Letter: Housing Trust Fund Should Be Community Funding Priority

By Vanguard AdministratorJune 17, 20235 comments

Interfaith Housing Justice Davis (IHJD) wishes to thank our council for opening the door to a tax proposition for the November 2024 ballot at the April council meeting. We understand that the City has identified serious budgetary shortfalls including for road maintenance and facilities as well as for staff salaries and that additional funds are needed for a functional city.

IHJD believes that the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) should also be a community funding priority.  Our city needs a year round shelter to protect  our unsheltered from physical violence, the cold and rain of the winter months,  the ever-hotter temperatures and often smoke polluted air of the summers.  We need transitional housing opportunities with services for the unhoused ready to progress to permanent housing and then a range of low-income housing with supportive services to which individuals and families can graduate.

Individuals who work in this town cannot afford to rent or purchase a home here.  Our adult children who wish to continue to call this city their home can’t afford to buy in. Our schools are facing declining enrollment due to a lack of new families with children in our community.  A well-funded HTF could be used to help families purchase homes with a Down Payment Assistance Program.

All these needs require funding. Funding to support the unhoused. Funding for emergency rental assistance to keep families on the edge to stay housed and protected from eviction. Funding subsidies for non-profit affordable housing developers to build low-income rentals. Funding for a down payment assistance loan program. A well-funded HTF can allow our community to tackle all these needs with the care and compassion they deserve.

IHJD urges our community to support a tax proposition for the next general election and urges our city council to include the HTF as a funding priority so that we can start addressing our city housing crisis.

Ellen Kolarik MD Co-chair IHJD

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5 comments

  1.  We understand that the City has identified serious budgetary shortfalls including for road maintenance and facilities as well as for staff salaries and that additional funds are needed for a functional city.

    IHJD believes that the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) should also be a community funding priority.

    Does the IHJD want another tax proposal put on the Nov 2024 ballot in order to fund a Housing Trust Fund (HTF)?

     

     

    1. Keith, a tax is not necessary.  The recently proposed idea that 15% of every new home sale price be put into the Housing Trust Fund in the form of a fee title ownership of that 15% would accomplish the goal IHJD is trying to accomplish … increase both the affordability of housing in Davis and the number of affordable deed-restricted homes in Davis.

      1. The recently proposed idea that 15% of every new home sale price be put into the Housing Trust Fund in the form of a fee title ownership of that 15% would accomplish the goal IHJD is trying to accomplish …

        Every new home sale pays 15% of the home sale price to the HTF?

        I’m not following you here Matt.

        1. Keith, the Village Farms proposal has included the following in its pre-application.

          Deed-Restricted Subsidized Housing – Village Farms Davis additionally offers 310 units of attainable housing in which the developer will provide 15% of the down payment required for the initial homeowner purchase through First Northern Bank. This contribution requires the buyer to occupy the deed-restricted home (i.e. it cannot be rented) and it cannot be resold until after 2 years after which deed restrictions are lifted. Upon resale, the original 15% down payment and 15 % of all equity increases are then paid into a local Affordable Housing Trust Fund.(emphasis added)

          .

          There is a lot to like about the proposed program described in the quote above.  John Whitcombe should be thanked for conceiving it and bringing it forward in this proposal.

          With that said, I have bolded the final sentence, which contains a fatal flaw … a flaw that is easily remedied.  Specifically, the resale provision as written converts an “affordable” unit to a market rate unit.  This perpetuates a problem that Davis has had for decades … the shrinking of the inventory of affordable units.  David Greenwald and others have the actual numbers, but at one time Davis had an inventory of several thousand “affordable” units, which has dwindled down to several hundred due to lax administration of the affordable housing program. Provisions in the deeds of those “affordable” units were never enforced when a resale happened. The lesson from that is that ownership is the only way to be sure an “affordable” unit doesn’t lose its affordability provisions at the time of resale.

          Having the Housing Trust Fund own 15% of these “affordable” units in perpetuity has another benefit.  The same lax administration of the affordable housing program meant that the financial resources (dollars) that existed in the Trust Fund slowly and steadily decreased until they no longer existed.  The expenditures on salaries and benefits and other expenses actually decreased “housing affordability” in Davis over time.  That is the exact opposite of the result wanted by the majority of the people who responded to the City of Davis surveys.

          The long standing example of Aggie Village should be a template for this proposed program.  UCD retains partial ownership of each Aggie Village unit in perpetuity.  The City of Davis should do the same with not only Village Farms Davis, but with the units of all peripheral projects as well.

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