HOUSING SOLUTIONS FOR SONOMA VALLEY
Sonoma Valley suffers from a severe housing affordability crisis that affects every aspect of our community. The future of our community is at stake. Sonoma Valley Collaborative members have pledge to work together, across boundaries, to increase, improve and preserve housing that is affordable, for people who live or work in the Valley, within already developed areas, to create diverse, safe, complete neighborhoods.
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Sonoma Valley suffers from a severe housing affordability crisis that affects every aspect of our community. The future of our community is at stake. Sonoma Valley Collaborative members have pledge to work together, across boundaries, to increase, improve and preserve housing that is affordable, for people who live or work in the Valley, within already developed areas, to create diverse, safe, complete neighborhoods. 〰️
Sonoma Valley Housing Declaration
As Sonoma Valley struggles with multiple crises, it is critical to stabilize the building blocks of our community: people’s homes, their livelihoods, a positive future for their children. Facing this problem, Sonoma Valley Collaborative crafted its Housing Declaration:
A Catalyst for Housing in Sonoma Valley
Sonoma Valley Collaborative is launching a new phase of tackling the housing affordability crisis that threatens Sonoma Valley’s workforce, healthcare and education systems, and nonprofit sector. This effort will set the stage for major interventions to improve housing affordability, such as expanded housing services; extending expiring housing subsidies; building housing on land owned by governments, faith communities, and nonprofits; and planning and community engagement for multi-parcel redevelopment projects.
In February 2024, Sonoma Valley Catalyst Fund, a fund of Community Foundation Sonoma County, granted Sonoma Valley Collaborative $96,200 to lead this project.
The project is a partnership involving City and County staff, Sonoma Valley Collaborative, and housing organizations from across the North Bay. The project will provide clarity and actionable direction about the subset of strategies, programs, and partners that, together, will most improve housing affordability in Sonoma Valley.
Housing Advocacy Wins
Sonoma Valley Collaborative invested in two years of intensive advocacy that resulted in pro-housing and pro-tenant policies in the 2023 County and City of Sonoma Housing Elements, which determine how below-market homes are preserved and built for the next eight years.
Sonoma Valley Collaborative’s Council, staff, and partners did extensive research to create a housing platform supported by our broad coalition. We did housing advocacy workshops with people most impacted by the affordability crisis, including youth and Latina parents, resulting in powerful testimonies that moved decision-makers.
Our advocacy with the united voice of the Sonoma Valley Collaborative Council and community members was effective and inspiring. The Housing Element adopted by Sonoma’s City Council in January 2023 is by far the most pro-housing plan ever in the City of Sonoma! Sonoma Valley Collaborative advocated for 23 housing affordability policies, in many cases writing proposed language that the City adopted word-for-word.
Homes for A Sustainable Sonoma: Strategic Recommendations for Our Community
In 2020, Sonoma Valley Collaborative published a 50-page report, Homes for A Sustainable Sonoma: Strategic Recommendations for Our Community, that has served as a blueprint for answering our Sonoma Valley Housing Declaration call to action. The report was the result of Sonoma Valley Collaborative’s community-wide listening process in 2018, a cross-sector exploration of housing issues in 2019, detailed input on recommended actions from several housing experts in late 2019, and Sonoma Valley Collaborative’s crisis response activities in 2020.
The strategic recommendations in the Homes were report are tailored to Sonoma Valley—its challenges, assets, and particular makeup. Every recommendation in the report meets Sonoma Valley Collaborative’s demanding criteria that it advance all of the following: 1) economic security, 2) equitable well-being for all, and 3) environmental and climate sustainability.
Voices of Sonoma Valley: What People Want Most For Our Community
At 20 listening sessions between March and October 2018, Sonoma Valley Collaborative recorded over 1,600 comments about what Sonoma Valley residents and workers want for the future of their community.
By far the most common opinion expressed is that Sonoma Valley should have more affordable housing of many types and prices. Other common opinions recorded included protecting open space; increasing mobility options such as walking, biking, and public transit; seeing more connection and inclusion across our community; and providing better opportunities for young people.
Sonoma Valley Collaborative used these findings to inform our choice to take action together to solve the housing affordability crisis in Sonoma Valley.