The city of Hollister is stuck between a rock and a hard place
when it comes to state demands to provide housing
– affordable housing in particular. But city leaders already
have struck upon a positive solution.
The city of Hollister is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to state demands to provide housing – affordable housing in particular. But city leaders already have struck upon a positive solution.
The state has mandated that Hollister allow at least 3,154 houses – 1,100 affordable – to be built between 2001 and 2008 to shoulder its fair share of California’s burgeoning population. That doesn’t mean Hollister has to build that many homes. What it means is that the city’s General Plan must allow them to be built if a developer wants to do so.
But the city has two major road blocks to meeting the state mandate. First is the building moratorium – the result of a 15-million gallon sewer spill in 2002 – which won’t allow any houses to be built. Second is Measure U, the recently-passed growth control measure that only allows 244 homes to be built per year once the moratorium is lifted.
The city has found ways to account for all but 385 of those affordable homes, thus the quandary. To resolve the problem, City Council members are considering whether to ask voters if they will allow affordable housing and granny units to be exempt from Measure U.
That’s a sound solution for several reasons:
n As anyone looking to enter the home market – or anyone who has seen their children leave town to buy a home – knows the price of a Hollister home is prohibitively expensive. The median home price hit $529,000 in November.
n It won’t lead to much growth as long as there is a caveat that preference for affordable housing be given to San Benito County residents – a requirement that should be incorporated into any ballot question. Instead, San Benito County residents who can’t afford a market-rate home or are sharing housing with others will have a chance to own a home of their own.
n By removing barriers to affordable housing, there is a greater chance they will get built, and, market-rate housing will still fall under the restrictions passed by voters.
n It would give the council a chance to put some of the housing downtown, in mixed-use buildings, which could be a key part of redevelopment along San Benito Street.
The council has yet to take official action on whether to ask voters about easing the restrictions. Council members should study the impacts of such a move diligently, but barring a major problem with the plan, they should ask voters to help out the cause of affordable housing.
