Dear Future SJ Housing Director
Under the Independent Leadership Group umbrella, this op-ed from the United Housing Alliance is endorsed by the following organizations and individuals: Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, Silicon Valley Biz PAC, Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association, Vietnamese-American Cultural Foundation, Santa Clara District of California Chiropractic Association; Aurelia Sanchez, James Salata, Davide Vieira, David Noel
{We take a forward ride in the Time Machine — to December 2023, and respond to the arrival of SJ’s New Housing Director.}
A warm welcome to you, our new San Jose Housing Director.
As our new Mayor has probably informed you, we in San Jose need a functioning eco-system that unleashes our desire and capacity for a boatload of more housing. In the past our SJHD has not been able to accomplish this task because they dedicated themselves to overbearing regulation, temporary subsidies, and incestuous relationships with nonprofit organizations representing the Housing Industrial Complex. We have more unhoused on the streets of San Jose than ever before and an 11% increase this year alone. These compounding yearly homelessness increases have come on the heals of more SJHD staff, billions of dollars spent, and numerous nonprofits benefiting from housing costing upwards of $1.1M per door.
You have your work cut out for you but there are many of us anxious to help you succeed. And we are delighted that your experience is from outside San Jose, with proven success in delivering more housing with market driven forces, and free from the weighty conflict of interest associated with nonprofits and biased consultants.
Thank you for coming to San Jose and meeting the following criteria:
· Demonstrable success in adding substantial numbers of housing to a city or county.
· Proficiency in working with existing Housing Providers and market forces to create more housing.
· Proficiency in economics: finance, economies of scale, and budgeting.
· Strong background in customer service and responsiveness with the ability to reach out to all stakeholders and summarize/analyze public perceptions.
· Expert knowledge of all forms of housing development (shelters, tiny, PSH, affordable, missing middle, & high end).
· Successful negotiations with county and other government agencies to provide mental health and appropriate services for supportive housing.
· Experience as an individual contributor in planning departments, field construction, property management, and cost accounting for building & development.
And we fully value your expertise in:
· Implementing a visual system of collaboration, follow up, and active listening so that residents are heard, and their input is both valued and actionable.
And thank you for your well researched dissertation on the health of housing as it relates to the symbiotic relationships between developers, renters, housing providers, and reduced government regulation.
Welcome! We’ve been waiting for you.
