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October is affordable housing month in Santa Cruz County. Housing Advocates, city and county leaders are out in the community discussing housing projects that are built as well as in the pipeline or on the future conversation table. In a Santa Cruz Sentinel article this week, the educational and community learning tours highlighting Affordable Housing Month are reported here: click here! The events are meant to bring “education and awareness of what the region has to offer” and explain how more affordable housing can be created, according to Jessica de Wit, Housing and Community Development manager with the city of Santa Cruz’s Economic Development Office. I fully compliment the multiple effort by business organizations, housing advocates and our public sector leaders to educate and offer options and solutions-oriented ideas to the housing conversation. The question for me is not education and awareness, but rather implementation of regulatory and zoning code changes that actually produce housing. There has been some progress at the county level on ADUs and affordable units as part of projects around the county. So how is this playing out in Santa Cruz? Let’s look at the current project that went before the City Council on Tuesday evening. The mixed-use project at 190 West Cliff is planned to have 89 condos, eight designated as “very low income.” The conversation at the city council meeting on Tuesday was highlighted by the city staff report, followed by a very thorough report from the project applicant and the lengthy community input — the meeting went well into the late evening and on a 4-3 vote the City Council moved to approve the project. (More details can be found on the Chamber’s local gov’t scorecard via the link - click here). This is the first housing project that the 2019 City Council has approved since taking office last November. Future discussion falls to “projects in the city’s pipeline not yet approved.” The 908 Ocean St. in Santa Cruz project has 333 units and is required to have 50 affordable units, which must sell at or less than 80% of the area’s median income level. This project is front and center to address our housing problems in the City. And yet, the city council moved to abandon the ‘Corridor Plan’ that would be applicable to this project. However, the state legislator passed and the Governor signed SB 330 which would be in direct conflict with the city council’s action. The recently approved Park Pacific, a mixed-use project under construction at 1547 Pacific Ave., will have 79 units of varying size, 12 of which will be made available for sale to low or moderate income households, according to the city. There is action from the State Capitol exercising legislative options for us to explore and the Governor made housing one of his #1 priorities in his first year in the Corner office on the Capitol’s First Floor. The Governor gave a very lengthy interview with the Los Angeles Times this past week — you can read it here: click here! A quick review of that story shows that the Governor’s approach was to make bold and audacious goals to address the State’s affordable housing crisis and our growing homeless issues. The 2019 California legislative session closed out earlier this month and below is a recap of several major housing bills Governor Newsom recently signed into law that will undoubtedly yield regional and statewide impact. These policies come as the result of a comprehensive approach to addressing the housing crisis taken by several legislators and stakeholders called the “3Ps of Housing,” or Production, Preservation, and Protections: • SB 330, The Housing Crisis Act, authored by Senator Nancy Skinner, streamlines the permitting and approval process for housing developments in qualifying areas and limits fees after project approval in order to accelerate housing production. (The Chamber supported this bill) • SB 13, authored by Senator Bob Wieckowski, facilitates the development of Accessory Dwelling Units by creating a tiered fee structure for ADUs, lowering the application approval timeframe in addition to addressing other ADU production barriers. (The Chamber supported this legislation) • AB 1783, authored by Assemblymember Robert Rivas, streamlines permitting for Family Farmworker Housing on an optional basis. (The Chamber took no position on this legislation) • AB 1255, authored by Assemblymember Robert Rivas, requires cities and counties to identify and report surplus land to the state for the creation of a digitized statewide surplus land inventory. (The Chamber took no action on this bill) • AB 1486, authored by Assemblymember Philip Ting, strengthens the Surplus Land Act for the development of affordable housing on surplus state land. (The Chamber took no action on this bill) • AB 1482, The Tenant Protection Act of 2019, authored by Assemblymember David Chiu establishes an annual statewide rent cap of 5% plus CPI in addition to outlining reasons for just-cause evictions. (The Chamber did not take a position on this legislation.) Let’s hope that Tuesday’s City Council vote will be the beginning of the Council’s action to address our city’s affordable housing requirements set forth by the state — known as Regional Housing Needs Assessment. Stay tuned.
