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Press Release

October 11, 2006

Contact:
Evelyn Stivers, Non-Profit Housing Association of N. California, (415) 989-8160 x35
Kate O'Hara, Greenbelt Alliance, (415) 543-6771 x319 or (510) 734-9430 (cell)
Marco Montenegro, East Bay Housing Organizations, (510) 663-3830

County Supervisors Act to Address Housing Affordability Crisis

Inclusionary ordinance adopted Tuesday ensures new developments will include affordable homes

Yesterday, the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors took a critical step forward in helping County residents and workers to afford homes. With a unanimous vote, the Board adopted an inclusionary housing ordinance, which will require new residential developments to include affordable homes. More than 117 cities and counties in California have already adopted similar policies.

Many workers in Contra Costa, such as emergency care workers and teachers, cannot afford homes in the County and must drive many miles to work every day. In fact:

• Ninety percent of Contra Costa County residents cannot afford the median-priced home.
  
  
• People making the minimum-wage have to work more than three full-time jobs to afford average rents.

The long commute keeps people from spending time with their families and makes their jobs more difficult. It also puts development pressure on natural areas and farmlands, say advocates.

“Contra Costa County’s lack of affordable housing encourages sprawl development on working farms, and forces people to spend hours in traffic,” said Kate O’Hara, Regional Issues Organizer for Greenbelt Alliance. “The Supervisors’ action to adopt an inclusionary policy will help provide homes people need while helping to protect open space.”

Contra Costa County, like many Bay Area communities, has an unbalanced housing market, say advocates. Many houses are being built, but they are not the homes local workers need.
According to the County’s own Housing Element:

• Between 1988 and 1998, the county produced more than double the number of market-rate units needed for families earning $98,000 a year or more.
  
  
• In the same time period, it produced only twenty percent of the housing needed for families earning $25,000 or less.

What the new policy says and where it applies:

• The new inclusionary ordinance will require all new developments in the unincorporated areas of the county to either: include affordable homes in the new development; provide land for a non-profit developer; or pay a fee to be used by the county to create affordable housing.
  
  
• For new developments that include affordable homes, 15% of the new homes must be affordable.
  
  
• Homes for sale are defined as affordable if they cost no more than 40% of the income of households making up to $91,000 per year.
  
  
• Homes for rent are affordable if they cost no more than 30% of the income of households making up to $49,000 per year.
  
  
• Communities in the unincorporated areas of the county include North Richmond, Bay Point, Crockett, Rodeo, Kensington, Vine Hill, Alamo, Byron, Bethel Island, Knightson, and Discovery Bay.

A broad range of organizations from across the county attended the hearings and spoke in support of the proposed inclusionary housing ordinance. The League of Women Voters, faith leaders, shelter providers, and environmental groups all urged the Board to address the County’s housing crisis by adopting the ordinance.

Many Contra Costa cities have already adopted similar policies, including San Ramon, Danville, Walnut Creek, Clayton, Pleasant Hill, Brentwood, Oakley, Pittsburg, Hercules, and Richmond.

The County produces more housing than any city, and so this policy will have a larger impact.

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For 50 years, Greenbelt Alliance has been the San Francisco Bay Area's advocate for open spaces and vibrant places, with offices in San Francisco, San Jose, Walnut Creek, San Rafael, and Santa Rosa. www.greenbelt.org

Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California is the collective voice of those who support, build and operate affordable housing in the Bay Area.

East Bay Housing Organizations works with communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties to preserve, protect and expand affordable housing opportunities through education and advocacy.