By Stephanie Schaaf
What would you do in the next five years to create more affordable homes? That is the question that the Mountain View City Council must grapple with as it takes up the city’s Affordable Housing Strategy this month. Where should our precious housing dollars be spent to best serve our community?
We all know that neighborhoods succeed when everyone has a decent place to live. When parents and children can put down roots in the community with confidence, our whole community benefits.
Those with the fewest resources also have the fewest opportunities to find affordable homes. According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the No. 1 cause of homelessness is lack of affordable housing. There is no community in America where a minimum-wage worker can afford a market-rate apartment. In Mountain View, you need to make more than $26 an hour to afford a two-bedroom.
An analysis of census data by the Affordable Housing Network shows that Santa Clara County actually has a surplus of rental homes that are affordable for every income level except extremely low. So why are moderate-income families still feeling the crunch? Because those in the lower-income bracket are occupying those units, paying more than they can afford for them, sometimes doubling up with other families or choosing between buying dinner and paying rent. As a result, those units are not available to families who could actually afford them.
If we focus our resources on building homes at the deepest level of affordability, it will allow those with the greatest housing need to find a home with a rent within their means, freeing up moderately priced units for middle-income families.
Mountain View has made admirable progress in creating affordable housing, including such attractive developments as Central Park Apartments, San Veron Park, and Monte Vista Terrace. These apartments allow our community’s senior citizens, child care workers, janitors and hairdressers to call Mountain View home.
Nevertheless, there is still a great need, particularly for working families with extremely low incomes. As the city council debates the Affordable Housing Strategy, it makes sense to focus on obtaining land to build affordable rental homes for these families.
But the city can’t succeed alone. Much of Mountain View’s progress was made possible by voter-approved Proposition 46, which provided funds for everything from affordable rental homes to first-time homebuyer loans to emergency shelters. Mountain View benefited from Prop. 46 to the tune of $5 million.
Unfortunately, Prop. 46 funds will soon run out. Mountain View’s ability to continue providing needed housing options will be significantly hampered unless our state leaders commit to including a housing component in the upcoming statewide infrastructure bond. Homes make up our basic physical and social infrastructure — they are the building blocks of neighborhoods — and the state should invest in them as it does other infrastructure.
The security and stability of our communities are improved when everyone has a decent place to live. We must work together to lay the foundation by providing housing opportunities for the people who are most hurt by the current state of the market, recognizing that it’s a critical step in a continuing effort to improve housing choices for everyone.
Stephanie Schaaf ran for Mountain View City Council in 2004. She works for San Jose-based EHC LifeBuilders, which provides housing and homeless services in Santa Clara County.
