VALLEJO, CA - As one idea in a multi-tiered affordable housing push, Vallejo city staff, community groups and residents are researching the establishment of programs for long-term home ownership in the city. The Vallejo Housing Authority hired a consultant to perform a budgeted $25,000 study on the feasibility of instituting what is known as a community land trust. The study is expected to be completed in three to four months.
Community land trusts are organizations, often headed by nonprofit groups, that own parcels of land in order to provide low-income and affordable housing properties that can be sold to residents. The homeowners would pay their own property taxes. In a report to the Vallejo City Council on Tuesday, city Housing and Community Development staff explained that the land trusts could be used to rehabilitate foreclosed and neglected properties. By owning the property under the homes, land trusts are able to keep the homes at affordable costs by setting sale prices. "We think it's a potentially good model for Vallejo," Assistant City Manager and Community Development Director Craig Whittom said Friday.
The implementation of the proposed community land trust organization, if instituted, would broaden the affordable housing push from rental to owned properties. The program likely would not fulfill low-income housing obligations set in a 1999 Redevelopment Agency legal settlement known as the Buchongo Settlement Agreement. Whittom said the city was looking at other low-income housing options in parallel with the land trust feasibility study.
The Buchongo settlement called for the city's institution of 425 affordable housing units by August 2009. The city is eight units short of that requirement, with less than a year before the housing development deadline. City staff said the community land trust may not be instituted in time for that deadline; Also, the agreement calls for properties to be newly built or substantially renovated.
Attorney Robert Stalker representing the interests of the Buchongo case, wrote a letter to city staff sharing his concern with the city's ability to comply with the settlement. "While I think (the land trust) is an exciting idea that may have potential to improve the stock of affordable housing in Vallejo, I am not convinced that it is the ideal solution for meeting the Buchongo requirements, especially given the relatively short time we have remaining for full compliance," Stalker wrote in a July letter. "Focusing exclusively on home ownership programs, will leave out a substantial number of Vallejo residents for whom home ownership is not a viable option."
The results of the land trust feasibility study are scheduled for presentation during a January joint study session between the city Housing Authority, Redevelopment Agency and council. Both the option of instituting the land trust and other affordable housing opportunities will be presented at the meeting.
Source: TimesHeraldOnline.com