County supes approve funding for affordable housing County supes approve funding for affordable housing (June 11, 2004)

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved $2.8 million in funding on Tuesday to be used for nine affordable housing projects across the South Bay.

The county will allocate the money from the $18.6 million Affordable Housing Fund created by the board in July 2002 to be used especially for housing projects, according to Office of Affordable Housing Director Marjorie Matthews.

Matthews said the fund can help both pending and current projects qualify for additional state funding through Proposition 46.

Proposition 46, passed in November 2002, is a $2.1-billion bond measure that provides funding for the construction of affordable housing as well as for down-payment assistance for low-income homebuyers.

"The beauty of this process is that we're able to provide funding to help some of these projects break ground and get moving," Matthews said.

"One of the main ways that a project can receive funding through Proposition 46 is to demonstrate that the developers can leverage money from the local government. This is the first step."

In September the county allocated $7.6 million from the Affordable Housing Fund that allowed three projects to draw more than $16 million in matching state funds, Matthews said.

Despite budget concerns in the county, Matthews believes the funding will actually help save money.

"It's very hard to quantify but once you can take care of a person's basic needs like housing, things start falling into place," Matthews said. "When people have stable housing the number of crimes can become reduced while improving people's mental health."

-- Bay City News

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