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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

June 26, 2002

Affordable housing is low on list

Bay Area governments have not taken steps to address the needs of many

In particular, mushrooming East Bay cities such as Brentwood do not require developers to build enough affordable housing, even as they build hundreds of units every year, according to the Greenbelt Alliance and the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California.

As a result, the Bay Area's housing crisis continues although new home construction stays at a fever pitch, said Shannon Dodge, the association's regional campaign coordinator.

"Building a lot of housing doesn't translate into building houses that include a full spectrum of housing choices, from luxury homes to apartments for people on low incomes," Dodge said. "And there are really negative impacts on all cities."

Because more people cannot afford to live near where they work, traffic on highways becomes snarled, Dodge said. Local businesses struggle to fill lower-paying positions. And public servants such as police officers and teachers often can't live in the high-priced cities where they work.

Seventy-two percent of Bay Area governments -- including counties -- have not taken the most basic steps to address affordable housing needs, the report says.

Those steps include: passing inclusionary housing ordinances that require developers to devote a certain percentage of units to lower-income families; allowing more apartments and condominiums to be built; and dedicating local funds to housing.

Among East Bay cities, only Berkeley received an "honor roll" rating from the report, recognizing its substantial efforts to develop affordable housing.

Alameda, Brentwood, Pittsburg and Walnut Creek were among the cities that received a "fail" rating.

Several East Bay planners responded that their cities were serious about building affordable housing even if they hadn't passed inclusionary ordinances or drawn up state-mandated housing plans.

As of last May, 89 percent of Bay Area cities did not comply with state "fair share" housing laws, which require cities to develop housing plans for all income levels. Half of the region's cities do not have inclusionary housing laws.

Many of these cities are higher-priced, residential suburbs.

"You have to take into consideration a community and the characteristics of a community," said Paul Richardson, planning manager for Walnut Creek. "You're not going to plop down a multi-unit housing development in the middle of a residential neighborhood."

Attempts to toughen state laws and penalize cities for not producing affordable housing plans have been consistently vanquished by local governments.

A bill introduced last year by Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Garden Grove, would have made cities ineligible for state transportation funds unless they complied with state mandates to develop affordable housing plans.

Sixteen months later, after the League of California Cities weighed in, the bill remains stuck in committee, said Mark Stivers, legislative aid to Dunn.

"Opposition to this bill is pretty much all local based," Stivers said. "(Local residents) just don't want affordable housing in their community or their neighborhood. But everybody agrees we need more affordable housing."

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