Page 10 - Sonoma County Gazette February 2017

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are no simple solutions to affordable housing. But we’re working on all of it.
Pretty much every week the Sonoma County Community Development Commission gets together with people who are committed to finding solutions for housing. As the saying goes...“housing first”.
Equity Partnerships
Homes for ALL
Back when my daughter was four, I faced the same challenge many are facing now. The affordable house I lived in as a single mother, which I shared with another single mother, went on the market. The owners were getting divorced and needed to sell.
That particular phrase is used in reference to helping people rise from drug and alcohol addictions that make responsible lives impossible. No one who runs a successful business is going to hire an addict who cannot function or even take care of him/herself.
I was fortunate that I had a friend who was willing to help me purcchase a home for the same monthly nut a rental would cost. I did not qualify for the loan by myself, but with his help, he owned half my home until I could buy him out 12 years later.
The idea is to create stability so there is a foundation under someone upon with they can rise and stand on their own. For some motivated people, this is a real possibility. For others, it’s impossible. But very few of us can identify who can rise from their own ashes and who cannot. So with compassion, we try to find a solution that works for as many as possible.
Building Homes: A Policy Maker’s Toolbox
approved designs so each unit does not need to go through a design review process. Other counties have successfully established this system, but it is still can be expensive. It also requires additonal parking in a way that Junior Units do not.
There are investors who want to make money and are willing to do what my friend did. One program is called Unison Home Ownership
Working Homeless
Take the master bed and bath, close it off from the rest of the house, put in a kitchen and outside door to create a studio apartment. This not only provides a less expensive shelter for someone, it also helps the home owner pay the mortgage and therefore stay in the house they have lived in. It’s a win/ win for everyone.
Funding New Dwellings
The working homeless are the first round of people who can be helped. They have jobs, families, friends... everything we consider a normal life, but do not have a place to live.
The county is working on way to fund both of these options through programs that involve both private and public investors.
Another option for the homeowner is what I did. Refinance, pull equity out of the home when time goes by and it appreciates in value, and buy out the investor.
Junior & Accessory Dwellings
Accessory Dwelling Units are the Granny Units or Tiny Houses people talk about. They are more complicated because they require land and additonal sewer/septic. They are also more expensive to build since they are independent of the main house and need all the infrastucture (plumbing, electric, internet, etc.) that the main house needs.
If the homeowner cannot qualify for a conventional loan, the county can offer options. They can take low income into consideration knowing that this unit will provide additional income, and loan homeowners construction money based on that occupancy. A bank may not be so considerate, but the county is looking for housing solutions, so they consider everyone’s needs.
Between the county and private investors, there are ways that individuals can buy and build affordable housing as in-fill, rather than new constrution which is incredibly expensive. Ultimately in-fill is the first stage of providing affordable housing.
At the end of January the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved the construction of two kinds of potentially affordable housing.
Junior Units are are built in an existing home like a 3 bedroom, 2 bath that is under-utilized. Perhaps a person lives alone, or it’s a couple with extra rooms. Instead of opening their house to roommates where kitchen and bath are shared, they create an apartment
Sonoma County is trying to make these affordable by using pre-
For people who say this works for individuals but not for families - well - you have to start somewhere.
Compassion and creative problem solving can provide solutions for some, but not all. It’s a step in the right direction. One foot in front of the other gets us down the road.
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Investors (www.myunison.com). It’s a partnership with an investor where buyers can put down less than 20 percent to buy a home. The rest of the downpayment cash provided is an investment, not a loan, so there are no monthly payments or interest. Instead, the company hopes to earn a return on its investment by sharing in the appreciation when the home owner eventually sells.
in part of their house. This does not change the footprint of the home, nor does it require upgrades to septic or sewer. The same number of people live in the house for which it was designed.
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