Affordable housing in Santa Clara County may have a fighting chance, with voters across the state giving a bond measure a thumbs up.
Voters on Nov. 3 approved Proposition 1, the Veteran and Income-Qualified Housing bond measure, by 59%. It authorizes the state to issue more than $11 billion in bonds, with funding expected to jumpstart construction on about 40,000 affordable homes statewide for income-qualified housing programs.
“This is huge because what we have here in Santa Clara County is a significant pipeline of homes that are ready to be built,” Regina Celestin Williams, executive director of SV@Home, told San José Spotlight.
Williams said Santa Clara County made good use of the 2016 Measure A, a $950 million housing bond serving low- and extremely low-incomes families and those vulnerable to displacement.
“With Measure A funding running out, it’s really important to have other resources come in at the state level that can continue to support these projects,” she said. “We’re really excited and grateful to voters for understanding that work needs to continue.”
Resident Rocio Carrillo-Ortiz is grateful to have found affordable housing for her three children and herself, after recently separating from her partner and moving into her parents’ guest room for a short time.
“The fact that I can now provide a sound, steady home with room for all of us is super helpful,” she told San José Spotlight. “I have seen family and friends having to move out of the county, out of state, some even out of the country, because it is hard to make ends meet. … So, having affordable housing is very essential.”
Chad Bojorquez, chief program officer for Destination: Home, said through Measure A, more than 6,800 affordable homes have been built.
“Over 10,000 people have already moved into apartments and about 60% of those developments are complete,” he told San José Spotlight. “We’ve built up the infrastructure and the partnerships and the momentum for building housing, but we need money. That’s why Prop. 1 is so important.”
Many people are at risk of becoming homeless, Williams said, and are only one paycheck, illness or emergency away from not being able to pay their rent. Proposition 1 showed voters understand the need for ongoing investment in affordable housing, but additional bonds will be required to provide the needed number of homes.
“We need to build housing that’s affordable at a scale that addresses our challenges before one more person has to fall into homelessness,” she said.
Housing has become unaffordable in Silicon Valley for working families, young people, older adults and extremely low-income residents, Bojorquez said. As rent, inflation and the cost of living continue to increase, people on fixed incomes are especially vulnerable.
Locally, there’s a lack of affordable apartments being built, he said. Meanwhile, people are paying an outsized portion of their income toward rent, which is unsustainable. He said more than 4,000 Santa Clara County families became homeless for the first time last year.
“We’re seeing people who are struggling every day because of the amount of money they make versus how much money it costs for housing and basic needs,” he said. “Something happens — a rent increase, their car breaks down, a family member has a medical issue. And they have nowhere to go except the street.”
More than $7 billion of Proposition 1 funding will help turn stalled housing projects into affordable homes, most of which will be rental apartments. About $1 billion will be used to help low- and moderate-income households buy homes.
About half of Bay Area renters pay more than 30% of their total income on rent, Housing Trust Silicon Valley CEO Noni Ramos said, and renters at the lowest income level are spending most of their salaries on housing. People can’t afford to live in the places they work and have to commute long distances or work multiple jobs.
In the Bay Area, the average cost of rent is $3,500 a month, the median price for a condo or townhome is $875,000 and a single-family home is $1.3 million, she said, adding that a family needs to show an income of more than $500,000 a year in order to qualify for a home in Santa Clara County.
“If we can make rent more affordable for that single mom so that she doesn’t have to work multiple jobs, she can spend more time with her kids,” Ramos told San José Spotlight. “Prop. 1 was about how do we make California a more affordable, accessible place for everyone? We want our younger folks to be able to live here, folks that are at different income levels to be able to live here. Prop. 1 … is a good start to addressing the issue of housing affordability.”
Contact Lorraine Gabbert at [email protected].
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