Skip to main content

Home-grown Housing

View / Download

By: Johanna Jensen, Lesli Langslet, Elizabeth Swenson, Geri Morisky, Marie Jones 
Originally published in the July 2018 issue of Real Estate Magazine.
Click here to view the original article.
 
Fort Bragg, like many other California towns, is experiencing a severe housing shortage. Working families cannot find rentals at any price, much less prices they can afford. Traveling nurses and doctors and woodworking students who come here to work and learn are having a hard time getting places to stay; some end up deciding not to come at all. People on fixed incomes search desperately for affordable rentals. The homeless, with multiple health, mental, financial, and addiction problems, remain homeless. In an inspiring display of homegrown activism, a local group has come together to tackle these issues head-on. The fiery self-starters of the Healthy Mendocino Housing Action Team of Mendocino's North Coast have rolled up their sleeves, formed alliances with the city of Fort Bragg and other groups and agencies, and are conjuring funding, creative collaborations, and effective, doable solutions to address this urgent need.

WHAT CAN WE DO FOR OUR (COLLECTIVE) SELVES?
Many people who visit Mendocino’s beautiful coast want to move here. It’s a wonderful place to live and retire, it’s not far from the Bay Area, and property is less expensive than in many places on the California coast. Retiring here has been popular for years, but as more and more people buy retirement, vacation, and investment homes, it’s straining our already tight housing market.
There’s no longer enough affordable housing for the families who live and work here. Our community, like many across the country, is grappling with a housing crisis that leaves residents struggling to find good, safe, affordable places to live. Many renters spend more than half of their monthly income on rent. As low-cost rentals are replaced with luxury housing or converted to vacation homes, hard-working families are priced out of the path earlier generations traveled to middle class.
Stable and affordable housing is key to economic growth and is crucial to making Mendocino County’s economy work for everyone. Creating jobs means creating homes for workers and their families. The problem is more than just places to live; the financial viability of the coast is at stake. We need solutions, we need them specifically for Mendocino’s north coast and we need them now.
Three years ago, this belief led to creating the Housing Action Team of Mendocino’s North Coast (HAT). Our goal is to find ways of increasing the supply of safe, decent housing for coastal residents. We’re a group of volunteers, affiliated with Healthy Mendocino, a countywide organization that works to improve the overall quality of life in Mendocino County. HAT projects so far include: a successful community workshop about the benefits, regulations, and methods of building second units; participation in Fort Bragg’s General Plan Housing Element update; keeping the community informed via newspaper articles, Web, and Facebook posts; and media support for a tenant and landlord Housing Rights Project workshop series. In October HAT will be hosting our second workshop, this time about the economics of second units and regulations specific to building in the county’s
unincorporated areas.
It’s clear that lack of housing for low- and middle-income families is approaching emergency status and that waiting for the government to solve the problem is not an option. HAT believes it’s time for resourceful coastal residents to do what we often do— act individually and collectively to help ourselves and our neighbors.
The good news is, much is already happening here and programs are happening in other communities we can replicate (with and without governmental assistance). Here are just some of the things we are currently doing and can start doing to help ourselves and our community.
 
WE CAN BUILD ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS (ADUs) IN OUR BACKYARDS
ADUs, also known as granny cottages and alley houses are rentals built on a residential lot with another house. Because ADUs are small, smaller than the property’s original house, rents usually fall in the low-to-middle price range. ADUs increase housing stock, bring costs down and offer a solution we can do ourselves while waiting for additional government and developer solutions.
 California mandated that all cities and counties relax their requirements so it would be easier, faster, and more affordable to build ADUs and Junior ADUs (very small rentals created out of a bedroom within an existing single-family home).
Fort Bragg and Mendocino County are going beyond the state’s requirements. Both offerfree ADU plans. The architect of Fort Bragg’s Cypress Street small houses, Mr. Kash Boodjeh, donated eight new house plans for use in Fort Bragg, the smallest is just fourhundred square feet and they range up to eight hundred square feet. The county’s plans also range in sizes and features; the smallest is 816 sq. ft., designed for use in Fort Bragg city limits; the larger is 1,120 sq. ft. for use elsewhere in the county. Customplans require approvals, which these do not, and are expensive, anywhere from ten thousand to twenty thousand dollars. ADU plans for folks living in the county are available at Planning and Building Services in Ukiah and Fort Bragg, and at Fort Bragg’s City Hall for those living in Fort Bragg.
In addition to proving free ADU plans, the city and county no longer require onsite parking, or water and sewer connection fees. Savings offered by these changes start at five thousand dollars per ADU making them a win-win-win solution; they’re something we can do now: build an ADU now and increase the number of affordable rentals and put cash in your pocket.
 
