affordable and very low income
housing for persons with disabilities.
Despite the recent decline in housing prices, there are still
issues with affordable housing, as jobs in the service sectors of
the local economy don’t always support market-priced housing.
“People think that since the housing market has tanked, people
can go buy homes,” said housing advocate Gale Brownell. “But nearly
half of Sonoma County households qualify for help.”
Brownell has been working on Sonoma County housing issues since
1971. She has worked for the City of Santa Rosa Department of
Housing, and has served with the Sonoma County Task Force for the
Homeless.
According to Brownell, a household of three with a gross income
of $57,600 — $28 per hour — or less qualifies as low income. A
gross income from $57,600 to $72,200 — $35 per hour — is considered
to be moderate income.
At those levels of income, workers can’t afford a current median
priced home at $350,000 without a big down payment or some type of
help from an entity such as the Burbank Housing Development
Corporation.
The rental market is just as tough for working families, as it
takes a monthly income of about $4,000 just to rent a two bedroom
apartment, using 30 percent of gross income for housing and basic
utilities as a base figure.
But the SCHC works on the assumption that affordable housing is
a key element of sustainable development, jobs and quality of life,
and works to improve housing policy, advocacy, finance and land
use.
“There are a whole range of tools such as housing bonds and tax
credits (that help people get housing),” Brownell said. “As part of
the ‘new normal,’ (housing advocacy groups) think we should be able
to afford houses.”
Open enrollment for housing assistance lists for the Sonoma
County and Santa Rosa Housing authorities will be open until May
31.
The Leadership Breakfast will take place on Monday, May 10, from
7:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Flamingo Hotel Conference Resort at 4th
Street and Farmers Lane in Santa Rosa.
The cost of the breakfast is $35 per person, which includes a
full breakfast buffet, and a presentation by keynote speaker Dianne
Spaulding, Executive Director of the non-profit Housing Association
of Northern California, as well as a panel discussion on
inclusionary housing ordinances.
Affordable Housing Week will include a wide range of events
about affordable housing needs, what that housing looks like, and
where it is in our communities.
There will be a tour of Sequoia Village at Sequoia and Covert
lanes in Sebastopol on Tuesday, May 11, from 10 a.m. to noon.
Sequoia Village consists of 20 units of mutual self-help
co-housing.
On Wednesday, May 12 at noon at the Sonoma State University
Cooperage, a visual tour of Sonoma County affordable housing will
be presented by Mark Krug of the Sonoma County Community
Development Commission. The event is free, although there is a
$2.50 parking fee.
There will be a groundbreaking for Amorosa Village, a rental
development at 2740 Dutton Meadow in Santa Rosa on Wednesday, May
12 at 11:30 a.m. followed by a presentation, “Unlock the Secrets to
Affordable Rents” at 7 p.m. at the Santa Rosa Library Forum
Room.
On Thursday, May 13 there will be tours of Rowan Court
Apartments at 2051 West Steele Lane in Santa Rosa from 1 to 3
p.m.
To learn more about Community Housing Sonoma County go to
www.ch-sc.org. For more
information on the SCHC Affordable Housing Week or to download the
breakfast registration form, go to affordablehousingsonomacounty.org.