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Dear Generation,
Earlier this month, the Bay Area Housing Financing Authority voted to remove Regional Measure 4 from the Nov. 5 ballot. This decision at least postponed the opportunity to generate billions for regional housing solutions.
Removal of the measure is a stark reminder that we cannot wait for state or regional interventions to meet our local housing needs. We must come together and act decisively to meet the specific housing needs of the North Bay.
What does that mean, specifically?
First, we urge you to vote Yes on Proposition 5 in November.
In 2018, just a year after Sonoma and Napa counties lost nearly 6,000 homes in the Sonoma Complex wildfires, Santa Rosa voters rejected a local housing bond measure. Measure N, which would have raised $121 million and leveraged an additional billion dollars of housing investments, was thwarted by a minority — just 38% — of voters. While a large majority of Santa Rosans voted yes, California requires a supermajority to pass local tax measures, even today.
Allowing a third of the voting population to dictate how we meet our communities’ most critical needs is simply undemocratic.
Yes on Prop. 5 will allow us to approve local affordable housing and infrastructure bonds at a reasonable 55% when those bonds meet strict standards of transparency, accountability and citizen oversight. Yes on Prop. 5 empowers communities to meet their specific and most critical needs.
Second, it is time for local policymakers, most of whom ran for office on pro-housing platforms, to use the tremendous power of their offices to decrease the time, cost and uncertainty of the homebuilding process. And we cannot afford to wait for inaction. Too many people live in overcrowded conditions, too many cannot save for emergencies or meet their other basic needs after paying rent, too many drive excessive commutes to fill local jobs that strengthen our economy, and far too many live without shelter altogether.
Given the severity of our housing scarcity and high housing cost and the relationship between housing and health, climate, education and the economy, we know we have a housing crisis on our hands. Fortunately, Sonoma and Napa counties know how to respond to crises. After the 2017 wildfires, local leaders acted immediately to get people back into their homes. It was bold, fast and decisive — and it worked.
Homebuilding in California is inordinately expensive. Building costs in Santa Rosa are nearly four times higher than in similarly sized Boise, Idaho. And a significant amount of that additional cost flows from onerous regulation and bureaucratic processes. Our elected leaders must act with the same kind of urgency they brought to disaster response.
Generation Housing has developed a comprehensive Housing Action Plan that outlines policy strategies local governments can adopt to accelerate construction of housing that meets the needs of local families and workforce members. The first among them is to “Right Size” the governmental fees paid by homebuilders. Sonoma County and the city of Santa Rosa currently levy fees on a per-door basis, meaning builders pay the same fees for a 450-square-foot studio as a four-bedroom luxury apartment. This is patently unfair and serves as a practical barrier to building housing for those who need it most.
Sonoma County supervisors will vote on a plan to reform these fee structures on Oct. 8, and the Santa Rosa City Council will take similar action on Nov. 12. You can find out more about Right Sizing fees and other policy reforms and sign the petition letting your elected leaders know you support these solutions, by visiting our website, WeAreGenH.org.
It’s time we each take some responsibility for ensuring that our workforce and our kids and grandkids have housing that meets their needs, at prices that allow them not just to make the rent, but to thrive. If we don’t, they might just head to Boise.
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