PAHC Press Corner

Mayor surveys affordable housing

Palo Alto Daily News - Publication Date: Sunday, May 20, 2007
by Banks Albach / Daily News Staff Writer

In Palo Alto, demand for affordable housing units outpaces the city's supply

In Palo Alto, a city where many families can hardly fathom buying a market-price home, a number of affordable housing projects offer a chance at home ownership.

But it can take a while.

About 400 names are on the city's waiting list, the entry point for its roughly 350 below-market-rate rentals and for-sale units.

And the Palo Alto Housing Corporation, a nonprofit that has developed and manages 19 affordable housing projects with roughly 600 units in the city, has waiting lists as well.

For example, Alma Place, in the 700 block of Alma Street, has 200 people in line for a chance to live in one of its 261 single-room units.

About 60 people on Saturday toured some of the city's more notable affordable housing projects. At the start, Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto said Palo Alto needs more of them, especially for city employees, such as firefighters, police officers and teachers.

"These projects serve many of the most essential people in our community," Kishimoto said.

The event was organized by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a nonprofit organization affiliated with numerous high-tech companies, and, through its housing trust, is a player in developing affordable homes in Santa Clara County. Now in it's 15th year, the tour is intended to showcase the growing need for low-income housing, said Shiloh Ballard, the group's director of housing and community development.

Ballard stressed that the group does not take donations from developers and does not grade cities on their progress.

This was Palo Alto's first year being showcased. The seven sites included: California Park Apartments in the 2300 block of Park Boulevard, the Opportunity Center on Encina Avenue, Alma Place, 800 High Street and the Oak Court Apartments, which caters to families.

While they all have varying income requirements, they serve people in two groups, Palo Alto Housing Corporation director Marlene Prendergast said.

The first group earns 80 to 120 percent of the county's median income, and is served by the city's below-market-rate ordinance, which requires 15 to 20 percent of a housing development to consist of below-market-rate units.

And nonprofits such as PAHC and the Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition - which developed Page Mill Court, a complex for developmentally disabled residents - serve people and families earning less than $40,000 annually. Rents in these projects are capped at roughly a third of household income.

"With family housing we could build forever," Prendergast said. "But there is a need on every level."

Some of these projects took seven to nine years to complete, Prendergast said. The city has other projects in the pipeline, including plans by Eden Housing to build about 40 low-income rentals and a subsidized senior home on Alma Street, where a batch of transformers stands today.

"We're still in the very early design stages," said Kathy Schmidt, senior project director. An update is due this summer.

Prendergast said acquiring land is by far the most difficult part. But after that, nonprofits search for donations from the government, companies, individuals and other sources, such as SVLG's housing trust, she said. In seven years, the trust has raised $32 million for affordable housing in Silicon Valley, president and CEO Carl Guardino said. Some of those funds went to the Oak Court Apartments.

"That's 6,256 families we've helped," he said. "Why don't I round up? They're not statistics. Every one of them counts."

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