GILROY
– The City Council voted Monday to contribute another $15,000 to
the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County, a public-private
partnership that helps support affordable housing.
GILROY – The City Council voted Monday to contribute another $15,000 to the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County, a public-private partnership that helps support affordable housing.
The agency – which is chaired by former Gilroy mayor and current District 1 County Supervisor Don Gage – had asked for $25,000, but city staff recommended giving the same $15,000 amount that Gilroy contributed in 2001.
The money will be drawn from the city’s local housing trust fund. City Administrator Jay Baksa said there have been more requests from that fund of late, and officials need to assess its long-term health before contributing a larger amount that would likely then become expected of the city in the future.
“We’re not opposed to the $25,000 but we don’t know where this fund is moving,” Baksa told the Council. “We’re just not sure we can sustain $25,000.”
Mayor Tom Springer suggested granting the full $25,000 with a caveat that the city wouldn’t contribute more until it examines the fund, but was unsuccessful.
The Housing Trust is a partnership of over 70 organizations led by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, Santa Clara County Collaborative on Housing and Homelessness and the Community Foundation Silicon Valley.
It arranges loans for first-time homebuyers and also helps fund affordable rental housing and homeless shelters with loans to fill gaps in financing.
The agency has granted several loans for first-time homebuyers in Gilroy and has contributed to financing for the Monticelli Apartments, Monterey Road Multi-Family Development and Sobrato Family Transitional Center.
The city’s last $15,000 contribution was among the lowest of cities in the county at the time.
