Progressive
Housing Advocates Taskforce
Organizational or
Individual Endorsement Form.
Join us in ensuring that low, very low and extremely low income people are
represented in the Housing Elements now being created by the cities and the
county.
Please copy the Endorsement Form below, and open email to paul@cabinc.org by clicking on email address.
Paste
into the body of the email message and fill out the spaces indicated.
Or, feel free to cut and paste the attached text onto your own letterhead and mail to the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor and Council Members of the cities listed following the Endorsement Form. If you do write them, or the media, please send us a copy of your letter or email at the address below.
The full report can be found at:
The Housing Element: A Progressive Approach
Organizational or Individual Endorsement Form
Other Housing Element web links
Paul Brindel
Progressive Housing Advocates
501 Soquel Ave Suite E
C/O Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, Inc.
Santa Cruz, Ca 95062
831/457-1741
Endorsement Form
Date:_____________________________
Contact: __________________________
Organization:______________________
Address:__________________________
City, St., Zip:_______________________
Email:_____________________________
Phone:____________________________
Santa Cruz County is experiencing a critical housing crisis and local government jurisdictions must adopt Housing Elements in their General Plans to address this crisis. We support the adoption of Housing Elements along the lines of those described in the Progressive Housing Advocates Task Force report The Housing Element—A Progressive Approach.
The key items of that report, that we believe should be included in each jurisdiction’s Housing Element, include:
· re-zoning of all centrally located residentially zoned land to urban high density, allowing residential uses as part of commercial and industrial development, identifying parking lots as central sites, and permitting second-unit development with regulations identical to those of other home additions.
· removing unreasonable height restrictions and leveling discriminatory fees, currently far higher per square foot for smaller, more affordable units than they are for larger unit development.
· providing incentives to employers to house some portion of their workers or to contribute to a housing trust fund to create housing opportunities for low wage workers.
· adopting governmental incentives for housing development that is environmentally sound, accessible to people with mobility impairments, and which provides supportive services including childcare, job development, educational opportunities, mental health support, and financial planning. Incentives to include mandatory density bonuses, relaxed parking requirements, reduced design and setback requirements, waivers of fees, and opportunities to qualify for housing trust funds.
· preserving existing affordable housing through amnesty for illegal units, targeted code enforcement tied to rehabilitation funding, the provision of emergency rental assistance for up to 60 days, and formal consideration of just cause eviction, rent stabilization, and rent shock ordinances to prevent existing rental housing from becoming even less affordable.
· developing a housing trust fund to marshal available funds from public and private sources to for use in the rehabilitation and development of housing affordable to, and designed to meet the needs of, low wage workers, persons with disabilities, people that are homeless, farmworkers, single and teen-parent households, and constructed employing environmentally sound building practices.
· implementing a plan for removal or significant reduction of the public hearing level of review for proposed housing or mixed-use developments that are affordable to, and designed to meet the needs of, those portions of the population most severely impacted by the housing crisis.
· Between all local jurisdictions, designating sites for the development of a minimum of 640 emergency shelter beds for individuals, and 400 units of emergency transitional housing, sites for supportive housing for single and teen parent households, as well as sites for supportive farmworker housing
______________________________________________
Santa Cruz County
|
Board of
Supervisors
701
Ocean St., Room 500
Santa
Cruz, CA 95060
Ph:
(831) 454-2200 (763-8200 from Watsonville)
Fax:
(831) 454-3262
J
City of
Watsonville
P.O.
Box 50000
Watsonville,
CA 95077-5000
Ph:
728-6006
Fax:
761-0736
City of
Capitola
420
Capitola Ave.
Capitola,
CA 95010
Ph: 475-7300 Fax: 479-8879
Gail
Ortiz, Council Member
City of
Santa Cruz
809
Center St., Room 10
Santa
Cruz, CA 95060
Ph:
420-5020 Fax:
420-5011
City of
Scotts Valley
1
Civic Center Drive
Scotts
Valley, CA 95066
Ph:
(831) 440-5678 Fax:
438-2793
Santa Cruz Sentinel
207
Church St.
Santa
Cruz, CA 95060
Ph:
(831) 423-4242 Fax:
(831) 429-9620
Email:
editorial@santa-cruz.com
Watsonville
Register-Pajaronian
PO
Box 50055
Watsonville,
CA 95077
Fax:
761-7338
Email:
newsroom@register-pajaronian.com
Metro
Santa Cruz
115
Cooper Street
Santa
Cruz, CA. 95060
Ph:
457-9000 Fax: 457-5828
Email:
msc@cruzio.com
Goodtimes
Ph:
458-1100 Fax 458-1295
since 2/6/03