Cities Can't Keep Up With Need for Low-Cost Housing <br>

Published on May 8, 2005 © 2005- The Press Democrat <br>
BYLINE:    SPENCER SOPER 
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT 
PAGE: A1 
<p>
Sonoma County cities have created more than 2,500 homes and apartments for low-income families in the past 20 years by making developers include them in new subdivisions or pay fees to build them elsewhere. 
Today, 7 percent of the county's 174,000 families live in subsidized housing. But local government is falling far short of meeting the demand of thousands who qualify for help and are stuck on waiting lists that stretch out for years. 
As the gap widens between wages and housing costs, pressure is building to find new ways to create affordable housing, including a controversial plan to put some of the burden on those building new businesses, not just homes. 
``There's no secret that affordable housing remains one of the key issues facing the county,'' said county Supervisor Tim Smith, who doubts local government alone will be able to meet the demand. ``We're going to do what we can locally, but without state and federal help, we can't do it.'' 
Petaluma started the trend 20 years ago, imposing fees on home builders for affordable housing. Today, all of the county's nine cities have similar policies. County supervisors last month joined in with low-cost housing mandates for unincorporated areas that will take effect later this year. 
For a new 2,000-square-foot home, affordable housing fees range from $3,000 in Rohnert Park to more than $15,000 in Cloverdale. </p>
Of the 197,000 homes, apartments and condominiums in Sonoma County, more than 12,500 are easier to afford because of some kind of housing assistance. Most are apartment complexes subject to rent restrictions or that receive federal subsidies to help tenants pay market-rate rentals. Those subsidies cost more than $28 million a year. 
Cramped quarters 
The benefit of low-cost housing is on full display in the Petaluma home of Francisco and Laura Martinez, where they live with their three children. 
For years, the family crammed into a one-bedroom apartment because it was all they could afford on Francisco's salary as a grocery store cashier. 
But then they got a three-bedroom apartment in Corona Ranch, a 74-unit complex where qualifying tenants pay on a sliding scale, depending on their income. Monthly rents range from $450 to $910. The Martinez family pays $850. 
Javier Martinez, 12, now has his own room with space for sleepovers, his Lego collection and Leo, his pet gecko. His walls are decorated with medals and trophies from his soccer team and Tae Kwon Do, as well as an essay he wrote for school about the person he admires most, his father. 
``Our old house was kind of cramped because we all slept in one room,'' Javier said. 
Laura Martinez enjoys sitting on the back balcony, where she can watch her children play in a field below. At night, they gather around a large coffee table in the living room for Scrabble matches and other board games. 
``It's big and the rent is affordable,'' Laura Martinez said in Spanish, smiling in her home. 
Land from builder 
The nonprofit Eden Housing Inc. built the complex 10 years ago on land provided by the builder of an adjacent subdivision to meet the requirements of the city's low-cost housing program. 
The units are reserved for families who are considered low-income or very-low-income according to federal guidelines. In Sonoma County, a family of four earning up to $58,000 is considered low income. The same family earning up to $37,300 is considered very-low-income. 
The average family of four in Sonoma County earns $74,600. 
Advocates of low-cost housing mandates say families such as the Martinezes emphasize the need. 
If left to market pressures, developers will build what is most profitable: single-family homes that a growing segment of the county population can't afford, they say. 
The median home price in Sonoma County hit $550,000 in February, up more than 20 percent from the previous year. Only 9 percent of the county's families can afford to buy a median-priced home, down from 16 percent last year, according to the California Association of Realtors. 
Rents stable but expensive <br>
Rents in the county have been flat, but are still out of reach for many low-income wage earners and seniors on fixed incomes. 
``This has been a problem in Sonoma County for 20 years and it has only been getting worse,'' said Stephen Harper, chairman of the Sonoma County Housing Advocacy Group, which has filed lawsuits to force cities and the county to build more low-cost housing. ``If we want a diverse economy and a diverse society, we need housing for all our citizens. We want our teachers, our policemen, our bus drivers and our mechanics to be able to afford to live in the city they work in. 
``And we have been driving these people out. We have been driving our seniors on fixed incomes out, our teachers out, for lack of low-income housing.'' 
Developers counter that the requirements drive up housing prices for everyone else not fortunate enough to get into a low-cost unit. The underlying problem is restrictive land-use policies that have limited the availability of new homes, they said. 
``The frustrating thing is that builders would be producing homes the average family can afford to buy, but the cost of land and cost of complying with regulations are all reflected in higher sale prices,'' said Charlie Carson, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Northern California. 
Winning the lottery <br>
``One of our concerns is that it's a great program for those who win the lottery, so to speak, and are able to move into one of these (low-cost) units. Meanwhile, there is such a large number of households that are not able to be accommodated,'' he said. 
