CCMIN111501 - Laserfiche WebLink

Jennifer Mosel, a representative of Community Resources for Independent Living, 3311 Pacific Avenue, Livcrmore, indicated her non-profit organization works with people of all ages with disabilities. Their incomes vary greatly, but are mostly between $712 to $1,000 per month. People often must choose among rent, foot, and prescriptions. She said 20% of every city's population has a disability. That includes seniors with disabilities. As the population ages, the number of people with disabilities also increases. One of the services her agency offers is assistance in finding affordable housing. Unfortunately there are not a lot of affordable units in Pleasanton or the Tri-Valley. This means our children, friends, parents and grandparents have to move out of the area. Often the only units they can find are in Sacramento, Tracy, Chico or even Nevada. This means they have to move away from their doctors and support groups, which exacerbates their problems. Please remember affordable housing is anything below the median income of $71,600 for a family of four. That means that half of our population lives in affordable housing. The majority of CRIL's clients are in the very low or extremely low income category. This is the range in which the fewest number of units are available. She was encouraged to see the recommended incentives for non-profit housing developers. Those are very important to make sure the zoning is in place so they don't have to spend money to change the zoning. She was also encouraged by the inclusion of "in perpetuity" language. That will insure the units are available for a very long time. She believed the Union City in lieu fee was so high in order to insure that the units actually get built or that the city would have enough money to build them. She understood that not all subdivisions are suitable for affordable housing, such as golf course communities. But are those developers providing housing in some other way such as donating land or paying fees? In response to some comments about not wanting "those people" in Pleasanton, she reminded everyone that "those people" are your neighbors who fell on the job and got hurt, your grandparents, parents, and children. She is encouraged by this Housing Element draft and the fact that it is sending a message that you would like the community to be inclusive. She urged Council to continue with this. John Chapman, 671 Clipper Hill Road, Danville, indicated he was a long time environmentalist. He believed this issue was quite conflicted. On the one side we have concems about the negative impacts of development such as loss of open space, farmland, environmental degradation, air quality, traffic congestion, etc. On the other hand, we see the problems of post- war housing development patterns. He said 80% of the families in this county cannot afford to buy a new house. Our children cannot afford to live here in Pleasanton and many teachers cannot stay long hours after school to meet with students because they have to commute long distances to their homes out of the Valley. Critical services workers like policemen, nurses, firemen, and other people can't afford to live here. If these people are forced to live in the Central Valley, we face even worse consequences to the environment because these families spend long hours driving back and forth to their jobs. He said environmentalists have a core value they call environmental justice and they do not feel it is just for people not to be able to live near where they work. That is what is occurring in many areas. He referred to the Sierra Club web page and its comments on smart growth. Many of the solutions set forth on the web page already exist in Pleasanton, such as vibrant downtowns, mixed uses, walkable neighborhoods, access to nature, etc. Unfortunately there are two places where Pleasanton is out of compliance with the Sierra Club recommendations. One of them is the jobs/housing match. One aspect of that is that housing should match the incomes of the people who work in the area; not just the executives, but also the service workers, teachers, shopkeepers, etc. Most of the Tri- Pleasanton City Council Joint Meeting Minutes 7 11/15/01