WE CAN SUPPORT CITY OF FORT BRAGG-LED PROJECTS
Housing projects in-play or under-consideration in Fort Bragg, include: a sixty-eight-unit affordable housing project; revisions to the General Plan’s Housing Element that allow tiny house communities; zoning changes that support greater density; and creation of a public/private partner Community Land Trust.
The city of Fort Bragg and Danco, a nonprofit affordable housing developer is working on The Plateau, a sixty-eight-unit affordable housing project. The proposed project would be located at 441 South Street, just south of the hospital on a five-acre vacant site.
 
The project will include:
• Twenty-three workforce cottages affordable to families earning less than 80 percent Area Median Income. The workforce housing will also be rented at rates affordable to 30 percent of household income. For working families, rents would range between $419 and $890 per month for eligible families of four earning between $16,000 and $54,000 per year.
• Twenty-five cottages affordable to low-income senior households earning less than 50 percent of Area Median Income. All senior units will be rented at rates affordable to 30 percent of household income. For seniors rents would range between $341 to $455 per month for eligible seniors with incomes between $13,000 and $25,000 per year.
• Twenty Permanent Supportive Housing cottages for homeless seniors, veterans, and families. The units will consist of one- and two-bedroom cottages ranging from 616 sq. ft. to 830 sq. ft. All twenty PSH units will be rented to people at an affordable rental rate of 30 percent of the renter’s income. This means that homeless individuals would pay $341/month (30 percent of Area Median Income for an individual) and homeless families would rent a two-bedroom for between $409 and $546/month. Each cottage will have solar panels, which will eliminate utility costs for tenants.
 
The Permanent Supportive Housing will include intensive services (case work, counseling, wellness services, and health care) to help individuals and families successfully transition to permanent housing and lead more stable lives. The Permanent Supportive Housing units will be dedicated for people who are homeless or otherwise unstably housed, experience multiple barriers to housing, and are unable to maintain housing stability without supportive services. The proposed location for the Permanent Supportive Housing, on South Street, is ideal as it is directly adjacent to health care and mental health care service providers.
All three components will be arranged as courtyard housing around a central park. In the center of each park a twelve hundred square foot commons building will provide a group meeting space with a small kitchen for group activities and laundry facilities. The project will also include two onsite managers.
The city has assisted Danco with the project by securing a three-million-dollar state grant and by providing a quarter-million-dollar loan. Danco has just applied for tax-credit financing and is hopeful that at least thirty-nine units will be built next year. The project will also bring an estimated addition twenty-two-million dollars in construction work to the coast. The buildings will look very similar to the Cottages at Cypress, another Danco
project in Fort Bragg.
 
