CC Min 1991-10-21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilman Murray advised the purpose of submitting a Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy was to qualify for federal funding to provide affordable housing; that the basic barrier to building affordable housing in Redwood City was the cost of living in this desirable area; this high cost of housing is unique to California as people from allover the world want to live here; lowering quality of housing to achieve lower cost will not create affordable housing; that the fundamental barrier to affordable housing in the Bay Area is a market function and it is not within the power of Redwood City to mitigate that barrier; that the Council represents everyone in Redwood City and must address itself to those without choices. In response to Council questions, Housing Director Church described County CHAS, and advised that the identification of barriers and mitigations was a policy decision to be made by Council. Councilman Greenalch advised that market factors may be out of control of the Council, but there are measures Council can take in specific situations that would make affordable housing more available. Councilman Greenalch described ways to acquire housing: paying market price; programs that enable us to pay market price; government to provide housing by subsidy or loan; or raise salaries to enable everyone to qualify which is unrealistic. There is a need to be realistic and yet provide affordable housing. Councilman Bury described the diminishing state and federal resources formerly available for affordable housing programs, and the resulting frustration caused by lack of funds. Councilman Bury described the success of the Human Investment Project and the involvement of Redwood City, but warned without committing resources to affordable housing strategies and help from state and federal agencies, little will be accomplished. Council discussed barriers of cost of housing on the peninsula; lack of state and federal assistance programs; quality of life impacted by loss of moderate income people who cannot afford to live here; perception of education services affecting cost of housing; purpose of this document and involvement of Planning Commission and Housing and Human Concerns Committee. Councilman Murray advised he was most troubled by the overall sense of reduction of quality as a way to get marginal decreases in cost of housing, such as increased densities, decreased parking and insulation requirements: that it was a fallacious argument to suggest affordable housing would be created by reducing standards. Councilman Murray advised that this was a fundamentally wrong approach that would result in legally sanctioned slums. Councilman Murray recommended that Council clearly identify the real barrier to affordable housing and craft its mitigation to reach that target. CHAS Draft Report, Page 2.31, Zoning MINUTE BOOK NO. 50 Page No. 378 Councilman Murray referred to the CHAS Draft report, page 2.31, the first item under Zoning: "All residentially zoned land in Redwood City is relatively low density; the maximum allowed is 36 units per acre. This is the major constraint on the ability to build affordable housing." Regular Agenda Minutes October 21, 1991 Page 7 -" - ---- - - --.. .-- -- -- - ----- ----- -- - - -- ----- - --- -- -----,_.'--- - -- _u-. . - -- --