Housing solutions

In Healdsburg and throughout Sonoma County, issues related to housing have been in the spotlight for many months. The city is keenly aware of our community’s housing needs and has been working hard, alongside our residents, to address these serious housing problems. Providing affordable housing to working families and building government subsidized, affordable housing units continue to be top City Council priorities. Much has been accomplished and a great deal remains to be done.
Healdsburg is at the forefront of addressing our housing challenges, leading Sonoma County in the development of new housing programs and forming strategic partnerships with experienced housing providers. The City Council also continues to look for opportunities to construct more government subsidized, affordable projects. The city has successfully secured $3.1 million for affordable housing and related programs and there are three affordable housing projects currently in the works: a 25-unit project on Grove Street, a 3.5-acre site on Dry Creek Road, and a 14-acre site in the Saggio Hills proposed development. Additionally, 16 affordable ownership units are currently being constructed in the Sorrento Square and Chiquita Grove Subdivisions.
It is everyone’s hope that there are quick and straightforward solutions to these complex challenges. This is not the case. However, the city has taken active and aggressive measures in response to these challenges. In June 2015, your council took immediate action to respond to the serious issues faced by some of our city’s renters. We formed strategic partnerships with experienced housing service providers and put programs in place that provide immediate assistance to families in need. We have strengthened our partnerships with North Sonoma County Services, the Committee on the Shelterless, Housing Land Trust of Sonoma County, and Fair Housing Sonoma County to provide financial assistance for low-income tenants at risk of displacement, mediate tenant/landlord relations, provide first-time homebuyer assistance for low-income families and ensure emergency and transitional housing services are available in our community. We continue to work daily to expand housing programs and ensure the services available in our community are meeting our local residents’ housing needs.
We all know there is a lack of housing in Healdsburg for the very people that form the fabric of our community and who are essential to our workforce. Health care workers, teachers, local small business owners and their employees struggle to find housing that is affordable in our community. Even those with mid-level incomes are unable to purchase a market rate home or find rental units they can afford. To make matters worse, these same middle-income earners are unable to qualify for government subsidized affordable housing. We must work together to develop solutions for our working families, solutions that create an adequate housing supply and keep pace with community housing needs.
There are two significant constraints to housing production that need to be addressed to alleviate these problems. The first can be addressed at the local level and is the current version of the Growth Management Ordinance (GMO). The GMO is a ballot measure passed by Healdsburg voters in 2000 by a 5.2 percent margin. It cannot be modified without a majority vote of the voters and therefore cannot be readily adjusted to respond to changing housing needs and priorities. Under the current GMO, an average of 30 new housing allocations can be issued per year of which 10 are set aside for projects of four units or less and 20 for projects of five units or more. The limited number of allocations, combined with the lack of certainty about allocation availability, means that those who want to develop multi-unit or subdivision projects are not able to secure project funding and obtain entitlements within reliable time frames. The current GMO acts as a significant obstacle to the production of housing that middle-income and working families can afford, especially multi-family and rental housing projects.
As evidenced by community input at housing workshops over the past 24 months, housing needs have changed in the 16 years since the GMO was passed – it has become apparent that changes to the current GMO are needed in order to facilitate housing production to meet our community’s needs. A poll recently completed by an outside firm for the city confirms the community supports changing the GMO in order to provide more housing that is “affordable to working families” and “housing that middle-income and working families can afford” (language used in the poll). The city’s Housing Committee is in the process of drafting language for a modified GMO ordinance that will be on the November ballot. The intent is not to dramatically change the GMO, but to provide mechanisms for providing housing for our working citizens.
The second factor that has stymied the development of affordable housing is the state’s dissolution of Redevelopment Agencies (RDA) in 2011. This action eliminated significant funding sources previously used to create affordable housing and tied up RDA properties that had been identified for affordable housing projects. While government subsidized affordable housing units that could result from the prior RDA are exempt from the GMO restrictions under state law, funding for these projects has been severely hampered by this state action.
As you can see, there is not one single solution to our housing challenges. This problem has been simmering for years and cannot be solved overnight. We do know working in partnership with the community, our respected housing service providers, as well as experienced affordable and market rate housing developers we can improve housing opportunities for our community and develop long term solutions to our housing challenges.
Housing affordable to young families, to those who work in town and provide essential services, and to seniors is crucial to having the type of town that typifies our values and promotes the small town character that we all cherish. I encourage you to stay engaged and understand the depth of this complicated problem. There is additional information on our website outlining what has been done to date and what we hope to accomplish moving forward.
Tom Chambers is the 2016 Healdsburg Mayor.