In order to meet the state’s requirements for low-cost housing,
the Hollister City Council may ask voters to make affordable
housing exempt from the annual 244-home growth cap passed last
year.
Hollister – In order to meet the state’s requirements for low-cost housing, the Hollister City Council may ask voters to make affordable housing exempt from the annual 244-home growth cap passed last year.
The state’s Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) has put Hollister’s housing requirement for 2001-2008 at 3,154 units, and about 1,100 of those units are required to be in the low or very low price range. The requirement doesn’t mandate the city to actually build that many homes, according to Planning Manager Susan Heiser. Instead, the state requires Hollister’s General Plan to allow for construction of the houses if need arises, she said.
But with the city under a building moratorium brought on by the 18 million gallon sewer spill in 2002 and the passage of Measure U limiting construction to 244 homes per year, the Development Department is projecting Hollister will fall short.
The council will soon be faced with the choice of either going to the state at least 385 affordable units short of the mandated housing requirement, or asking Hollister voters to amend Measure U to exclude affordable housing and granny-units, according to the Development Services Department report.
If the city council votes to put the amendment on the Nov. 2006 ballot, Hollister could get conditional certification of the Housing Element portion of its General Plan from the state, Heiser said.
Hollister would not receive official certification until after voters had passed the amendment. Heiser said she is hoping the council will vote to put a Measure U amendment on the next ballot, and will send the state a request for conditional certification at the end of this month based on the council’s decision.
Between the growth cap and the city’s 2002 building moratorium, the affordable housing requirement has hit two major obstacles, according to Heiser. Even though the state doesn’t require Hollister to actually build all the houses the HCD mandates, it does require the city’s General Plan to make it possible to build them. But no new homes can be built before the moratorium is lifted, and the city’s best estimate is that this won’t be until late 2006 or early 2007. And once the moratorium is lifted, only 244 houses can be built each year for the next five years under Measure U.
Going to the state empty-handed is an option, Heiser said, but it would most likely result in the state denying Hollister a certified Housing Element. The Development Department is looking into what that would mean for the city, Heiser said, although no one is sure yet. While some cities have gone without certification, Heiser said, the state has indicated it would withhold grant funding from Hollister if it is not certified. That could extend to non-profits applying for state funding, according to Marilyn Roaf of the Gilroy HCD.
“I don’t think the state’s going to say, ‘Oh, we forgive you your past sins’ and let us off with a slap on the hand on this one,” Councilman Brad Pike said Monday.
Some cities do go without state-certification. Gilroy has been without state-certification since the early to mid-1990s, according to Melissa Durkin, a planner with the city of Gilroy.
“That puts us in a position where we can’t apply for home funds, which is a grant process, and that’s the concern,” Durkin said. “Definitely we do strive for the state to certify our housing element; that’s the goal. But the standards are so rigid and stringent.”
Almost 13 percent of the cities in California aren’t in compliance with HCD requirements, according to HCD’s Web site.
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at jq*****@fr***********.com.
