SoLa Impact’s Post

How do you turn a sad desk lunch into an informative and energizing call to action? Join our virtual fireside chat on how CA can improve housing affordability! Tomorrow noon PT/3pm ET. Bring your thorniest questions.

In the article below, Lee Patke, Executive Director of Greccio Housing, shares GPR's journey of the Bentley Commons Development- from a dream to reality. Affordable housing isn't just about shelter; it's about preserving our community's vitality. As Erika Tunson, principal of Monterey Elementary, rightly points out, it's an investment in our future, ensuring teachers and families in Southeast #ColoradoSprings can thrive without the burden of high housing costs. Read the full article here➡https://lnkd.in/dqj4BM-g

Thank you to Holos Communities for a wonderful panel last night, discussing affordable housing in Los Angeles and the often intractable, intersecting issues that prevent us from really making headway in the homelessness crisis. I enjoyed hearing from non profit The People Concern, developer GenesisLA, and Pacoima Beautiful, who spoke about their experiences navigating the systems that cause and exacerbate the dearth of affordable housing in the city. My major takeaways? – On average, it costs $600 – $700K to build a one bedroom apartment in this city – 70% of the city is zoned for single family housing, meaning there is only a scant 30% left to build denser multi family homes or apartment complexes. Anything over 6 floors is an additional challenge. – There is a lingering “romance of low density neighborhoods” in LA that fosters NIMBYism and a reluctance to invest in dense, community-rich development. (Quoting Holos Communities' Executive Director, Cristian Ahumada) Challenges to be sure, but I also left feeling hopeful that companies like Holos and its partners can build a different vision for the future that is more sustainable, just, and equitable.

As we continue to look at what makes up a community, UWSM is exploring the very building blocks of our neighborhoods – our homes. Affordable, quality housing is an issue that affects people, organizations, employers, and quality of life here in Southwest Michigan. This month, we’re taking a closer look at how we can improve our neighborhoods by ensuring that all people, including ALICE households, can access quality, affordable housing. While many agencies and leaders are working on solutions, the Local Planning Bodies (in coordination with the Balance of State Continuum of Care) are playing a crucial, but often unrecognized, role in addressing housing challenges. The Local Planning Bodies are working hard to ensure that more people, organizations, landlords, and leaders are collaborating on solutions to housing challenges. But they need more support. United Way has a goal to increase access to quality, affordable housing. We asked a community member about this issue … Watch to see what happened. https://lnkd.in/gi4r479z #UWAdvocate #LiveUnited

Can #AffordableHousing truly knit a community back together? How often do we witness transformative developments that genuinely improve lives? Recently, the James Lewis Jr. Apartments were featured in The Post and Courier (written by Ali Rockett), highlighting the significant impact the community has on the lives of residents and the community on Charleston's East Side. Esther Davis, a resident of the complex, shared her journey from a challenging past to finding peace (and a fresh start) in her new home in Charleston. Her story bears witness to the development’s #CommunityImpact, which provides a sense of ownership and pride. The building, which houses 64 affordable units for those earning 60 percent or below of the Area Median Income, filled up within 30 days of opening — a clear indicator of the critical need for such housing. The city's contribution of $7 million through Affordable Housing and the strategic lease of land at $1 per year underscore a commitment to affordable housing that ensures long-term community benefits. The property's design to revert ownership back to the city after 60 years guarantees that it will remain an affordable haven perpetually. This development, which took nearly 14 years from planning to completion, is not just about building homes but about restoring a fragmented community. The vision of leaders like Councilman James Lewis, Jr., who championed affordable housing to "knit back together" the East Side, is now a living reality. Let's celebrate these milestones in affordable housing and continue to support initiatives that offer more than just a roof but a pathway to a better life. See the link to the article in the comments below.

Veteran Housing Corp says that IF YOU ARE NOT PART OF A PERMANENT AND LASTING SOLUTION TO THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS AND HOMELESSNESS, YOU ARE THE PROBLEM! THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IS BROKEN AND NOT WORKING FOR AMERICAN TAXPAYERS Veteran Housing Corp would ask every TAXPAYER to demand and get answers from their elected and appointed government officials the below questions as they relate to any affordable, workforce, or supportive housing project in your community! 1. How much local, state, and federal funding, tax credits, or other government benefits or incentives did the project receive? 2. What is the affordability period for each project? Is the affordability period permanent and in perpetuity? 3. What guarantees exist have your local, state, and federal government officials obtained in writing that rents will not go up or that tenants will not be displaced or evicted after the "affordability period expires? Every local, state, and federal housing authority and affordable or workforce housing stakeholder should adopt the State of Vermont's "permanent affordability" policy as a model for all future government funded or subsidized housing projects or developments, no exceptions! https://lnkd.in/eFEUC8c8 Additionally, local, state and federal housing agencies should look to the Helsinki, FINLAND MODEL of ending homelessness by providing affordable housing for all 'It’s a miracle': Helsinki's radical solution to homelessness https://lnkd.in/er9HZSQU Even the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development AGREES THAT adopting FINLAND'S MODEL OF ERADICATING HOMELESSNESS may be of great value to resolving the affordable housing and homelessness crises in America https://lnkd.in/gkSZWYRU

Planning for the future…

California Community Reinvestment Corporation (CCRC) was proud to sponsor San Gabriel Valley Consortium on Homelessness’s 2024 Housing Summit: "A New Season: Making Space For Affordable Housing" in San Dimas, CA! In addition to supporting the facilitation of this event, the Summit was also attended in-person by CCRC Relationship Manager Ting Xiao, who canvassed with other housing advocates to understand the implications of public policy on housing in the state of California. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s first Executive Directive, which streamlines affordable housing permitting, was a pertinent topic of discussion, as well as progress towards housing on faith-based organizations’ land and the future of the YIGBY (Yes In God’s Backyard) movement. Additionally, event attendees discussed methods of destigmatizing affordable housing within communities who oppose further developments. This advocacy work is indispensable to reversing decades of destructive narratives on affordable housing, which hurt the effort to guarantee stability and shelter to all Americans. The data on these important frameworks was made available by University of California, Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, Alliant Strategic Development, City of Pomona and National Community Renaissance. Creative legislative and advocacy solutions continue to move the needle on the housing crisis, and events like the 2024 Housing Summit are key to understanding how best to navigate a constantly changing housing landscape. CCRC is honored to continue fighting for affordable housing alongside other leaders in the industry. #affordablehousing #SGVConsortiumonHomelessness #ExecutiveDirective1 #ED1 #YIGBY

This is a truly incredible deep dive into the history of how Massachusetts has created a region of housing scarcity and wealth segregation through zoning over the last 50 or so years. Amy Dain digs into individual municipality policy decisions and key periods in the 1970s when things changed dramatically, setting ourselves up to become a region of race, wealth and class segregation and housing scarcity on a level we couldn't have imagined. This is well worth a read to begin to understand not only how we got here... but how we can begin to claw ourselves out of this hole and rethink our region to create a better, more equitable future Greater Boston complete with housing abundance. "Profound zoning reform is needed for Greater Boston to be a beacon of equal opportunity, to strengthen society’s resilience in the face of rapid changes, to address political polarization, and make civic life just." Boston Indicators The Boston Foundation #zoning #boston #greaterboston #housing https://lnkd.in/g62vgbmi

Vermont's toolkit takes a comprehensive approach from permitting to financing. It will look at zoning as a foundation and visualize missing middle housing types, so people can wrap their heads around what it looks like. https://lnkd.in/ebp7yWpR #AffordableHousing #missingmiddle