Gilroy – People at the lowest rung of the income ladder will have a chance to find housing in Coyote Valley in coming years, according to an affordable housing plan detailed this week by San Jose officials.
The plan, discussed Monday night by the Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task force, envisions 1,500 rental units within reach of extremely low-income earners. The typical four-person family in that category survives on $31,850 a year, compared to the $105,500 median income in Santa Clara County.
In addition to 2,500 rental units, the plan makes room for 350 homes priced within means of very low- and low-income families earning up to $85,000, as well as 650 homes for those earning the county median.
In total, the plan calls for 5,000 of the 25,000 homes planned for Coyote Valley to be priced at affordable levels.
“We’re actually very pleased with the plan. It was really important to us that (extremely low-income) be written into it,” said Hilary Barroga, spokeswoman for nonprofit developer EHC Lifebuilders.
Landowners, developers and city officials in San Jose hope to fill Coyote Valley with 50,000 jobs and 80,000 residents. While affordable housing has always been acknowledged as a necessary component of that plan, it was not always clear that those living on the most limited incomes would have housing options.
The summary warns that development of rental units for extremely low-income families “may be especially difficult to achieve due to a greater subsidy requirement.”
An 88-acre “land bank” set aside for rental units and a projected $70-million pot of money – tithed from those selling homes at market rates – is expected to provide space and funding for the low-income housing.
Dina Campeau, chairwoman of the South County Collaborative, would prefer no development, but supported the mix of housing. She worried, however, that affordable units may not get constructed in step with market-rate housing, since developers will be allowed to pay an “in-lieu” fee instead of actually building the lower-priced homes.