Sonoma County is not even close to meeting its projected housing needs for its poorest residents, according to projections from the Association of Bay Area Governments, a regional planning group. 
The county would need to add 7,440 homes and apartments affordable to low-income families between 1999 and June 30, 2006, according to state projections. So far, it has produced less than half that amount. 
Low-cost housing production varies by city. 
For instance, Petaluma, which has had affordable housing mandates in place the longest, is the only city in the county to meet its housing needs for all income groups. 
The small city of Sebastopol has a high concentration of low-cost housing, mostly in a 138-unit senior housing complex built 33 years ago. But it has produced little low-cost housing in recent years and is far from meeting state goals for new units. 
Meanwhile, residents struggling to pay their bills who qualify for low-cost rentals or rent subsidies wait years to get them, if they get them at all. 
Shift to lower wages <br>
While housing costs soar, the county's job market is shifting. Good-paying high-tech and manufacturing positions are being replaced by lower-wage jobs in the hospitality industry and retail. 
Carlos Brenner, who earns $34,000 a year as a hotel waiter, qualified for one of the 41 low-cost apartments at Jay's Place in southwest Santa Rosa. The nonprofit agency Burbank Housing opened the complex three years ago on land donated by a developer of a nearby subdivision to meet the city's low-cost housing requirements. 
The Brenners pay $821 a month for a three-bedroom apartment, hundreds below market rate. 
``With the income I make, it's hard to raise three kids and pay the bills,'' Brenner said. 
The family had been on various waiting lists for a low-cost apartment for more than a year, and they were relieved to get a call from Burbank Housing telling them they could move into the new complex. When Jay's Place opened, more than 850 families applied and a lottery determined which ones got in. 
``There are a lot of families like us who need help,'' said Irma Brenner, a homemaker. 
Santa Rosa, which imposed affordable-housing requirements on developers in 1992, has exceeded its goal of producing 970 units affordable to low-income households. But it still needs more than 1,300 units affordable to very-low-income families earning no more than 50 percent of the county's median income. 
New revenue source <br>
In a discussion about affordable-housing last week, Councilman Steve Rabinowitsh revived the idea of a fee on new commercial development to subsidize low-cost housing, an idea Santa Rosa rejected two years ago. At that time, a consultant projected such a fee imposed throughout the county would generate $35.5 million over five years and help build 1,200 units for low-income residents. 
Petaluma, Sebastopol and most recently Sonoma County have adopted affordable-housing fees on commercial development, which proponents hope will gain traction with other cities. 
``There is a direct link between job growth and housing needs,'' Rabinowitsh said. 
The Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce, which helped defeat the proposal in Santa Rosa last time, remains concerned about new fees hampering business growth. 
``It's yet another disincentive to invest in Santa Rosa,'' chamber president Mike Hauser said. ``Clearly, a broader based effort than just taxing new development is needed.'' 
<br>Staff Writer Mike McCoy and news researcher Teresa Meikle contributed to this story. You can reach Staff Writer Spencer Soper at 521-5257 or ssoper@pressdemocrat.com. 
<br> Photo: 5 by SCOTT MANCHESTER / The Press Democrat1. Phillip Brenner, 13, shoots hoops on the basketball court at Jay's Place in southwest Santa Rosa, where his family lives.2. Cooking time is family time as Irma Brenner, center, is helped by her daughters, Emily, 7, left, and Cynthia, 10, right. Behind them her son, Phillip, 13, on the right, looks in the refrigerator with his friend, Tevin, in their home at Jay's Place, an affordable apartment complex built by Burbank Housing in Santa Rosa.3. The Martinezes pass on the stairs of their Corona Ranch apartment in Petaluma as Javier, 12, heads off to a kids' on-site program and Francisco and Laura Martinez head for their apartment with daughter Miranda, 1.4. Inside their apartment Friday, Laura Martinez helps her daughter, Adriana, 9, get ready for a performance at school. Before moving into Corona Ranch, the Martinezes lived in a one-bedroom apartment.5. Irma Brenner turns a jump rope for her daughters and some of the other neighborhood children in the courtyard of their home in Jay's Place in Santa Rosa.Infobox: 
AFFORDABILITY 
THE ISSUE: The burden of creating affordable housing is increasingly falling on the backs of home builders, who are either required to include low-cost units in new subdivisions or pay fees to build them elsewhere. 
THE OUTCOME: Such rules are in place throughout the county, and have generated more than 2,500 low-cost homes and apartments over the past 20 years. 
THE OUTLOOK: But overall, Sonoma County is far shy of meeting state projections on the number of low-cost units it needs to meet demand. And debate is intensifying about other revenue sources for low-cost housing, including a fee on new commercial buildings.