Affordable Housing

By Susan Mary Goldbeck

Susan has an outstanding record of being an advocate for affordable work force housing. Susan favors of the Sam Farr proposal for the creation of 50% affordable work force housing at Ft. Ord.

To be eligible to purchase affordable work force housing, at least one breadwinner must work in Monterey County.

Employers who benefit from having a stable workforce living close to their place of employment should contribute to the solution by way of public-private partnerships.

Cities should be encouraged to look at creative, mixed-use solutions to provide housing for workers living in their community. The county should provide financial incentive to cities to encourage this type of development.

We must look at the issue of rent stabilization until our housing crisis is alleviated. Our tenants are suffering now. As a Council Member in the City of Pacific Grove, Susan proposed that Pacific Grove take a hard look at the idea of a rent stabilization ordinance. It has worked quite effectively in areas like ours in many cities in California. The parade of "horribles" that have chilled the idea of rent stabilization, has, in reality, rarely occurred. This may not be right for our community but I think the time has long past for us to take a hard look at this short-term solution to a critical problem.

Susan is in favor of rehabilitation, where possible, of existing housing that could be used as work force or affordable housing. She supports the creation of the land trust concept at Ft. Ord where built-out cities such as Carmel and Pacific Grove can contribute to the cost of services.

Affordable housing is a double-edged sword. Used wisely, it will ensure a stable workforce and enable the chance for the American dream for local families. Used imprudently and it will destroy our future. Too many developers of large-scale projects are using the carrot of "affordable housing" to browbeat the Board of Supervisors and local city governments into approving their projects. These developers have discovered that if they package their proposals with an "affordable housing" element, their projects will suddenly enter the fast track. This is what happened to San Jose. Do we want the same for Monterey County?