Of 2,080 housing units constructed since 1999, only 52 have been
affordable to those people classified as very low-income
Gilroy – Only a fraction of the housing needed to support Gilroy’s poorest families has been constructed in the last seven years, according to new housing figures released by the city.
Of the 2,080 housing units constructed between 1999 and 2006, only 52 have been affordable to people classified as very low-income. Of the 2,404 housing permits approved by officials but not yet constructed, 382 are set aside for very low-income people.
In Santa Clara County, that classification applies to individuals who earn yearly wages of up to $37,150, or four-person families earning up to $53,050, according to state income tables.
City officials say they have taken steps to improve the availability of affordable housing, but a nonprofit housing advocate suing Gilroy over the matter insists the city has yet to make serious efforts to remedy the situation.
“It’s just become very expensive to build or construct units for that income category,” Gilroy Housing Planner Regina Brisco said. “That’s a challenge that just about every city in the Bay Area is facing.”
Local officials recently passed baseline requirements to create affordable housing under the Neighborhood District Policy, a document that governs much of the land still capable of development in the city. The policy includes a broad mandate that 15 percent of all homes in various neighborhoods be priced at affordable levels, but the policy does not force developers to include affordable units as part of specific projects.
Richard Marcantonio, a managing attorney at nonprofit Public Advocates, in San Francisco, said the city has failed to provide fertile ground to generate housing within reach of the city’s poorest families.
“The city doesn’t have to decide that the housing on (particular) land is going to be affordable, but they do have to put the zoning and other development standards in place to make it economically feasible for a developer to get all of the entitlements,” Marcantonio said. “The package needs to be prepared, rather than putting the burden on the developer to come in and go through all the discretionary approvals.”
A superior court judge disagreed with Marcantonio and Public Advocates in Nov. 2004, clearing the city of charges that it had failed to provide an adequate level of affordable housing. The nonprofit group has appealed that decision.
Meanwhile, City Council is expected to spike an affordable housing project this month that would create 70 apartments priced for very low-income people. The monthly rent on the apartments would range from $495 to $950.
As part of its application for the 303-unit Rancho Del Sol project, nonprofit South County Housing has asked the city to eliminate a cap on the number of units for such projects and allow it to sell some of the units at market-rate prices. South County officials argue that the measures are necessary to help the project “pencil out” financially in a time of scarce state and federal state funding.
Three councilmen – Dion Bracco, Craig Gartman and Roland Velasco – oppose the project on grounds that it represents preferential treatment for a single developer and violates the spirit of the Neighborhood District Policy. Those guidelines says that affordable housing should not be clustered in a single neighborhood.
Gartman said the city’s poor showing in the amount of housing affordable to the poorest local families would not change his mind about the South County proposal. He also questioned the housing targets, which are set by the Association of Bay Area Governments.
“We’re doing our part. Unfortunately, we can’t force people to build affordable housing,” he said. “If we were to follow the ABAG numbers, all we’d be building is affordable housing. We would ignore the largest demand, which is market rate. I think we should always be questioning the ABAG numbers. … We also have to realize – there are some people who just can’t afford to buy a house.”
