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Fair
Share Housing Campaign
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THIS PAGE IS AN
ARCHIVE. INFORMATION AND LINKS ON THIS PAGE MAY NOT BE ACCURATE
OR ACTIVE. FOR MORE ABOUT
THIS PAGE, CONTACT US AT
info@transcoalition.org |
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Platform |
April 2000
The Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition is comprised
of over 60 organizations committed to creating an
environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable Bay Area.
The Bay Area needs housing that meets the present and future
needs of the workforce and households of all income levels. This
housing should be accommodated through compact, infill
development sites on land close to job centers and transit nodes.
The Fair Share Housing distribution process is a key opportunity
for our region to meet these needs.
Association of Bay Area Government's Housing Distribution
For the first time in a decade, the Association of Bay Area
Governments has been enabled by the state to determine the amount
of housing each jurisdiction must incorporate in their General
Plan Housing Element in order to meet the region's housing needs.
The State's housing needs analysis shows that there will be a
regional need of 230,743 households seeking housing in the nine
Bay Area counties over the seven and a half-year period of
1999-2006. That amounts to a need of 30,766 units per year - at
least a third of which are needed for low and very low-income
households.
Environmental Impacts
The Bay Area's dominant land use pattern of low-density,
single-use development is a threat to the environment because it
encroaches on agricultural land and open space, and because it
forces reliance on driving to meet all daily needs. Car pollution
is the central reason that the Bay Area has been out of
compliance with federal clean air status for ozone since 1998. At
5 units per acre - the typical density of Bay Area development
over the last few decades - this new 230,743 housing units would
require paving one and 1/2 times the land area of San Francisco.
On the other hand, if just one-third of this new development
occurs at 20 units per acre, then 130,741 more workers would live
in neighborhoods with enough population density to support
regular transit service.
Social & Economic Impacts
Dispersed housing development encourages a similar pattern of
dispersed job development. An increased investment in public
transit could provide more connections among jobs and housing,
but there is no practical way for public transit to serve the
majority of local and long-distance trips created by suburban
sprawl. Thus drivers suffer nightmarish commutes, reducing family
quality time, and transportation problems pose a significant
barrier to employment for low-income Bay Area residents.
Historically the greatest housing gap has been for low and
moderate-income households - cashiers, teachers, bus drivers -
who cannot afford to live and work in the same community.
Finally, Bay Area businesses struggle to attract and retain a
workforce without sufficient housing.
The Coalition's Recommendations
The Coalition urges all Bay Area cities to provide enough compact
housing to meet the needs of every income category. Cities should
create special programs and incentives to meet the housing needs
of low income residents -- which are often not met by the market.
Compact housing development can be achieved through numerous
strategies, including:
*
identifying sites
for re-development and land re-use including brownfields and
other vacant sites
*
re-zoning for
higher density on transit corridors
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encouraging second
units and density bonuses
*
setting urban
growth boundaries
Many of the same strategies can ensure that the affordable
housing needs requirement is met. Additionally, cities can use
tools such as:
*
inclusionary zoning
- a percentage of every housing project is affordable
*
land-banking/land
trust - local government purchases land and preserves it as
permanently affordable
*
fast-tracking for
affordable housing - simplifying the permit and approvals process
*
enforce and raise
the requirement to set-aside 20% of redevelopment funds for
affordable housing.
Drafted and signed by:
California Affordable Housing Law Project
Greenbelt Alliance
HUD
Non-Profit Housing Association Of Northern California
Urban Ecology
Urban Habitat Program
For more strategies, please read Blueprint for Bay Area Housing
for details. To order a copy, contact the Association of Bay Area
Governments at (510) 464-7000.
Updated: 6/16/00 |
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Update:
05/29/03 |
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© 2002 Transportation and
Land Use Coalition
510.740.3150 info@transcoalition.org
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