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Silicon Valley Lawmaker Says, ‘Missing Middle’ Can’t Afford Housing

One Silicon Valley lawmaker wants the state to get into the housing market to assist residents in the “missing middle” — comprising those who earn too much to qualify for low-income housing but who don’t earn enough to afford a market-rate home. To help these residents, Assemblymember Alex Lee introduced Assembly Bill 309 earlier this year. If approved, AB 309 would enable California to build and lease homes to residents of various income levels, Lee said.

Published

1 year ago

April 24, 2023

Oakland Post

Between 2014 and February of this year, San Jose issued 21,898 residential building permits, 5,519 of which were for affordable housing. With the issuing of these permits, San Jose met 115% of its market-rate goal for this time period, as specified in California's Regional Housing Needs Allocation. But the city has only met 26% of its goal for affordable housing, according to a memo issued by the housing department last month.

By Sonya Herrera
San Jose Spotlight

To help these residents, Assemblymember Alex Lee introduced Assembly Bill 309 earlier this year.

If approved, AB 309 would enable California to build and lease homes to residents of various income levels, Lee said.

The buildings would be mixed-income, which proponents said would improve economic mobility for residents of lower incomes. Tenants also would have a say in how their buildings are managed and operated.

“To embrace housing as a human right, we must think of it as a universal good,” Lee said during a Wednesday affordable housing panel discussion hosted by California YIMBY, a statewide housing advocacy group. “No more means-testing, no more nitpicking, no more saying one person is more deserving than the other … Everyone deserves housing, and we should embrace that.”

Because the state would develop the buildings, it could lease each home without needing to make a profit, lowering costs to renters, Lee said. He represents North San Jose and Milpitas in Santa Clara County, as well as Fremont and Newark in Alameda County.

“Social housing, as we embrace it, is about making sure people don’t lose their housing because their income level changes, down or up,” Lee said.

In Santa Clara County, a two-person household earning between $106,000 to $161,000 per year qualifies as median- to moderate-income, according to last year’s affordable housing income limits — and therefore would not be eligible for housing targeted at lower incomes.

Lee said California’s intention of targeting affordable homes to the state’s neediest residents is laudable. However, it has the unintended consequence of discouraging tenants from increasing their incomes.

“You start creating ceilings on people,” Lee said. “You want more people to earn more money, to save more money … but you don’t want them to lose their housing.”

Between 2014 and February of this year, San Jose issued 21,898 residential building permits, 5,519 of which were for affordable housing. With the issuing of these permits, San Jose met 115% of its market-rate goal for this time period, as specified in California’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation. But the city has only met 26% of its goal for affordable housing, according to a memo issued by the housing department last month.

The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Jose is $2,585, according to Zumper, an online marketplace for apartment rentals. San Jose is one of the most expensive places to live in the nation, and people looking to leave the region or the state is picking up steam.

Past polls and annual city surveys have shown a growing discontent with housing costs in San Jose, while the wealth gap and other inequities grow. Experts say the region could be at a tipping point.

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, who represents Richmond and Berkeley, spoke on the panel with Lee and said the housing shortage is every city’s responsibility — and it’s the state’s responsibility to hold cities to account.

“‘No’ is not an option anymore,” Wick said. “If we have to do state laws that make it easier to build affordable housing … then that’s the reality of where we’re at.”

AB 309 is headed to the state Legislature’s housing and community development committee, though a hearing for the bill has not been scheduled, according to the state assembly’s website.

Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

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SAN LEANDRO: INTERIM POLICE CHIEF APPOINTED TO PERMANENT ROLE

Published

3 days ago

June 13, 2024

Oakland Post

SAN LEANDRO POLICE CHIEF

By Bay City News

Angela Averiett has been appointed to serve as the next police chief of San Leandro.

Prior to her previous role as interim police chief in San Leandro, Averiett served as the police chief in Los Altos.

“Chief Averiett is a well-respected law enforcement veteran, who is an advocate for diversity, inclusion, and community building,” said City Manager Fran Robustelli.

Averiett is also part of The Curve, an organization that gives leaders in policing the most current and creative ideas about leadership and the resources to implement them so they can more “effectively modernize their cultures from the inside-out.”

Averiett stated, “It is an honor to be gifted the chance to serve the dedicated women and men of the San Leandro Police Department and the rich, diverse group of San Leandrans.”

