Since Sustainable Sonoma made the decision to focus on housing affordability, the Sustainable Sonoma Council has been working on a consensus description of what that means for Sustainable Sonoma in some detail. The Council is far from finished with this process. The following articles touch on some topics coming up in these conversations.

• Many comments from the community that were tallied in Sustainable Sonoma’s Voices of Sonoma Valley talked about the desire for neighborhoods that include shops, schools, community services, and green space, or “complete neighborhoods.” This intention has been codified in some land use plans, such as this one from Hayward, California.

• One topic we will be digging deeper into is that of “tenant protections”: how existing lower-cost rental housing can be kept affordable. It’s controversial. Here is a tenant perspective and a landlord perspective on this topic. 

• Sonoma County is asking the public to recommend sites for building new housing. 

• Here is a business perspective on the housing situation in the North Bay as a whole causing a labor shortage. 

• Here is a Los Angeles Times editorial praising Minneapolis’ recent decision to abandon single-family zoning, and “instead allow duplexes and triplexes to be built on lots now reserved for one house”, in order address their housing crisis in a way that is equitable and compact. 

• An amazing housing resource from a county similar to ours: San Mateo County’s Home For All website.

• Meanwhile, local new housing projects are sometimes embraced, like the Fetters Apartments in the Springs; sometimes embroiled, like those on the hospital’s South Lot or Broadway and MacArthur; and sometimes stalled, as with the planning for Sonoma Developmental Center.

If you have suggestions, resources, or connections related to housing for Sonoma Valley, please speak your mind on the Sustainable Sonoma website.