WE CAN BUILD TINY HOUSE COMMUNITIES
While the average home in the United States has doubled and tripled in size over the past couple of decades, a quieter, smaller movement has taken hold: the idea of the tiny home and the tiny home community. This movement, also referred to as the “not so big house" approach, is a welcome trend to reduce the cost, stuff, and expense of living while improving social outcomes. Quality over quantity!
A “tiny house" measures, on average, between one hundred to four hundred square feet. But they can be as small as eighty square feet or as large as eight hundred square feet. Often resembling studio apartments, tiny homes can be crafted in many styles and customized to personal tastes. They include all the needed amenities of a home: a sleeping area, bathroom, kitchen, storage, and spots for eating and relaxing.
The idea of living small, really small, is catching on. While most tiny home owners livealone, they can be built to accommodate couples and small families. Tiny homes provide a viable and affordable living option. The average cost to construct a new standardsized home in the Fort Bragg is over three hundred thousand dollars. The average cost of a 120 sq. ft. tiny house is twenty-five thousand dollars if built by the homeowner,
and double that if it is built by a contractor. A larger tiny home (five hundred to seven hundred square feet) will likely cost between $90,000 and $120,000. Tiny homes that are on wheels add flexibility and allow for mobility for a change of circumstances. These benefits are especially valuable for older adults and singles who aren’t up to taking on major home maintenance work, are on a fixed budget, and want/need the flexibility to adapt to whatever the future brings. Living in a tiny space also means living with fewer possessions. You have to consider every item you bring into a tiny home. Outdoor living space becomes really important to tiny home dwellers, which is where the tiny home
community comes in.
Tiny home communities give us all a new way to think about housing. The Fort Bragg City Council will consider revising its zoning ordinance this fall to accommodate mobile tiny homes as second units and to facilitate the development of tiny home communities. Tiny home communities typically have a commons building where residents can gather and socialize with friends. They also provide an opportunity for people to purchase a much smaller parcel than typical and thereby afford a home that they otherwise might not afford. Fort Bragg’s Senior Cottages at Cypress was built with a Tiny Home perspective as it includes a commons building, a common storage building, and all the units are less than seven hundred square feet. This beautiful project is much appreciated by its residents and neighbors as a fun and beautiful place to live and create community. Tiny home communities are good for social interaction. They include some of the aspects of co-housing in a less expensive package and allow for more and better social interactions between residents. 
Tiny homes are also good for the environment. They use less energy and produce less climate warming gasses. They also use fewer materials to build, and keep their owners form collecting extra stuff. They result in a pared down and more austere lifestyle. For single people it can really feel like a right-sized house.
 
WE CAN ENCOURAGE ZONING AND INCREASE DENSITY
Another way local jurisdictions are addressing the housing crisis is to change zoning ordinances to support increased density. The city of Fort Bragg is considering implementing zoning changes as part of the 2019 Housing Element, including a proposal to allow multi-family development by right in medium-density and high-density zoning districts without a use permit, allowing three- or four-unit developments on larger parcels within Single Family Residential Zoning District with a use permit, and simplifying or exempting projects with three or four units.
These changes have the potential to reduce the initial expenses to developers and decrease the overall time dedicated to each project, enabling the savings to be passed onto consumers and providing more affordable housing opportunities on the Mendocino coast.
Higher densities, coupled with smaller lot sizes, reduce infrastructure costs as a direct result of reduced lengths of water and sewer pipes, fewer roads, and other infrastructure. Not only does this reduce the installation costs paid by developers, it also reduces the long-term maintenance and replacement burdens passed onto local taxpayers.
An additional value of higher density and mixed-use zoning is the added value of walk-ability and the increased ability to depend more on cycling and public transportation. This in turn reduces automobile-dependent development, which reduces the demand on infrastructure and impact on the environment.
 
