PAHC Press Corner

Struggling Economy Provides No Relief For Poorest Renters

Waiting List Underscores Need For More Affordable Housing

SOURCE: Gallen.Neilly Associates

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 5, 2002--The wait list at Alma Place is now up to 100 names. The person on the bottom of that list could have to wait as much as five years for one of the apartments at the Palo Alto affordable housing community. "We've had to close the waiting list because we don't want people to have to hang on for years before they would be eligible for an apartment," said Judy Catambay, director of property management for Palo Alto Housing Corporation -- which operates Alma Place. Demand at the affordable housing community in Palo Alto continues to soar, even though Silicon Valley firms continue to cut back and lay off workers.

According to the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County (HTSCC) the county needs to add 2000 more affordable apartment units over the next three years, just to keep up with current demand. "The housing supply for the average working class family is still far below what it needs to be," said Paul Wysocki -- HTSCC's interim director. "If you are a child care worker, retail salesperson, medical assistant, police officer, elementary school teacher or even a computer support specialist chances are you receive below the median household income in the Bay Area. Those households cannot afford the $575,000 median price for a home on their own, and would struggle to pay the $2100 per month for rent on a two bedroom, market rate apartment," he added.

Housing is considered affordable if it costs no more than 30 percent of household income. For those making under $30,000 a year, that equates to $750 per month. When is the last time anyone saw an apartment for under $750 in the Silicon Valley that they would want to raise a family in? And in case you're wondering who makes under $30,000; the person who pours your morning latte, the woman who rang up your credit card purchase for those Kenneth Cole loafers, the nice twenty-something who watches your child while you are at work and the delivery driver who held the door open for you as you walked into your building this morning all make under $30,000 per year.

When people think of affordable housing, images of welfare recipients may immediately come to mind, but the problem affects more just those below the poverty line. In the Bay Area the median household income is $64,000. Anyone earning below that amount likely needs some form of assistance to find a suitable place to live for his or her family. And for our coffee house person, sales clerk, delivery driver, gas station attendant, medical assistant and the others earning $30,000 and less, they need a lot of assistance.

That's where the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County steps up to the plate. With major supporters like the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and many other organizations and individual supporters, the trust's members are more than just philanthropists. They realize that to have a successful community, there has to be housing for people at all levels of the income bracket. If you have no affordable housing where will you get your teachers, police officers, sales clerks, office assistants and coffee baristas? Think they're all going to drive in from Stockton, Dixon and Gilroy everyday? Not likely.

The housing trust has several programs to help provide housing at all levels of the income bracket. "We provide assistance to people at every end of the spectrum. From creating homeless shelters to first time homebuyer's assistance programs we are trying to make housing choices better," said Wysocki. Besides needing more affordable housing the other problem is that much of the affordable housing that is available, is poorly designed. To help solve that part of the challenge, local builder Prometheus Real Estate Group has sponsored an award with the trust to encourage builders to make better designs when building affordable housing projects.

A housing trust member, and local apartment builder, Jackie Safier of Prometheus Real Estate Group has sponsored an architectural award through a non-profit public foundation established by the principals of her firm. The award, administered by the HTSCC, encourages affordable housing builders to make their projects more attractive and to blend in features and landscaping that you would expect to find in any market rate housing project. "We wanted to help set a higher standard in affordable housing design. We were involved in reviewing the architecture of one affordable housing project and realized that every affordable project could be improved just by making some simple design changes," said Safier. The real kicker was the improvements didn't increase the project cost.

The housing trust awarded their first affordable housing architectural award, called the "Prometheus Prize," to Alma Place in a ceremony last month. And if the wait list of 100 is any indication of how many people are still in need of affordable housing, there is a lot more left to be done. More attractive, affordable housing is desperately needed in the area to attract workers in all income brackets to the area.

The Silicon Valley and all of the Bay Area continues to have a shortage of housing, especially affordable housing. It's a problem that will take both government and private business joining forces to solve. According to Senior Managing Director of the Public Private Advisory Group for Grubb & Ellis Company, John Buttarazzi, the HTSCC is taking a good approach. "This a perfect example for communities around the country to follow in terms of how to solve affordable housing challenges. The combination of Prometheus Real Estate Group, the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group and others joining with the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County is a healthy balance of private funding and public oversight to make the community better for everyone," he said.

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About the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County

The Housing Trust of Santa Clara County grew out of the collective visions of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, the Santa Clara County Collaborative on Affordable Housing and Homeless Issues, and the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley. The trust works jointly to provide affordable housing for families and individuals, and first-time homebuyers. Sponsors include the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Cisco Systems, AMD, Sun Microsystems, Knight Ridder, Hewlett Packard, Applied Materials, County of Santa Clara, The Koret Foundation as well as all the Cities of Santa Clara County. For information call 408/297-0222 or visit their web site: www.housingtrustscc.org  Paul Wysocki, Interim Director 408/297-0222 / Email: paul@wysockiassociates.com

Jackie Safier, Principal of Prometheus Real Estate Group, who believed that she and other builders needed to build better affordable housing projects. Through her participation with the Housing Trust she brought the architectural and economic factors together to create an incentive for developers to build better housing projects, through the creation of the Prometheus Prize Award.

650/596-5331 / Email: jsafier@prometheusreg.com

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