County’s 2016 Measure A housing bond is delivering on promise

Final week, Santa Clara County launched an replace on the implementation of 2016 Measure A inexpensive housing bond. As soon as once more, the report demonstrates how the bond is delivering on its promise to voters of making deeply inexpensive, everlasting houses to straight tackle our area’s most entrenched problems with homelessness, poverty and housing shortage. By means of the multi-jurisdictional, public-private partnerships cast by this effort over the previous seven years, the county Board of Supervisors has accredited almost $1 billion in funds to help 66 housing growth initiatives in 10 cities, yielding 6,231 items in Santa Clara County.

Trying again, that progress is much more outstanding. Previous to 2015, our group had lower than 300 items designated particularly for folks with out a house. However with hundreds of unhoused people and lots of extra just one paycheck away from catastrophe, there was an crucial to do extra. This motion first began with the formation of the county’s Workplace of Supportive Housing however shortly gained momentum with collaboration from the Metropolis of San Jose and the Santa Clara County Housing Authority to all come collectively, braiding sources and determining learn how to make the puzzle of funding work to create new housing for probably the most susceptible.

However the sea change actually emerged with the passage of Measure A. Again in 2016, when critics mentioned nobody would construct supportive housing as a result of it wouldn’t work in our market, the Board of Supervisors put a $950 million inexpensive housing bond on the poll. And whereas there was $150 million finally devoted for first-time homebuyers and workforce housing growth, the supervisors leaned into the deepest ranges of affordability, vigorously defending the bond’s major focus: $800 million for supportive, extraordinarily, and really low earnings housing.

Sadly, the preliminary resistance to those priorities wasn’t shocking. We got here up with hundreds of causes to not remedy homelessness. Few jurisdictions put their cash the place their mouth is, however our group lastly did. And it was this unwavering dedication to constructing for folks with the bottom incomes that has change into the rallying cry for our area. However the actuality is that this was solely just the start.

For the reason that approval of the bond, now we have seen builders undertake strategic targets to focus particularly on supportive housing. We have now watched jurisdictions resembling Mountain View, Los Altos, Gilroy and the Valley Transportation Authority work with the county to fund new deeply inexpensive developments collectively. We have now witnessed leaders at San Jose and the Housing Authority undertake daring new spending insurance policies that require that almost all of their housing funds be put aside particularly for very low earnings houses, leading to a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. And we welcomed the non-public sector into the combo, providing up tens of hundreds of thousands as catalytic, hole filling funding.

Dozens of initiatives later and the panorama right here will perpetually be improved, however we should do extra. With the bond nearly expended, further public {dollars} by new funding measures are wanted to proceed to maneuver the sturdy pipeline now we have created ahead. And companies and philanthropic companions have to proceed to push the envelope with quick and versatile funds that would permit us to hurry up growth, drive down prices and maybe present the way in which to much more efficient approaches.

So in the present day it’s critically vital to recollect what these efforts characterize. By means of the desire of the voters and the laborious work of our companions, the success of the housing bond is our group’s dedication to addressing the housing wants of our most susceptible residents, our elders, our youngsters and our households. Let’s present the resolve now to maintain urgent ahead.

John A. Sobrato is founder and principal of actual property developer The Sobrato Group and a board member of Vacation spot: Dwelling. Jennifer Loving is CEO of Vacation spot: Dwelling.