SONOMA VALLEY HOUSING AFFORDABILITY ROADMAP

An action plan to address our community’s housing affordability crisis over the next three years, funded by Sonoma Valley Catalyst Fund.

The Roadmap Advances the 3 P’s of Housing

Preserve Affordable Infill Homes

Keep lower-income people in their affordable homes by partnering with philanthropy and other funds to assure that subsidized, below-market-rate homes in Sonoma Valley stay that way.

Produce Affordable infill homes

Add your pricing strategy. Be sure to include important details like value, length of service, and why it’s unique.

Protect precariously housed residents

Programs aimed at keeping people at risk of homelessness housed and preventing homelessness.

and…

Focuses on homes for local workers and residents with limited means, excluding homeless services

  • Builds on local governments’ Housing Elements and Homes for a Sustainable Sonoma Valley.

  • Funded by Sonoma Valley Catalyst Fund, and based on in-depth research and interviews

STRATEGIES OVERVIEW

Click on strategy to skip to section.

Create A Sonoma Valley Community Development Entity

A mission-driven nonprofit to coordinate affordable housing development and preservation.

Assure Affordability Commitments Are Kept

Local governments jointly create a rental registry that delivers transparency, accountability, and tracking.

Preserve Existing Affordable Housing

Buy out deed-restricted units before their affordability expires, to prevent loss to the open market.

Improve Zoning & Land Use Rules

Modernize local policies to incentivize and streamline affordable infill housing projects.

Public or Nonprofit Ownership of Land

Land banks, housing land trusts, and cooperatives enable permanently lower costs of owning or renting homes.

Workforce Housing

A focus on farmworker housing and first-time homebuyers.

Keep Renters Housed

Expand accessible services: landlord-tenant negotiation, housing navigation, rental assistance, and eviction prevention.

Build Local Funding to House Our Community

Local funding sources help bring in state and federal dollars, and are more flexible.

STRATEGY 1

Create A Sonoma Valley Community Development Entity

Summary

Sonoma Valley needs a mission-driven nonprofit to plan, coordinate, and facilitate the development and preservation of affordable and workforce homes. A community development corporation (CDC) is a proven model, filling gaps left by existing agencies. A Sonoma Valley CDC would track housing needs, identify development opportunities, coordinate stakeholders, and overcome barriers to housing production and preservation.

STRATEGY 2A

Adopt a strong rental registry

Summary

Sonoma City and County need a rental registry to track rental costs, occupancy, evictions, and displacement patterns across mid- and low-cost rental housing in Sonoma Valley. Without this data, policymakers cannot identify and address issues in the housing market.

STRATEGY 2B

Ensure that people living in income-restricted homes are those who need them

Summary

Identify subsidized homes (including “inclusionary units”) and ensure that those units are indeed rented to qualifying low-income residents. Absent this follow-through, deserving people are being excluded from affordable homes.

STRATEGY 3A

Buy out subsidized homes before their subsidies expire, so they can be affordable into perpetuity.

Summary

Sonoma Valley already has many protected, below-market homes, but most of them have time-limited protections that will expire, leaving those units and their occupants vulnerable to the extreme prices of the open market. A coalition of property owners, government agencies, and nonprofits can rescue those subsidized units and extend their subsidies perpetually.

STRATEGY 3B

Identify unsubsidized “naturally affordable” housing in Sonoma Valley and ensure its permanent affordability.

Summary

Sonoma Valley still has lower-cost homes, studios, mobilehomes, and apartments. We need to locate those homes and rally partners and agreements to keep them affordable even as overall housing costs rise.

STRATEGY 3C

Preserve mobilehome parks

Summary

About 10% of Sonoma Valley’s residents live in mobilehome parks, mostly seniors and lower-income families, so it is paramount that these communities remain affordable. We need to strengthen local mobilehome park closure and conversion ordinances and prevent conversion of mobilehome parks. Ample examples across California show the way.