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Affordable housing crisis even hits Solano County residents

If you don’t earn at least $36 per hour, you can’t afford to live in Solano County, the most affordable county in the Bay Area, a new report shows.

Solano County is also some 13,000 affordable living units short of what’s needed, it shows.

Just as Northern California kicks off Affordable Housing Month “to explore opportunities and solutions for our region’s housing challenges,” new data demonstrates that housing costs are pushing the cost of living in the Bay Area further out of reach for most working families, California Housing Partnership officials said.

The Partnership published its annual Housing Needs Assessment data for seven Bay Area Counties — including Solano, Marin, Sonoma, and Napa — “demonstrating a snapshot of the region’s current housing needs and challenges,” they said. Among the challenges are significant decreases in state general fund and federal HUD and redevelopment agencies funding, they said.

Some of the key North Bay findings show:

• Across the seven Bay Area Counties, median rental prices are out of reach for most working people, as the median rental price in each county requires a wage of at least $36.06/hour in Solano County, and up to $61.63/hour in Marin County.
• Funding from the state and federal level has dropped in every county, with significant declines in most, including a 90 percent loss of state and federal funding in Solano County.
• There is a current shortfall of 42,551 affordable homes in North Bay counties (13,801 in Solano County, 9,465 in Marin County; 16,296 in Sonoma County; and 2,989 in Napa County.)

“North Bay communities have struggled to make as much progress as some of their Bay Area counterparts, primarily because they have not been able to pass local funding measures — outside of the very recent Napa County (Transient Occupancy Tax) TOT measures,” California Housing Partnership CEO and President Matt Schwartz said. “This is why it is so important that the State provide more local funding tools, such as replacing lost redevelopment funds and lowering the voter threshold so that local voters can more easily take action on the issues that are important to them.”

Among the “Housing Emergency Update’s” findings, is that “cuts in federal and state funding have reduced investment in affordable housing in Solano County by more than $27 million since 2008, and that the county needs nearly 14,000 more affordable rental units to meet current demand. It also found that renters here need to earn more than $36 per hour — three times the state minimum wage — to afford the area’s median asking rent of $1,875.

Researchers also found that 80 percent of Solano’s extremely low Income households are having to cough up more than half their income on housing, compared to just under 4 percent for moderate income households.

Key findings for Napa County show only a 3 percent overall reduction in affordable housing investment because of the county’s success in competing for state-administered federal funds.

The report found that half of Napa County’s “extremely low” Income households are paying more than half of their income on housing costs compared to 5.1 percent of moderate income households, and that renters here must earn $46.90 per hour to afford the median asking rent of $2,439.

Napa County needs 2,989 more affordable rental homes to meet current demand, the report shows.

In collaboration with the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California and local partners, the Housing Needs Assessment reports also include policy recommendations to address the reports’ findings.

“To create strong, healthy communities for anyone, we need strong, healthy communities for everyone,” Association executive director Amie Fishman said. “And one of the important takeaways from these data reports is that the Bay Area’s housing crisis goes way beyond individuals’ personal circumstances. To make progress on housing affordability for our region, for our community members, and for all of our black, brown, and white neighbors, it’s time for big, bold solutions that address historic and current inequities and meet the needs of our region.”

Specifically, the report’s policy recommendations include stronger investments from the state and local level. The report also calls on the state lower the threshold for voter approval of local funding of affordable housing and infrastructure from 67 percent to 55 percent as was done for educational facilities in 2000. This could make it easier for North Bay cities and counties to take action for their communities, officials said.

Regional, local recommendation for Solano County

• Condition discretionary transportation funds to cities on progress in providing affordable housing and preventing displacement.

• Ensure that all Bay Area cities and counties are accountable to produce their fair share of affordable housing through the region’s next Regional Housing Need Allocation.

Local/county recommendations

• Explore local funding options for affordable housing, like a County bond and other City-based revenue sources.

• The Community Action Partnership Solano Join Powers Authority should convene stakeholders to advance new affordable housing funding ideas.

• Adopt inclusionary zoning ordinances to require that a portion of all new residential developments be affordable.

• Encourage the adoption of affordable housing overlay zoning to allow for higher density and mixed-use affordable housing developments.

• Adopt tenant ordinances that prevent displacement by limiting annual rent increases and prohibiting the eviction of renters without good cause.

Source: California Housing Partnership