Ideas for addressing the housing crisis
Ft. Bragg CA
Our City of Ft. Bragg’s Land Use Element policies support a concentrated development pattern by encouraging infill development on vacant and underutilized sites throughout the City. We now have the California Housing Accelerator program that closes some funding gaps and helps jumpstart construction of affordable homes. https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-and-funding/accelerator/eligibility. California Housing Accelerator enables shovel-ready affordable housing projects that, despite having received one or more awards from other HCD programs, are unable to move forward due to funding gaps that resulted from their inability to access tax-exempt bond allocations or low-income housing tax credits. Our city can move forward on this. The DANCO Plateau – a 69-unit project that is still under completion is not the only project that can happen here.
Some background:
Gavin Newsom had signed two laws in 2021 to ease California’s housing crisis. One measure allows duplexes in most neighborhoods and the other focuses on adding high-density development. This needs to be further explored.
ADU’s have been built but not enough to chip away at the problem in easing the housing situation.
Since Jan. 1, 2022, SB 9, known as the “California HOME Act,” is in effect throughout the state of California. The law allows homeowners to either build two 800-square-foot homes on their lot or divide their lot in two for a total of four homes on a formerly single-family plot. Ft. Bragg can take steps to work with landowners, especially those who own multiple or large parcels and developers to build smaller homes on single lots and multi-story housing where appropriate. What is lacking is significant subsidies to incentivize homeowners to take advantage of it.
Gov. Newsom in Sept. 2022 signed dozens of bills to further accelerate housing -- including Assembly Bill 2011 and Senate Bill 6. The bills, allow for more housing to be built in commercial corridors zoned for retail and office buildings. They promise an expedited building process near city centers to avoid sprawl. Can we make this work here? We have plenty of vacant lots right in our commercial sector and also around town near existing infrastructure ( streets, sewage, electric hookups, etc.).
The idea of multiuse buildings with housing has been neglected. For too long Fort Bragg has allowed big box or single franchise development. This is no longer a workable model. Workforce housing must be included in any new business development venture in a ratio of where workforce housing needs dominates.
I support the housing land trust initiative that the City has embarked upon. The Community Land Trust model is an effective economic mechanism that provides a tool to set aside land and establish permanently affordable housing for very low-, low-, and moderate-income households.
The city periodically receives grant funding that can be loaned to income-qualified homeowners for health and safety improvements and code-related improvements to Fort Bragg homes. Funding may be available from the State Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Housing Rehabilitation Program or the state HOME Owner Occupied Rehabilitation Program. This may help bring upgrade in housing that is not available and bring it back to the market.
The city also has been working on the authorization and permitting of “Tiny Homes” in the city.
Resident Owned Mobile Home Parks
Keeping housing in the hands of local home ownership is the key to avoiding the investor monopoly game.
According to MHPHOA ( Mobil Home Park Home Owners Alliance), which the Woods in Little River is part of, “ In a resident-owned community (ROC), homeowners form a non-profit business called a cooperative. Each household is a member of the cooperative, which owns the land and manages the business that is the community. Members continue to own their own homes individually and an equal share of the land beneath the entire neighborhood. There are many benefits to living in a ROC.
Everyone has a say in the way the ROC is run, and major decisions are made by democratic vote. Members elect a board of directors, which appoints committees to carry out various tasks and manage the day-to-day operations of the organization.”
ROC USA®
Thanks Mary Rose for staying on top of all the changes in law and policy and figuring out how they can apply to us here on the Coast. That in itself is a big and valuable job. I can imagine that your knowledge could help the City Council save a lot of time.