Windsor leaders struggle to close the housing affordability gap

As a Windsor school board member and now councilwoman, Esther Lemus has heard many residents complain about the town’s lack of affordable housing.

A new housing report commissioned by Windsor Town Council and the state confirmed what many people thought: The suburban town of 34,000 residents has fallen woefully behind in meeting the community’s needs for houses and apartments. In fact, overall residential construction, across a range of pricing levels, has been minimal.

Windsor only has 485 houses, condos, apartments or granny units that fall under the umbrella of affordable housing, according to the report. That’s far fewer than what council members view as acceptable for their growing town, which added 568 people last year.

The town offers a microcosm of the long-standing housing affordability crisis across Sonoma County. Windsor’s leaders face the same predicament as their fellow community and business leaders who are desperately trying to come up with ways to spur construction of homes that middle-class and lower-income households can afford.

Perhaps the most troubling point revealed in the report was that since at least 2015, no housing has been built in Windsor targeting people at lower income levels - those making 30% or less of the area’s median household income.

“It’s pathetic,” Councilman Bruce Okrepkie said earlier this month when council started to review and discuss the findings of the housing report. “We need housing and our numbers are so little.”

Now council members have the task of rectifying the town’s affordable housing dilemma. They expressed frustration with the lack of home building and appeared confounded about what more they can do about the housing shortcomings.

Councilwoman Deborah Fudge said the town has streamlined a number of projects over the years, but doesn’t have the authority to assign contractors or provide them with financing to build.

“That’s not what we do,” Fudge said. “We’ve done all we can, like given extensions to not let projects expire, but we can’t force them to construct.”

Windsor has committed to building 185 homes or apartments for low-income residents by 2023. Two projects, including 76 such homes, have been approved by council for construction starting this year.

In 2018, only eight homes deemed affordable were built, while 42 - two of them granny units - were built the previous year, said Ken McNab, interim town manager.

With so few completed residential developments in recent years, affordable housing has become a leading issue in Windsor, Mayor Dominic Foppoli said.

“People who grew up here and now want to raise a family find it difficult,” Foppoli said.

Windsor has continued to award millions to subsidize housing proposals, like two projects that were approved last year, Fudge said.

Windsor Veterans Village received a state grant to build about 60 one- and two-bedroom apartments near the Town Green.

The construction efforts were slated to get underway this month, but that date was pushed back after a snafu at the state level.

Joe Millsap, spokesman for Veterans Resource Centers of America, the Santa Rosa nonprofit behind the project, said an IRS housing bond issue slowed the progress but it’s been resolved.

“Realistically, completing all of the construction and inspections and getting the certificate of occupancy is probably a year from now, I would guess,” he said. “It’s a challenge to make up for lost time, but the town has been really supportive.”

The second project, Duncan Village, spearheaded by Sonoma County Habitat for Humanity, calls for 16 three- and four-bedroom homes. Groundbreaking is slated for July, said Bruce Shimizu, director of real estate development for the nonprofit.

“These are our first homes in Windsor, and the town has been really supportive of affordable housing,” Shimizu said. “It’s really important for the larger building community to work really closely so we can generate funding for affordable housing because it stabilizes a community.”

Alicia Messoria, a future resident of one of the Habitat for Humanity homes, said when she was first told of this housing opportunity in Windsor she burst into tears.

Just five years ago, Messoria and her four children were homeless and depending on Catholic Charities to stay afloat. Since getting back on their feet, her family has been sharing a two-bedroom apartment in Petaluma.

Moving into a four-bedroom house in Windsor is almost too hard for Messoria to believe.

“If I had a choice to live anywhere in the county, I would live in Windsor,” she said. “Affordability here is scary, and I never thought it would be possible as a single mom to live in our own house.”

In addition, council has two affordable housing projects now under review: the Creekwalk and Heritage Park apartment complexes.

“In my opinion, we need to work harder” on affordable housing, said Lemus, a county deputy district attorney. “I hear it from people everywhere, from locals and from people who have moved into the area, and from people who are living with roommates and might want to get a place of their own.”

Regarding market-priced housing, Vintage Oaks, which has been in the works for over five years, is close to having the financing necessary to finally break ground, said Bob Bisno, a Southern California developer responsible for the project.

None of the planned 387 apartments will be offered at below-market pricing, Bisno said. The same goes for his other proposed housing development in Windsor called Mill Creek.

The development, if approved, would include 360 apartments in 16 three-story buildings in Windsor.

Although a variety of contractor and financing delays have snagged affordable housing construction in the town, the mayor remains hopeful.

“For me it is about taking care of our own, and we want people to be able to raise a family and live in the town they grew up in,” Foppoli said.

You can reach Staff Writer Alexandria Bordas at 707-521-5337 or alexandria.bordas@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CrossingBordas.