Breaking the silence on the housing crisis

Sonoma County renters, facing skyrocketing housing prices over the past three years, are getting restless. Two weeks ago, a countywide organization that included a contingent from Petaluma, descended upon Santa Rosa to demand solutions to the countywide housing crisis, and to ask leaders to take action to make sure housing prices don’t get further out of hand.

Santa Rosa is currently studying a number of options available to local governments to spur affordable housing developments and stabilize rents, including a potential rent control ordinance. Healdsburg, too, is taking steps, if only symbolic, to ensure that renters, many of whom form the backbone the community’s workforce, are not priced out of living in the city.

While other cities in the region are also taking action to address housing affordability, leaders in Petaluma, which is experiencing similar acute vacancy rates and escalating housing costs, have been largely silent on the issue. City officials must come up with a comprehensive strategy, looking at what other cities have done and adopting those solutions that would work for Petaluma.

To be sure, the city’s loss of redevelopment when the state ended that local funding tool in 2011, was a major blow to Petaluma’s main source of affordable housing funds. Redevelopment contributed $3 million annually to construct 1,300 affordable units in the city since 1984. The city has a state-mandated housing element that requires developers of new large market-rate housing projects to set aside a portion for affordable housing or pay into an affordable housing fund.

But Petaluma first needs to encourage more market-rate housing to be built. The city should work to remove barriers to development and ensure that appropriate projects are fast-tracked. More market-rate housing will also help stabilize rents. With vacancy rates in Petaluma currently at around 2 percent, more inventory will ease the pent up demand and naturally keep rents down.

Projects in the pipeline, like a 150-unit residential complex in southeast Petaluma, and a 142-unit development near the river, are a good start.

Rent control ordinances, like Santa Rosa is exploring and Richmond recently passed, may have unintended consequences. Developers of market-rate rental units may decide to convert them and sell them as condominiums if they feel rent control would undercut their bottom line.

In Healdsburg last week, the city passed a non-binding resolution stating that rent increases should be “fair and reasonable” and not exceed 10 percent annually. It also asks landlords to provide a 90 day notice before raising rents. While symbolic, the resolution states the city’s position that unfair housing practices are not welcome in the city.

Landlords are entitled to make a profit, but with the 30 percent annual rent increases that Petaluma has recently seen, driving the average price for a one-bedroom unit to $1,700 per month, it’s clear that some property owners are unfairly taking advantage of a supply-demand imbalance.

Beyond being a social justice issue, access to housing is also an economic development issue. How will we grow our economy if we can’t house our workforce? What’s the point of creating jobs if there is no place for those workers to live?

Housing is not a luxury item. It is a necessity that must be accessible to everyone in the community. Our leaders need to do more to make that possible.