Update from ed washatka - 8/23/2019
Greetings,
Dear fellow advocates for affordable housing,
We can’t thank you enough for your part in supporting a stronger inclusionary housing policy!
As of Monday, August 19, 20% of all new housing will be set aside as affordable in perpetuity!
Due to your advocacy through prayers, encouragement, writing letters, publishing articles, showing up once or many times at the City Council or the Planning Commission, speaking at public meetings, or taking part in POP!’s Housing Justice Committee or GPAHG inclusionary housing subcommittee meetings, those efforts helped to make hundreds of new affordable housing units happen.
Here are the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance changes the City Council approved in a unanimous vote on Monday night.
Even with the above success, there is still an opportunity for more gains.
Councilmember Margaret McAustin, during deliberations, asked the Planning staff to research the following before the first reading of the ordinance in approximately four weeks. She asked David Reyes, head of Planning Dept, to research the following questions:
Thank you for your support and we look forward to your continued engagement.
Best regards,
Ed Washatka
Dear fellow advocates for affordable housing,
We can’t thank you enough for your part in supporting a stronger inclusionary housing policy!
As of Monday, August 19, 20% of all new housing will be set aside as affordable in perpetuity!
Due to your advocacy through prayers, encouragement, writing letters, publishing articles, showing up once or many times at the City Council or the Planning Commission, speaking at public meetings, or taking part in POP!’s Housing Justice Committee or GPAHG inclusionary housing subcommittee meetings, those efforts helped to make hundreds of new affordable housing units happen.
Here are the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance changes the City Council approved in a unanimous vote on Monday night.
- Voted to increase the percent of affordable units in all new housing from 15% to 20%
- Voted to eliminate the practice of “trade downs” where developers could build more total units in a building in exchange for building only 10% very low income.
- Voted to provide a menu of incentives for developers whose projects would get approval “by right” or automatically in exchange for agreeing to build affordable units. Such incentives might be faster approval times, or reducing the requirements for parking spaces.
- Voted to increase the “in-lieu” fee paid by a developer instead of building affordable units. If a developer chooses this higher fee, the funds will go to build more extremely low income units or preserve existing affordable units.
Even with the above success, there is still an opportunity for more gains.
Councilmember Margaret McAustin, during deliberations, asked the Planning staff to research the following before the first reading of the ordinance in approximately four weeks. She asked David Reyes, head of Planning Dept, to research the following questions:
- What kind of incentives might be needed to increase the quantity of affordable units to 25%?
- Could trade downs to 15% be provided to developers who build affordable units with 3 or 4 bedrooms? This would provide housing affordability for larger families and keep their children in our public schools.
- Could more affordable units be produced if the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance application threshold is reduced from the current minimum development size of 10 or more units to 8 or more units units? Also, should developments of 3 to 7 units pay some amount of “in-lieu” fee?
- What are the possibilities of initiating a Community Land Trust that might be expanded to other San Gabriel Valley (SGV) cities? The benefit would be as SGV cities, like Monrovia or Alhambra, adopt inclusionary policies, a CLT might provide the needed infrastructure to help administer inclusionary housing policies.
Thank you for your support and we look forward to your continued engagement.
Best regards,
Ed Washatka