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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

July 5, 2002

Gaebler praised for city gains in affordable housing

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Bonne Gaebler, Petaluma's veteran housing administrator, said successive city councils deserve the credit.

"It comes down to political will," Gaebler said during a tour of a Rocca Drive house the city is renovating to provide transitional housing for up to six homeless veterans. "We've had one no vote in all the time I've been here," said Gaebler, who's been on the job 13 years.

Even that vote -- by Councilman Bryant Moynihan against the 81-unit Downtown River Apartments -- was due not to the project but to concerns the site might be contaminated, Gaebler said.

But council members past and present said it's Gaebler who deserves the accolades.

"The reason Petaluma has an outstanding affordable housing program is because of Bonne Gaebler," said former councilwoman Jane Hamilton.

"Bonne is tenacious and she has the complete support of the council and the community," said Mayor Clark Thompson.

Since 1984, Petaluma has spent more than $15 million to create 1,442 units of affordable housing. It spends about $700,000 a year on programs such as rental assistance and emergency shelter.

The city was one of seven regional cities and counties to receive an "honor roll" rating for housing policies. The report graded 40 cities and counties on their policies for the future as well as on past performance. Santa Rosa received a failing grade; Sonoma County was ranked "good," along with the cities of Napa, Mountain View and Vacaville.

The report by the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California and the Greenbelt Alliance singled out Petaluma and other honor roll cities for:

Policies requiring all new housing projects to include low- and moderate-income housing;

Petaluma's general plan mandates 10 to 15 percent of all new housing be affordable. The city has exceeded that goal, with 23 percent of new housing qualifying as affordable.

Zoning policies that set aside enough land to encourage mixed-use and compact development that includes affordable housing.

Dedicating local money to affordable housing.

That those policies are working in places like Petaluma is proof affordable housing can be created in one of the country's tightest and most expensive housing markets, said Shannon Dodge, the report's author.

Dodge also said Petaluma is the only city she studied to set year-by-year goals detailing how much housing it will develop and how it will be paid for.

"I looked at dozens of cities and their housing element plans around the Bay Area, and Petaluma is the only one I've seen that has that kind of breakdown of goals," Dodge said.

"It's a matter of political will and leadership, not a question of what solutions are possible," she said.

Hamilton said Gaebler, by laying extensive groundwork, made it easy for councils to approve the types of developments that often become lightning rods for neighborhood opposition that can derail such projects.

"When she brings something to the council, it's so thoroughly thought out that it's a no-brainer," said Hamilton, adding "I'm always surprised that other cities aren't hunting her down and picking her brains."

Gaebler tends to downplay such comments. "There are other housing people in other towns who do great work and still don't get the support they need," she said.

But when pressed, she will allow that knowing how to play politics isn't incidental to the preserving of political will. "I'm very political. I know when not to bring a project," she said. "I would never bring a homeless shelter before the council the week before an election."

Other housing experts said Gaebler's approach combines the best of good government with the best of private sector initiative, ensuring the breadth of support affordable housing projects need to win approval.

"She works for the public in a bureaucratic role but she thinks like an entrepreneur and asks 'how can we get this done and protect the public interest,'" said John Morgan of Burbank Housing Development Corp., which has built 12 affordable housing projects in Petaluma.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 762-9667 or jhay@pressdemocrat.com.

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