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Home My WebLink About9/1/2020 Item 7, Pyburn Wilbanks, Megan From:Cohen, Rachel Sent:Monday, August 31, 2020 7:59 AM To:CityClerk Subject:FW: Draft Housing Element Attachments:Housing Element letter Aug 2020.doc Good Morning- Please share the attached correspondence with City Council regarding item #7. Thank you, Rachel Cohen Associate Planner Community Development 919 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3218 E rcohen@slocity.org T 805.781.7574 slocity.org From: susan pyburn < Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2020 10:04 PM To: Cohen, Rachel <rcohen@slocity.org> Subject: Draft Housing Element Rachel, Please find attached my comments regarding the draft housing element. I would very much appreciate your ensuring council-members also receive a copy. Thank you, Susan Pyburn Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King Jr. A Lens of Her Own www.aloho.us also:http://herownlens.smugmug.com 1 Susan Pyburn 1061 Grove Street San Luis Obispo, CA susanimai@yahoo.com 805-801 0672 August 30, 2020 Dear Mayor Harmon and City Council Members, This is written in response to the Housing Element as currently proposed. As a fifteen- year resident in town and in-county more than 20 years, my pre-retirement career involved creating low-cost housing developments with non-profits in L.A. Co., and Ventura Co. Behavioral Health, as well as sitting on Habitat for Humanity boards in Los Angeles, and SLO. All can agree that housing is an urgently unmet need in our city. This persistent and painful situation affects the entire community, even those who are adequately housed. When members of our community live in unsafe, indecent, and/or unaffordable housing, or, worse yet, with no housing at all, the community at large suffers. Children are neglected and underfed, parents are heavily stressed as meager incomes barely cover basic necessities and commercial businesses fail to benefit from vital economic activity. You have the power to insist on growing an adequate supply of housing to meet the needs of our community. There is much talk about workforce and affordable housing; however, the currently proposed housing element seems lacking in measures to meet the needs of families in the lowest economic sectors. One major reason for this deficiency is the need for serious subsidies in order to build housing affordable to low and low-moderate income households. In our community, we have organizations with the mission and expertise to access the means to develop such housing when encouraged by the city and county to do so. Such encouragement can involve fee waivers, as well as gifts of property or purchase write- downs. The Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo and Peoples' Self Help Housing are two such organizations. The existing Housing Element stipulates: "... (identifying) vacant or underutilized City- owned property suitable for housing, and dedicate public property, where feasible and appropriate for such purposes.” Notwithstanding a recent inventory of City-owned property which found none to be suitable for housing, the matter is too urgent to delete, and the remedy too useful to ignore. Local developers of low-cost housing might be invited to join in this search. A yet undeveloped plan for a new parking structure at Nipomo and Palm offer s a large space for appropriate housing. Since the city is initiating a more bike-friendly environment due to climate change, with such dire need for housing, it makes sense to avoid constructing yet another huge parking structure. Some years ago, the League of Women Voters conducted a major housing study which resulted in a 7-day series of front page articles in the Tribune. I participated in that study, and one result was a trust fund established by the county, whereby financial aid is made available to help develop below-market housing. It still exists. While you are aware of most of the above, it is curious that this draft Housing Element proposes such a meager inclusionary zoning policy. Some California cities require far more; for example: Davis requires up to 35%, and San Jose from 15-20%. San Luis Obispo is a city of historic and current substance, a city with a predominantly affluent citizenry, a city that attracts tourists year-round and a city that can stand proudly alongside these cities. It is in SLO's best interests for our policies to favorably compare. The proposed Element would increase building height and housing density for the Downtown and Upper Monterey Focus Areas. As yet, no attempt has been made to engage the Upper Monterey community regarding such changes. Consultation with affected communities should precede proposed planning guideline alterations. Tall buildings already dominate the cityscape with primarily hotel development. Developers are offered height waivers in exchange for affordable housing, among other amenities. So-called affordability is meaningless, however, unless it addresses real need and comes with restrictions such as no second home usage, and deed restrictions limiting re-sale at higher prices benefiting owners, who purchased at below-market rates. Similarly, the concept affordable by design means nothing if those units are offered to occupants at high-market rates or occupied by people who have another home. Affordability must serve persons who are well below 80% of median income and ensure that such households do not pay more than 30% of income for housing. The proposed Housing Element would strike the requirement for "Innovative sustainable design strategies". It seems most prudent to retain this language, as an expectation to be met by would-be developers. They have their agenda. Ours should be crystal clear, as part of the privilege of building in our town; for example pre-fab units are an option for reducing housing costs, although they may not align with developers' overriding interest in profits. In recent years, SLO has become highly developer-friendly. It has been said that planning practices are overly influenced by developers. SLO city leaders must take the lead, crafting policies that prioritize the interests of all members of our community. Certainly, there are economic priorities, but they should never trump the overall health of residents and those who work here. Developers will always want to develop here. We are a historic, tourist-popular, environmentally progressive and ideally situated community. Our Housing Element must preserve and protect existing amenities and qualities while substantively addressing current needs. We can do both and be better for it.