October is affordable housing month in Santa Cruz County. Housing Advocates, city and county leaders are out in the community discussing housing projects that are built as well as in the pipeline or on the future conversation table. In a Santa Cruz Sentinel article this week, the educational and community learning tours highlighting Affordable Housing Month are reported here: click here!
The events are meant to bring “education and awareness of what the region has to offer” and explain how more affordable housing can be created, according to Jessica de Wit, Housing and Community Development manager with the city of Santa Cruz’s Economic Development Office.
I fully compliment the multiple effort by business organizations, housing advocates and our public sector leaders to educate and offer options and solutions-oriented ideas to the housing conversation. The question for me is not education and awareness, but rather implementation of regulatory and zoning code changes that actually produce housing. There has been some progress at the county level on ADUs and affordable units as part of projects around the county.
So how is this playing out in Santa Cruz? Let’s look at the current project that went before the City Council on Tuesday evening. The mixed-use project at 190 West Cliff is planned to have 89 condos, eight designated as “very low income.” The conversation at the city council meeting on Tuesday was highlighted by the city staff report, followed by a very thorough report from the project applicant and the lengthy community input — the meeting went well into the late evening and on a 4-3 vote the City Council moved to approve the project. (More details can be found on the Chamber’s local gov’t scorecard via the link - click here). This is the first housing project that the 2019 City Council has approved since taking office last November.
Future discussion falls to “projects in the city’s pipeline not yet approved.” The 908 Ocean St. in Santa Cruz project has 333 units and is required to have 50 affordable units, which must sell at or less than 80% of the area’s median income level. This project is front and center to address our housing problems in the City. And yet, the city council moved to abandon the ‘Corridor Plan’ that would be applicable to this project. However, the state legislator passed and the Governor signed SB 330 which would be in direct conflict with the city council’s action.
The recently approved Park Pacific, a mixed-use project under construction at 1547 Pacific Ave., will have 79 units of varying size, 12 of which will be made available for sale to low or moderate income households, according to the city.
There is action from the State Capitol exercising legislative options for us to explore and the Governor made housing one of his #1 priorities in his first year in the Corner office on the Capitol’s First Floor.
The Governor gave a very lengthy interview with the Los Angeles Times this past week — you can read it here: click here!
A quick review of that story shows that the Governor’s approach was to make bold and audacious goals to address the State’s affordable housing crisis and our growing homeless issues.
The 2019 California legislative session closed out earlier this month and below is a recap of several major housing bills Governor Newsom recently signed into law that will undoubtedly yield regional and statewide impact. These policies come as the result of a comprehensive approach to addressing the housing crisis taken by several legislators and stakeholders called the “3Ps of Housing,” or Production, Preservation, and Protections: • SB 330, The Housing Crisis Act, authored by Senator Nancy Skinner, streamlines the permitting and approval process for housing developments in qualifying areas and limits fees after project approval in order to accelerate housing production. (The Chamber supported this bill) • SB 13, authored by Senator Bob Wieckowski, facilitates the development of Accessory Dwelling Units by creating a tiered fee structure for ADUs, lowering the application approval timeframe in addition to addressing other ADU production barriers. (The Chamber supported this legislation) • AB 1783, authored by Assemblymember Robert Rivas, streamlines permitting for Family Farmworker Housing on an optional basis. (The Chamber took no position on this legislation) • AB 1255, authored by Assemblymember Robert Rivas, requires cities and counties to identify and report surplus land to the state for the creation of a digitized statewide surplus land inventory. (The Chamber took no action on this bill) • AB 1486, authored by Assemblymember Philip Ting, strengthens the Surplus Land Act for the development of affordable housing on surplus state land. (The Chamber took no action on this bill) • AB 1482, The Tenant Protection Act of 2019, authored by Assemblymember David Chiu establishes an annual statewide rent cap of 5% plus CPI in addition to outlining reasons for just-cause evictions. (The Chamber did not take a position on this legislation.)
Let’s hope that Tuesday’s City Council vote will be the beginning of the Council’s action to address our city’s affordable housing requirements set forth by the state — known as Regional Housing Needs Assessment. Stay tuned.