WE CAN START A COMMUNITY LAND TRUST
A Community Land Trust (CLT) has great potential for solving some of our most pressing housing needs. As we write this, the city of Fort Bragg’s Community Development Department is preparing a staff report for the Community Development Committee, assessing the benefits of creating one in the city.
 A Community Land Trust is a private, nonprofit community-based group that uses private donations and public grants to buy and hold land for housing. The heart of almost every CLT’s work is the development of homes for sale or rent that remain permanently affordable. A CLT’s structure is flexible, they have the capacity to develop property for work spaces, community gardens, and other community needs as well as housing. CLTs are sometimes confused with other kinds of land trusts, such as the nonprofit Mendocino Land Trust whose mission is to conserve and restore valuable natural resources rather than housing.
Community Land Trusts started in the US, but now they are also in England, New Zealand, Australia, and a number of other countries. While Community Land Trusts (CLTs) have existed since the 1980s, their numbers started to increase rapidly over the last ten years as local governments contributed their support. Among other accomplishments, these public–private partnerships have helped to expand the nation’s stock of permanently
affordable home ownership housing.
There are now over 250 in the US, 30 percent of which are in rural areas. One of the largest is in Vermont, established in 1984 it manages 2,200 apartments and 565 owner occupied homes.
A nearby CLT, The Sonoma County Community Land Trust, covers a large area and has rentals and sales housing in Healdsburg, Petaluma, Cotati, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, and Cloverdale. The Sonoma County Community Land Trust website in an excellent and friendly site to learn of the benefits to individuals and the community. The California Community Land Trust Network is a good source for learning about CLTs throughout
California.
Community Land Trusts provide an essential benefit to cities and counties—permanent housing affordability. The permanency is assured because the CLT owns the land with a commitment to using it for affordable home ownership, thus removing the property from an inflationary real estate market. In the case of a new development, owning the land contributes to reduced costs for the builder, making it more likely a housing developer
can afford to build low-to-middle-income housing.
The people buying houses from a CLT own only the house, they do not own the land it is on. CLT homeowners agree at time of purchase to the CLT’s policy governing the amount of return they will get. When the home owner sells the house, they sell it back to the CLT or an approved buyer using a formula that was agreed upon at time of purchase. This process keeps the homes permanently unaffected by the real estate market while letting CLT home buyers accumulate equity to apply to their next home.
A CLT bases the sales price and rental rates on the Area Median Income (AMI) rather than the community’s market rate housing, keeping the housing costs affordable and in line with incomes in the area. For housing to be affordable it should cost no more than 30 percent of a family’s income. Individuals or families earning less than 80 percent of the AMI are eligible to rent or buy CLT housing. This makes CLTs a good fit for Fort Bragg as approximately 59 percent of households earn less than 80 percent of the AMI.
 A dramatic increase in local government investment and involvement is fueling the proliferation of CLTs. Over the past decade, growing numbers of cities and counties have chosen to support existing CLTs, and start new ones, actively guiding their development and sponsoring their affordable housing initiatives. Community Land Trust boards are not usually run by public agencies though they often work hand-in-hand with city and county governments. When a city or county develops a CLT, it’s generally transitioned to an independent nonprofit that owns the land and provides oversight for the homes. The governing boards of CLTs are normally made up of equal numbers of CLT renters, home
buyers, and community members.
We support Fort Bragg’s recognition that Community Land Trusts offer a viable approach to meeting their affordable housing needs, now and in the future. CLT ownership of the land, along with durable affordability controls over the resale of any housing built on that land, ensures that municipally subsidized homes remain available for lower-income home-buyers for generations to come.
Preserving that affordability requires long-term monitoring and enforcement, an administrative burden local government is neither equipped for nor generally interested in taking on. CLTs are well positioned to play this stewardship role by administering the municipality’s eligibility, affordability, and occupancy controls, while also “backstopping” lower-income owners to protect subsidized homes against loss through deferred
maintenance or mortgage foreclosure.
CLTs are successful in large part because they are of their community. CLTs are flexible enough to provide a panoply of affordable housing opportunities and collaboration possibilities such as working with Habitat for Humanity, local builder/developers on infill projects or large developers such as Danco for bigger housing developments.
 
WE CAN INVEST
As bad as it is, our affordable housing shortage also offers opportunities to make money while doing good locally. Here is a brief summary of ways investors can be a part of the solution while making a reasonable profit in the process.
First there is crowdfunding, a new approach that expands the reach of individual investors by opening real estate investing to a broader range of individuals. With crowdfunding, investors can support projects, in some cases with as little as five dollars per person that will bring additional affordable housing online. Also, crowdfunding is passive so you can put your money to work without the stress and sweat equity that comes with owning property individually.
Then there are investment clubs. Since there are no local funds that allow unaccredited investors to participate, local affordable housing advocates interested in investing in their community can form an investment fund on the cheap in the form a “club.” The legal key is that all club decisions have to be made together, as a group. An investment club is brought into being by local community members who want to pool their individual funds to make loans that create affordable housing solutions. Club members are interested in creating social interactions among themselves and the people and programs they’re serving.
Investment clubs have distinct forms and strategies, but an intentional investment club’s focus is on bringing community participants together to use funds for the purpose of lending money in a timely way at favorable rates of interest.
Equity investments, loan guarantees, bridge loans, and creative financing are additional ways individuals and organizations can invest funds privately or collectively. These approaches are all different and need to be handled on a case-by-case basis as needs suggest.
Investing is a complex issue that takes many forms and is bound by significant regulations. To better understand the ins and outs, the Housing Action Team of Mendocino’s North Coast (HAT) is researching investment methods with an eye toward sponsoring a community workshop for people looking for ways to align their investments with their values.
 
