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Home Resource Center In the News Home Greenbelt Alliance in the News |
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Greenbelt Alliance In the News
June 2, 2003 Affordable housing gets attention Subheading By Brooke Bryant STAFF WRITERFinding a place to live on a limited income is in the spotlight this week,officially dubbed "Affordable Housing Week" in Contra Costa County. To mark the occasion, the Association of Homeless and Housing Services Providers is holding a series of events to highlight the ongoing need for housing that doesn't drain the bank account. "Everyone has a right to housing," said Merlin Wedepohl, executive director for SHELTER Inc., an association member. "Decent, safe and affordable housing is one of the basic necessities of life." Danville needs to build 1,110 of those "basic necessities" by 2006, and San Ramon needs to construct 4,447 affordable units, according to numbers from the Association of Bay Area Governments -- which many cities and counties have balked at fulfilling. Despite the growing need, local municipalities haven't always been quick to respond. According to a report released last summer by the Greenbelt Alliance, San Ramon met 6 percent of its affordable housing needs between 1988 and 1998. The county as a whole built 16 percent. The same report says that, as of 2001, a person living in the Bay Area had to earn $27.36 an hour in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment -- as opposed to a state average of $18.33, and a national average of $13.87. There will be information fairs from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday at Solomon Temple, 655 California Ave. in Pitts- burg, and 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Todos Santos Plaza in Concord. There also will be a number of open houses to acquaint people with the issue, including one at 11 a.m. on Thursday, June 12, at the Danville Senior Apartments, 35 Laurel Drive. Others will be held in Pinole, Rodeo, Oakley and Pittsburg. For more information, call (925) 335-0698, ext. 106, or log onto www-.ccreach.org. ### |
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