Affordable housing needed for our children and their children

By Roy E. Gordon

When an affordable house is purchased, it should be with the stipulation that it will remain affordable for the life of the house.

I suggest a 15 percent portion of all new developments be set aside as affordable homes. These homes need to be of the same quality as the other homes in the development.

These affordable, or entry-level homes, should have special contracts written for them. These constracts would stipulate that the homes would remain affordable for the life of the home. The intial purchaser of the home would receive a 15 to 20 percent discount and would only be allowed to sell the home at the same discount, below the median price of similar homes in the development, to the subsequent buyer. This clause would remain in the subsequent contracts for any future sales of the home. This plan is apparently working in East Palo Alto and Richmond.

We need to think "out of the box" and be creative regarding home sales in Hayward. Let's be a leader in the "affordable home" sales market.