AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Finding a place to live is not a problem at all for Kings Players, corporate executives or most land use developers. The League of Women Voters need not worry about how they will be housed. The folks the League has been worrying about since the late '60's, when there was a national LWV housing study, are mostly low income renters whose housing needs are met, if at all, with government participation.

LEAGUE HOUSING STUDIES
The League of Women Voters of Sacramento (LWVS) and the League of Women Voters of California (LWVC) as well as the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) have studied housing and adopted positions that speak to fair housing, housing supply and integrating housing into community plans.

Early studies focused on equal opportunity in housing and measures to eliminate discrimination in renting or buying based on race, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability or sexual orientation. In Sacramento we have a Human Rights/Fair Housing Commission that monitors discrimination and takes steps to eliminate discriminatory actions.

Responding to the flight from central cities in the '60's and '70's the LWVS Urban Policy calls for expanding middle-income housing while not diminishing attention to low-income housing needs.

The League has looked at myriad ways to improve housing supply including the following measures which are in the State League position:

Standardization and modernization of local building and zoning codes to conform with a state code which:

(a) is enforced by trained inspectors;

(b) encourages new and innovative building materials and methods which can be used to cut housing construction costs; and

(c) encourages the use of density bonuses; mixed, cluster and inclusionary zoning; second units; infill development; air rights; and increased density along transportation corridors.

The local League housing position includes livability concerns and integration into overall community planning. We want housing development to consider transportation, air quality, energy use, schools, police and fire protection, water and sewers, open space and recreation, and preservation of agricultural land.

The LWVS would use many of the same measures developed in the LWVC position to increase the housing supply. We believe that local government plays an important role in the provision of affordable housing and that the federal and state governments must provide the major funding for these efforts.

THE SACRAMENTO SITUATION
Although housing costs are lower here than housing costs are on the coast and in major urban areas, many people with jobs cannot pay the escalating rents. Additionally, prospective buyers cannot find houses for sale that their incomes can support. Two recent studies have examined in detail the dilemma facing home seekers, whether buyers or renters.

The Sacramento Bee, in June 2003, did a series, "Priced Way Out," by Mary Lynne Vellinga on housing supply and costs and the resulting sprawl in the Sacramento Region. This series examined the plight of a single mom living in an apartment in Elk Grove who was prequalified for a $145,000 house but who could not find one; a young couple paying $735 for rent, half the husband's salary, who after being on a waiting list for eight months felt extremely fortunate to get an apartment for $100 less; and an employee of a pretzel shop in the Roseville Galleria who commutes from Citrus Heights because "it's way too expensive to live in Roseville."

Homeownership continues to be the American dream and no less so here in Sacramento. To find that dream home many buyers are committing to longer and longer commutes and more congested roadways. Although there are many jobs in the outlying areas, the big job market is in downtown Sacramento. Until recently few new homes had been built in the Central City or the nearby areas. Some of the more expensive single family homes are in adjacent neighborhoods which are built out: Land Park, East Sacramento, McKinley Park and Curtis Park. The close-in neighborhood of Oak Park has now been discovered and the years of trying to improve housing there has borne fruit. Not all the fruit is good. Along with an improved neighborhood, there are higher real estate prices.

To better understand the disconnect between salaries and housing costs, see the Scott Flodin graphic from the Sacramento Bee below.

A TIGHT HOUSING MARKET INCREASES HOMELESSNESS
League positions do not specifically speak to homelessness. By inference, however, when we lobby for housing for all income levels, we include the unhoused. Although there are a number of homeless shelters in the county, several hundred people are living on the river banks, in their cars or in empty buildings. St. Francis of Assisi Church makes room on its steps for a few every night.

Shortly after the Bee series was published, Sacramento Self Help Housing published a report, "Affordable Housing for People with Extremely Low Incomes in the Sacramento Area." This report documents the difficulty the very poor have in finding housing. The "very poor" includes those earning a minimum wage ($1317 per month), those with incomes from social security disability ($756 per month), welfare ($569 per month) or general assistance ($196 per month). A Jesuit Volunteer with the organization, John Beltramo, gathered the information and wrote the report.

Self Help maintains an interactive Web site tracking vacancies in apartments classified as "C," those older, of lesser quality with fewer amenities and lower rents. Even these apartments have rents that are difficult for low income folks to handle with the average monthly price for a vacant unit at: $530 for a studio, $644 for one bedroom, $763 for two bedrooms and $917 for three bedrooms. In addition to rent information the prospective tenant can find out whether pets are allowed, if the unit is wheelchair accessible, and whether the landlord will consider a tenant who has been previously evicted. This Web site can be accessed at www.sacselfhelp.org.

GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS SHRINK
Fewer federal dollars are being put into public housing since that large program began in the 1930's. Housing vouchers are administered by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) where a low income tenant pays one third of his or her income for rent and the federal program pays the difference between that and the market rate for the unit. There are some project based Section 8 units where that same one third formula applies. The waiting lists for these programs are miles long.

A voter approved ballot measure two years ago pumped $2.1 billion of bond money into the state's desperate housing situation. The money is being administered by the Housing and Community Development Department which is funding local projects. So far, no Sacramento projects have received any of the bond money. The state- required Housing Element for General Plans is a powerful tool which has been used to force some jurisdictions to zone for affordable housing. The City of Folsom is an example. As the city developed rapidly, it had not provided for its low income population and was sued by Legal Services of Northern California for having an inadequate Housing Element, as was the County of Sacramento several years ago. The agreements forged as a part of the settlement of the lawsuit require a certain amount of multi-family zoning to be set aside. Zoning is important but it doesn't guarantee that the housing gets built

The Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) prepares annually a "fair share" goal for each member jurisdiction. This number is used as a basis to know how successful each city and county is in providing the needed housing. Unfortunately, goals are seldom reached.

The City of Sacramento has a Housing Trust Fund to which commercial developers contribute, trying to keep pace with new jobs.

CURRENT EFFORTS TO INCREASE HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES
A few years ago the City of Sacramento adopted a housing element which requires at least 15% of housing in newly developing areas to be affordable to families with incomes below $28,650, with five percent of those units available to those with incomes below $17,763. This is called inclusionary zoning or mixed income zoning.

The County of Sacramento adopted an updated housing element this spring calling for measures similar to the city's. Remaining for action is the implementing zoning ordinance to make the policy real. Favoring mixed income developments, the League has participated with the Sacramento Housing Alliance to lobby for new low income units to be built concurrently with the market rate units, a provision the builders are resisting. The units should also be integrated with the market rate houses, avoiding creating ghettos by segregating according to income. The hearing is October 1.

Assembly Member Darrell Steinberg authored a bill calling for 10% of the housing built in the region to be affordable. His bill, AB 1426, is still alive and will be heard when the legislature reconvenes in January. Below is the Scott Flodin chart showing regional housing development. Whereas 187% of the needed housing for high income families is being built, only 3% of the low-income needs has been built.