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June 26, 2002

Fremont lags in affordability study

Most of area fails to meet housing needs

Between 1988 and 1998, Fremont approved almost 5,000 units of housing affordable to those with above moderate incomes, according to the report. That's 143 percent of the housing needed for above moderate income households, while the city only met 14 percent of its housing need for lower income households, the report states.

Affordable housing is a huge problem faced by every city and every region in the country, said Fremont Mayor Gus Morrison, who attended the recent U.S. Conference of Mayors summit dedicated to the issue. It's not a problem local governments can solve on their own, he said.

"I don't think we've done as well as we should have. I don't think you can lay the blame on the city," Morrison said. "It's very difficult to do and there is not a lot of funding opportunities even when you are anxious and willing to do it."

Union City and Newark were not included in the study, but officials from those cities say they are working on meeting affordable housing needs.

A review of local housing elements -- state-mandated hou-

some didn't even meet their update deadline at all.

The study by the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, Greenbelt Alliance and the Nine County Housing Advocacy Network gathered data from every city in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma counties.

It looked at the region's 40 largest and fastest-growing places, where 80 percent of new Bay Area households are expected to settle by 2006. Of those, 72 percent -- including Fremont -- failed, needed improvement or were incomplete in their plans.

"These kinds of studies need to be taken with a lot of salt, a big salt block," Union City housing director Vern Smith said. "From what I know, nearby cities are doing a hell of a job with the resources they've got."

Only a few cities -- Berkeley, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Petaluma, San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale -- made the "honor roll" with strong strategies for affordable housing growth.

Elsewhere in the East Bay, Alameda, Hayward, Brentwood and Walnut Creek, as well as Alameda County's unincorporated areas, failed.

"A lot of people are throwing up their hands and saying, 'There is no solution.' We don't believe that," said Non-Profit Housing Association regional coordinator Shannon Dodge, explaining this study's findings provide a roadmap to success for cities and counties.

Failing grades denote the cities' and counties' future plans, but the past hasn't been rosy, either. Of the 40 key cities, only Richmond succeeded in building all of the affordable housing it was deemed to need from 1988 to 1998. Across all 40 of those localities, only 32 percent of the affordable housing needed was built.

Affordable housing is defined as costing no more than 30 percent of household income in a household earning less than 80 percent of the region's median income. For example, 80 percent of the median income for a family of three averages $51,360, so that family could afford up to $1,284 per month for housing.

Morrison says Fremont contributes money to affordable housing projects. It has put $2.5 million toward building a deaf senior apartment complex, has asked developers for affordable housing proposals the city can help fund and contributes about $4 million this year, he said.

In July there will be a dedication ceremony for 17 homes on Adams Avenue built by East Bay Habitat for Humanity and Eden Housing, Morrison said.

"We're doing everything we can do to build affordable housing," he said. "We built a significant number of units. It's hardly enough to make a dent in the problem."

The report identifies three key actions cities and counties should be taking to encourage affordable housing growth: smart zoning decisions, local funding and policies requiring inclusion of affordable housing in all new residential developments.

"You really need all of those working together to produce affordable housing," said Janet Stone, livable communities program director for the Greenbelt Alliance.

First, local governments should make zoning decisions encouraging construction of apartments and condominiums in downtown areas close to transit, shopping and jobs. Second, cities and counties should provide more local funding to help shoulder affordable housing's cost. State and federal money doesn't cover it all, and local funds often are the first committed to a project, serving as "seed money" to let developers buy land or create plans.

State law requires city redevelopment agencies to set aside 20 percent of their tax increment funds -- the increase in property taxes over time within a redevelopment area -- for affordable housing.

Oakland sets aside 25 percent, while cities such as San Jose, Milpitas and Palo Alto set aside 30 percent.

If each of the 40 key cities and counties studied would set aside 30 percent, the study claims, the region could boost affordable housing production by nearly 8,000 more homes in the next decade.

Local funding also can come from jobs-housing linkage programs, usually one-time fees local governments place on commercial development to offset the increased housing need they create.

Third, cites and counties should adopt inclusionary policies requiring or encouraging market-rate housing developments to make 10 to 20 percent of their units affordable to low- and-or moderate-income households. Half the 40 key cities and counties have such policies.

Fremont is exploring creating both of those policies as a part of its proposed Housing Element. Last year, Union City adopted an inclusionary policy requiring 15 percent of all new housing developments to be affordable.

But Fremont is reaching buildout and "with much less land available for development, Fremont has squandered a golden opportunity," the report states.

Since enacting its inclusionary policy, Union City has put more than 300 affordable housing units in the pipeline. That's nowhere near the 1,950 units the state recommends the city build by 2006, but Smith said the plan is "pretty aggressive."

Newark has about 200 affordable housing units -- created in the mid-1980s for senior citizens -- and needs 660 more, according to the state.

Newark plans to spread most of them throughout the city, with the largest concentration to be on a 24-acre parcel now occupied by about 20 blue-collar businesses wedged between Interstate 880 and Cedar Boulevard.

Newark has outlined plans to replace those businesses with 750 multi-family units, about 110 of which will be designated for low- to moderate-income families, Assistant City Manager Jim Reese said.

"There's a certain stigma attached to having a low- to moderate-income project," he said. "If you spread (those developments) out, people are offered the advantage of having access to low- to moderate-income units within a moderate income development."

Staff Writers Rob Kuznia and Daniel Lavoie contributed to this report.

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