Copyright © 2024 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

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CONTACT: Sonia Lee (650) 947-2611 or slee@losaltosca.gov

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Arrests Made at People’s Park as Preparations For Construction on Site Begin Again

Seven people were arrested early Thursday morning at Berkeley’s People’s Park as fencing was put up in preparation for a controversial construction project to build housing for students and formerly unhoused people on the public park.

Published

5 months ago

January 8, 2024

Oakland Post

Opponents fought the University of California, Berkeley's plan to build on the site when construction began in August 2022, but they were dealt a setback when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last year that was unanimously backed by the state Legislature to exempt the university from a requirement to consider alternative sites for the project.

By Bay City News

Fencing and double-stacked shipping containers will continue to be installed over the next three to four days and surrounding streets will be closed off for about six days, according to a university spokesperson.

Opponents fought the University of California, Berkeley’s plan to build on the site when construction began in August 2022, but they were dealt a setback when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last year that was unanimously backed by the state Legislature to exempt the university from a requirement to consider alternative sites for the project.

The arrests Thursday morning were for trespassing, with two also arrested for failure to disperse, according to the university. They were cited and released after being booked into jail.

An appeal on the university’s construction project is still being heard by the state Supreme Court, but the university said it has the legal right to close off the construction zone while the case is litigated.

“Given that the existing legal issues will inevitably be resolved, we decided to take this necessary step now in order to minimize disruption for the public and our students when we are eventually cleared to resume construction,” UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, our planning and actions must take into account that some of the project’s opponents have previously resorted to violence and vandalism, despite strong support for the project on the part of students, community members, advocates for unhoused people, the elected leadership of the City of Berkeley, as well as the Legislature and governor of the state of California,” Christ said.

The plan calls for building housing for 1,100 students and a separate building with 100 apartments for low-income, formerly unhoused people, but activists have fought against the displacement of unhoused people currently living in the park and development on a green space.

The plan would preserve 60% of the 2.8-acre park’s green space and the park would remain open to the public. People living in the park have been offered transitional housing.

Video posted to social media showed trees being cut down and carried by heavy machinery overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning.

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Appeals Court Denies Request to Revisit Berkeley’s Natural Gas Ban

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has ruled against Berkeley’s pioneering natural gas ban. In a majority decision filed Tuesday, the court said Berkeley’s ordinance banning gas pipelines in new construction runs afoul of the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act.

Published

5 months ago

January 8, 2024

Oakland Post

The act "expressly preempts state and local regulations concerning the energy use of many natural gas appliances, including those used in household and restaurant kitchens," Judge Patrick Bumatay wrote in the majority opinion.

By Kiley Russell
Bay City News
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has ruled against Berkeley’s pioneering natural gas ban.
In a majority decision filed Tuesday, the court said Berkeley’s ordinance banning gas pipelines in new construction runs afoul of the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act.

The act “expressly preempts state and local regulations concerning the energy use of many natural gas appliances, including those used in household and restaurant kitchens,” Judge Patrick Bumatay wrote in the majority opinion.
“Instead of directly banning those appliances in new buildings, Berkeley took a more circuitous route to the same result,” Bumatay wrote. “It enacted a building code that prohibits natural gas piping in those buildings from the point of delivery at a gas meter, rendering the gas appliances useless.”

The Berkeley City Council unanimously approved the first-of-its-kind ordinance in July 2019.
It was designed to combat climate change by reducing natural gas emissions throughout the city by encouraging the use of more ecologically friendly electrical hookups.

“Climate change is an existential threat to our city, our homes, and our future,” Councilmember Kate Harrison, who authored the ordinance, said at the time. “It is time to take aggressive action to reduce our emissions across all sectors.”
The California Restaurant Association sued the city in November 2019, and in 2021 a lower court ruled against the restaurant organization.
In that ruling, the court found that the local ordinance didn’t conflict with federal regulations because it indirectly applied to appliances covered by federal law and that the federal rules should be interpreted so as not to “sweep into areas that are historically the province of state and local regulation.”

Last year, a panel of the 9th Circuit disagreed and ruled that federal law preempted the city’s new ordinance and on Tuesday, the full panel of judges denied a request to rehear the case.

Judge Michelle Friedland, writing the dissenting opinion for the 9th Circuit, said the majority opinion “misinterprets the statute’s key terms” and “needlessly blocks Berkeley’s effort to combat climate change, along with the equivalent laws passed by other local governments. Our system of federalism requires much more respect for state and local autonomy.”