San José
Proposes $2 Billion
Affordable Housing Plan
Five-year strategy will create 6000 new homes
affordable for families at all income levels
San José, CA ---- An aggressive strategy
that will continue San José’s strong commitment to finance
the creation of another 6,000 new affordable homes over the next five
years will be considered by the San José City Council today.
The San José Housing Department has recommended that $544 million
in city and Redevelopment Agency funding projected over the next five
years be leveraged to obtain an estimated $1.6 billion from state, federal
and private sources for a total of more than $2.1 billion to support the
development of affordable homes.
“More than any city in California, San José continues to
deliver thousands of new homes that our families can afford to rent or
buy,” said San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales. “Our strategy has
already been successful to expand the opportunities for the people who
live here to find a place they can afford to live. With this plan, we
will work hard to make sure affordable housing will contribute to our
city’s long-term prosperity and economic competitiveness.”
The San José’s combined affordable housing programs will
assist over 15,000 households in the next five years. In addition to the
new 6,000 homes, the city’s plans will support the acquisition and
rehabilitation of 2,000 existing affordable housing units; paint grants
and rehabilitation loans for over 7,200 households; and 500 first-time
homebuyer loans for San Jose teachers.
The projected five-year total of 6000 homes would include the construction
of 1500 units designated for extremely low-income families.
“Although San José has long been the leader in the region
and state for creating housing of all kinds, many families still find
it very difficult to live here because of growing housing costs, especially
those with the lowest incomes,” said Gonzales.
“These are ambitious goals in a challenging economy to meet the
pressing needs of both our families and our employers in Silicon Valley.
With our renewed financial commitment, focused efforts, and continuing
creative partnerships, however, I am confident we will achieve the results
we want in the next five years.”
Since 1998 San José has already achieved substantial success
by earmarking over $239 million in “gap financing” that has
resulted in the construction of more than new 5,400 affordable homes throughout
the community. Moreover, an additional 2,200 affordable homes were saved
by the city’s investments and partnerships to acquire, rehabilitate,
and prevent them from conversion to market-rate housing.
Total construction costs in the last five years was more than $1.1 billion,
including over $877 million in other funding sources. The City’s
new five-year housing investment plan will build on the strategy that
Gonzales accelerated after he became mayor in 1999 and called for doubling
the rate of production of affordable homes.
“Funding affordable income housing has traditionally been a challenge
for cities and developers, especially in the Bay Area because of our high
cost of housing,” said Leslye Corsiglia, Director of the San José
Housing Department. “San José’s pledge of more than
$239 million over the past five years and almost doubling it to $544 million
over the next five years is one of the highest commitments of local funding
for affordable housing in the California.”
Affordable housing funds are administered by the City of San José
Housing Department, which uses a variety of funding sources to finance
its program, including funds set aside by the San José Redevelopment
Agency and a unique fund for extremely low-income housing created by the
City Council in May 2001. San José also receives federal funding,
including $8.9 million from the HOME Investment Partnership program, and
it has been successful in leveraging state housing tax credits to create
affordable homes.
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