WE CAN SHARE OUR HOMES AND HELP OTHERS SHARE THEIRS
Sharing a house is no longer just for young adults; people of all ages are combining households to reduce expenses. One way is to find one or more roommates, this of course is one of the easiest and most basic ways to cut the cost of living. However, with the price of housing continuously increasing, an idea called ‘co-living’ is striving to combat high rents and provide a solution to the increasing demand for affordable housing.
What is co-living? Think of it as adult college dorms, but better. Co-living is a type of intentional community that provides housing by matching people with roommates and moving them into two- to three-bedroom apartments or houses where they each have a bedroom but share the kitchen, living space and sometimes bathrooms. This type of housing allows for people to not only live together but to work together and build a strong meaningful bond together as well.
Of course, this idea of co-living isn’t really new. Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels and boarding houses were a big part of the Mendocino Coast’s history. It was common for men who worked in the woods or fished to take an inexpensive room for long-term lodging, with or without other services like meals, cleaning or laundry. Private rooms, usually with a shared dining hall, provided a cheaper way to live with the bonus of a sense of unity and solidarity within a community. Co-living, SRO hotels and boarding houses are attempting to do the same today. While co-living isn’t regulated, SRO hotels and boarding houses are businesses and require more than posting a rooms-for-rent sign. Like every business they have to follow rules; the city of Fort Bragg and Mendocino County can tell you what’s involved.
Alternatively, one can join the growing home share movement. Home shares help people who need affordable housing (often younger people) and those who need extra income or support to live independently at home (usually older people).
Imagine creating cheap rental units without applying for a single permit, hammering onenail or taking out any money in construction loans. Instead of addressing the coast’s housing shortage by building—an expensive process that can get bogged down in delays and opposition from neighbors—a home share business can tap an underutilized resource—people’s spare bedrooms.
An agency, business or nonprofit, can address the coast’s housing needs by matching homeowners with people looking for cheap, long-term rooms to rent. In the past, housesharing programs have been run by nonprofits. Recently for-profit companies are embracing the concept because nonprofits are often limited in who they can serve—generally people below a certain income level—and how many people they can help.
For-profit businesses can create a sustainable business model which can scale to meet a much greater need.
How does it work? While many home shares make matches manually, a recent innovation is the use of an algorithm (think Airbnb meets eHarmony) to match potential renters with like-minded homeowners. Regardless of how the match is made, the idea is to create matches that benefit both parties. The renter needs an affordable room and the homeowner needs help paying the mortgage, or perhaps could use some companionship
or help around the house.
 
WE CAN JOIN COLLABORATE NETWORKS
We can participate in groups like the Housing Hub of Mendocino, an emerging organization that works alongside and supports regional housing groups. The Hub is working on creating a county-wide collaborative vehicle powerful enough to address the urgent and wide-ranging impact of the housing crisis amid climate change; be large and inclusive enough to obtain grant and other funding; and actively engage our whole community in creating cooperative, innovative solutions to attract wise and caring “investor angels” who possess a vision and generous spirit.
One of the Housing Hub’s initial goals is creating a collaborative matching service that solves our housing needs with existing and exciting future resources.
 
THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO HELP
This lengthy article makes it clear there are many things we can do, with and without governmental assistance, to improve access to affordable rentals. No matter what form it takes, helping ourselves means getting involved. We help ourselves by taking action, doing something, no matter how big or small. Most of all, helping ourselves means bringing together community members, housing developers, service providers, planners, and public officials to collectively ensure everyone on the northern Mendocino coast has a safe, healthy, and affordable place to call home.
###
Johanna Jensen, Lesli Langslet, Elizabeth Swenson, Geri Morisky, Marie Jones  are members of the North Coast Housing Action Team
Author:
Johanna Jensen, Lesli Langslet, Elizabeth Swenson, Geri Morisky, Marie Jones (Members of the North Coast Housing Action Team)
Resource Date:
July 26, 2019
Resource Type:
Topics:
URL:
http://www.realestatemendocino.com/images/REM%20724.pdf