| A groundbreaking effort to improve
the supply of affordable housing in the six-county Sacramento Region
was approved unanimously by the Board of Directors of the Sacramento
Area Council of Governments today.
The effort, the Sacramento Regional Compact for Production of Affordable
Housing (Compact) is a voluntary pilot program for jurisdictions
within the SACOG region to meet a minimum production standard of
affordable housing.
The Sacramento Region includes El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter,
Yolo and Yuba counties and their constituent cities -- Auburn, Citrus
Heights, Colfax, Davis, Elk Grove, Folsom, Galt, Isleton, Lincoln,
Live Oak, Loomis, Marysville, Placerville, Rancho Cordova, Rocklin,
Roseville, Sacramento, West Sacramento, Wheatland, Winters, Woodland,
and Yuba City.
The Board voted to approve the Compact during its regular monthly
meeting. Board members called the vote a ‘momentous’ and ‘significant’ attempt at addressing the skyrocketing cost of
housing in the Sacramento Region.
“This is a very important step for cities and counties
in the region to cooperatively approach the issue of making housing
affordable,” said SACOG Chair and West Sacramento Mayor Christopher
Cabaldon. “It’s essential to the region’s economic prosperity to have its workforce be able
to achieve the dream of home ownership.”
“This is one of the most significant issues facing
our region,” SACOG Director and Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo
said during the meeting. “We have to have places for the people who work in
our restaurants, college students, and young families just starting
out to live. This is a modest, but momentous, first step in the
right direction.”
The jurisdictions joining the Compact would agree to meet an affordable
housing production standard by any means they deem appropriate,
but within any guidelines set forth by the Compact. Specifically,
jurisdictions would adopt the following production goals:
At least 10 percent of all new housing construction in jurisdictions
participating in the Compact would meet an affordability standard.
The following rules would guide meeting the 10 percent goal:
- At least four percent of all new housing construction will be
affordable to very low-income families.
- At least four percent of all new housing construction will be
affordable to low-income families.
- If necessary, up to two percent of the 10 percent goal could
be met by housing affordable to moderate-income families.
- The “4-4-2 standard” can be met through a combination of new construction
and substantial rehabilitation.
- All housing used to meet the “4-4-2 standard” must be under regulatory affordability agreement.
- Jurisdictions may elect to include or exclude units that are
under development agreement or vested maps at the time of joining
the Compact.
“Home ownership is the touchstone of economic opportunity,” said David Butler, vice president of the Sacramento
Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. “We enthusiastically support this approach.”
Sacramento area jurisdictions interested in joining the Compact
would need to do the following:
- The governing body of the jurisdiction would be required to
pass a resolution agreeing to the goals and conditions of the
program;
- They would need to provide annual reports to SACOG on their
progress in meeting the Compact’s goals.
- Agree that the production standard would be in place until December
31, 2010.
SACOG will conduct an annual assessment and make necessary changes
to the program and the goals.
SACOG is the regional transportation planning and funding agency
for the six-county Sacramento Region. For further information, contact
Phyllis Miller, at 916-340-6224. |
