Sonoma tackles affordable housing

The lack of affordable housing in Sonoma has forced much of the city’s workforce to live outside the city and commute daily to work at the popular tourist destination’s hotels, restaurants, wineries and other businesses, consultants told City Council members and planning commissioners Wednesday at a special work session on housing.

Ninety percent of those who work in the city live outside Sonoma, said Heather Hines, principal of the Metropolitan Planning Group, which the city hired to review its housing programs and look at the progress it has made to address affordable-housing problems.

It’s not a new problem for the city, Councilman David Cook said. With an increasing number of outsiders coming in to buy vacation homes in the area, he said locals have been priced out of the market.

“It’s been going on for years. It’s not something that just popped its ugly face,” Cook said before Wednesday’s meeting.

Cook said it’s important that the city tackle the ?affordable-housing problem and give hospitality workers an option to live in the area.

“We have a lot of jobs in restaurants, hotels and wine-tasting rooms. We don’t want them driving from Petaluma,” he said, adding, “We need more affordable housing in Sonoma Valley and in (the city).”

During the joint meeting, he and other local officials discussed creating a new zoning regulation that would allow homeowners to rent out a spare bedroom long term.

That would bring relief to homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages while giving others an opportunity to live within the city, Councilwoman Laurie Gallian said.

“It might be retention of our residential base,” she said.

Mayor Tom Rouse said the state requires that cities periodically look at how to best address their affordable housing needs.

For years, he said, the city relied on redevelopment dollars to help build housing for low-income residents. But Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011 disbanded California’s local redevelopment agencies, which used property revenues to fund local development projects.

“That was the primary driver,” he said.

A bill waiting to be signed by the governor would unfreeze about $1.5 million in bond funds, which previously were earmarked for an affordable-housing development off Clay Street, according to City Manager Carol Giovanatto. That could make way for 39 new units in the city.

In the past five years, 149 apartments and homes have been built in the city. Half of them are low-?income units, including the apartments at the Valley Oak subdivision.

When the subdivision opened last year, developers received 700 applicants, said Eve Stewart, housing development director for Satellite Affordable Housing Associates. She said they currently have about 230 families on the waiting list.

The situation isn’t much brighter elsewhere in Sonoma County, which is experiencing one of the most severe housing crises in decades.

It’s built just over 1,100 units since 2007. However, county officials, who met last month to hash out a new 10-year affordable-?housing plan to address the need for low-income units and other housing programs, said the area wasn’t keeping up with the demand.

For example, Burbank Housing reported a waiting list last year of 7,000 for its 2,800 units.

A proposed 100-unit low-income housing project is expected to absorb some of the need in the Sonoma Valley.

Earlier this summer, Foster City-based MidPen Housing and the Vailetti Family Trust received approvals from county supervisors for the project, which includes 40 one- and two-bedroom apartments for low-income seniors ?and 60 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments for families on 6 acres in Agua Caliente off Highway 12. Plans also call for a community garden and playground.

They were waiting to hear back after submitting an application for federal tax credits in July.

Although they haven’t heard a response, yet, it’s a competitive process and it’s likely they won’t win the credits in this round, said Scott Johnson, MidPen’s senior project manager.

He said they were up against numerous projects throughout the state. Others had stronger public funding, which plays heavily into determining which projects get the tax credits, Johnson said.

Still, if they don’t receive the tax credits in this round, he said they have a better chance of getting them in March.

If approved then, he said, construction on the family housing units and playground could start by the end of 2015. Construction on the senior units would begin the following year.

“There’s a phenomenal need for affordable rental housing for both young families, with or without children, and seniors,” Johnson said.

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez?@pressdemocrat.com.