Affordable Housing Guarantees — Building Community First

For affordable housing to work long-term, it must be done with the community in mind. To build more affordable housing faster, we must quickly implement the suggestions of neighborhoods.

As I’ve been knocking on doors, I’m talking to our community about housing and homelessness, many folks have a concern about NIMBYism. They ask, how is your plan for housing going to work if everyone around us is a NIMBY? My first answer is very easy. We in downtown D3, have the most affordable financially subsidized and naturally occurring affordable housing anywhere in San Jose. We also have the most diverse types of housing anywhere in San Jose. We have sororities, dorms, group homes, safe houses, rooming houses, rent controlled apartments, subsidized affordable housing, permanent supportive housing, hotel-home-key housing, senior housing, shelters, half-way houses, tiny homes, Section-8 housing, and more. So, when someone moves to downtown San Jose, it’s because they’re attracted to diversity. We have diversity on many levels that most folks are accustomed to talking about. But we don’t talk about the diversity in our housing stock. And that each and every one of us who live in D3, has already fully embraced housing diversity.

My second answer is not as easy. I asked the person who was complaining about NIMBYs, why do you think someone would be a NIMBY. There were a lot of guesses. But when I explained that it’s because we are not addressing the communities’ legitimate concerns, that is when people acknowledge the true holdup with more affordable housing. In the long run, the only way to overcome housing resistance is to deal with their valid concerns honestly and fairly and not to simply dismiss them as both the San Jose Housing Department and many big advocacy groups often do.

Solving the housing crisis requires a holistic and long-term approach and with full support from the neighborhoods. When neighborhoods have concerns about what will happen on the sidewalks, streets, and parks, and how it will impact them personally with their family and children, we must carefully, methodically address these issues. Nowhere in San Jose have we addressed objections adequately with solutions, and neighborhood fear is growing.

Neighborhoods experience impacts

We have some great examples where ADUs, subsidized permanent supportive housing and subsidized affordable housing is working in the communities. We have the Casitas de Esperanza on N. 1st St. which has been very responsive to the community as well as PATH on N. 2nd St. However, there are too many examples to mention, where complaints by community members go unheard and neighborhoods are having dramatic negative consequences and have become skeptical. Other neighborhoods watch these examples carefully.

Siting Policy ineffective

In addition, the San Jose Housing Department has put in place a Siting Policy — stating that affordable housing will be equitably distributed throughout all of San Jose. But our D3 community is distrustful because affordable housing and often difficult to manage buildings are being primarily located in D3. Also, Siting Policy allocations are being made without looking at the various types and volume of existing affordable housing in D3 and there is an inequitable allocation of more favorable affordable housing such as senior housing, in other districts.

Communities distrust SJHD

We are now seeing communities in uproar and in contagious protest against forcing tiny homes in locations designated by the San Jose housing department without input on location. SJHD has taken it upon themselves to steam roll over the community. If we do not address the current evidentiary based complaints of the community regarding the integration of subsidized housing, there will be more communities that resist. “San Jose officials will ask residents for feedback on the design of the homes, but not where they’ll go.” This lack of listening and engagement with the community will only cause further resistance, frustration, and distrust. https://sanjosespotlight.com/tiny-homes-are-coming-whether-san-jose-lawmakers-like-it-or-not/

We can overcome these issues with housing guarantees that put the whole community first and set shining examples for other neighborhoods to follow and fully integrate affordable housing.

Affordable Housing Guarantees

San Jose must put in place guarantees as to how ADUs, subsidized affordable housing and permanent supportive housing will be managed so that there is no negative impact on the community and with every expectation that the community will be better off. The new members of the community will be expected to follow the law, their rental agreement, and good neighbor policies.

1. The Housing department (SJHD) will guarantee a level of service to be provided by the property management company or housing provider with not to exceed numbers for volume of: 911 calls, crime in and around the building. If these numbers are exceeded the SJHD will put a plan in place within one week’s time to reduce the volume of 911 calls and crime reports.

2. The housing department, not the community, will be responsible for managing and actively resolving any complaints from the community. The complaints will be organized per building with metrics and measurements for success with regularly scheduled public feedback.

3. SJHD will coordinate with police and fire to receive regular updates as to call type and volume per building and publicly publish these stats at each location.

4. The SJHD will actively remove camping, abandoned vehicles and RVs near affordable housing.

5. The community will be asked how the environment can be made better than it was before the additional housing. (added parks, added police or community officers, added street calming, added parking). SJHD will be responsible for implementing these changes.

6. SJHD will educate all new ADU owners of the typical legal pitfalls of running a housing providing business. (business license, landlord/tenant laws, TPO, eviction moratorium, rent freezes, security deposit returns)

7. SJHD will provide legal assistance and respond to issues from community neighbors, housing providers and renters.

8. SJHD will use binding arbitration for eviction cases and hire former judges. Evicted renters will then be placed in either financial rehab or behavior modification to avoid future evictions. Evictions will be public record and published monthly. Evicted renters will be given beds at the Incremental Ladder of Housing Success locations. https://medium.com/@irenesmithd3/incremental-ladder-of-housing-success-5cebce8a88f7

9. SJHD will actively follow the Siting Policy and if exceptions are to be made it will only be with the written approval of the community.

10. If the property management company on-site is unable or unwilling to enforce their rental contracts, then the SJHD will be responsible for enforcing the rental agreement as well as good neighbor policies.

11. Forcing renters to smoke outside has had detrimental effects on neighbors, SJHD must develop a Health First plan to eliminate secondhand smoke and protect neighbors.

12. SJHD will be fully accountable to the new department of public listening. https://medium.com/@irenesmithd3/an-office-of-public-outreach-improving-citizen-input-city-outreach-and-trust-in-government-f8996e8c0241