Getting Inclusionary Housing Right

JOIN US VIRTUALLY ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24TH 12PM

Cities across Santa Clara County are considering this powerful tool to build more new affordable homes without subsidy.

But done wrong it can fall short, or even stop the development of new homes in its tracks. Learn how it works, and how to get it right!

Many of our local cities are joining forces right now in a shared nexus study, the wonky and in-depth analysis that assesses the feasibility of local residential development and the potential for developers of market-rate housing to add a share of affordable homes to their buildings.

If cities require too few affordable homes or affordability that’s too shallow, they leave public benefits on the table. Too much, and developers can’t build any housing at all.

Come hear about local cities that are getting it right: successfully using inclusionary housing policies to achieve mixed-income communities, generate funding to subsidize deeper levels of affordability, and gain valuable land for affordable homes!

RSVP
Share:

The 25 acres bounded by Benton Street, Lafayette Street, Homestead Road and Madison Street was, before 1960, Santa Clara’s downtown.  An urban renewal project undertaken by the Santa Clara Redevelopment Agency in that year acquired the eight blocks between Lafayette and Monroe Streets and demolished all the buildings and eliminated most of the city streets in the area.  Actual redevelopment has occurred since on a spotty basis, mostly with one- and two-story structures and mostly with surface parking lots.

The City’s intent is to create a Plan to provide guidance for new development or redevelopment through policies, guidelines, and illustrations that implement the community vision and objectives for a vibrant, pedestrian-oriented destination Downtown.  The City’s goal is for the Downtown area to serve as an important gathering place within the local community as well as a symbolic center for of Santa Clara, continuing the City’s focus on “Placemaking” as a key strategy to support the quality of life for all Santa Clarans.

The foundation for the Precise Plan was laid through a series of community workshops between October 2015 and November 2017 in which community input on a vision for the Downtown’s future was gathered.  A Downtown Community Task Force has been formed to advise the City.

As of the date that this page was written, there are no specifics on what the plan might ultimately envision for future as far as numbers of numbers, residential densities, housing affordability requirements, and what kinds of non-residential uses need to be incorporated.  SV@Home will be recommending that the Plan require that a minimum of 15% of units be affordable to households at or below 80% of area median income and an additional 5% of units be affordable to households at 100% of area median income.

Learn more here.