By Tim Willoughby

Providing affordable housing in Santa Cruz County tops the community’s wish list, but wishing does not make it happen. Saying you are for affordable housing but listing qualifiers is also not productive. Opportunities are limited and rare so when one presents itself, like the affordable units proposed as part of the downtown mixed-use library project, it must be seized.

Affordability is directly related to land cost and construction expenses. The reality is that affordable units, especially for very-low and low income qualifying applicants ranging between earning $30,000 to $70,000 for a family of four, will only be built with significant subsidy. In preliminary discussion the 30 to 60 proposed units in the mixed-use building are possible because the land is taxpayer land. The construction cost for affordable housing could be lowered because the basic infrastructure of the building is subsidized by using the garage structure (foundation etc.), paid by people parking in the downtown parking district.

There are only a few city-owned lots that can be used for affordable housing. Whenever any city owned parcel is planned for development of affordable housing, the community’s highest priority, must be an integral component.

There are a number of “we don’t want” excuses and qualifiers from those who oppose the project. The win-win reasons for it far outweigh the naysayers and include: building a 21st Century library that provides enough space for community groups, providing downtown housing for low-income employees who currently commute long distances will take cars off the road, maximizing the use of taxpayer land and money is the responsible choice, reducing the ugly blight of unproductive surface parking lots enhances the charm of downtown, providing affordable parking for some of the more than 1,000 employees on the wait list for downtown parking permits is a social justice choice worth championing, and replacing the more than 200 parking spaces on land the city leases, like the Calvary Church lot, that will be repurposed in the coming years ensures cars are not circling downtown burning carbon looking for a place to park.

Shared building purposes are common in most cities with many buildings with combinations of libraries, housing and garages. Cities everywhere are at the same point Santa Cruz is, there is a shortage of land but no shortage of critical needs. In the past you could have a big surface parking lot on one piece of land, a library, or other civic buildings built on another. Housing was spread out and expanding out into suburbs. That is no longer possible. Scarce land has to be maximized. Creative architecture has provided solutions to insure a visually appealing but viable use of space. Most agree that surface parking lots are an ugly blight. Just as housing must be built with greater density to justify using the space, so too should parking lots, and combining them is just efficient use of limited space.

There is another possible additional affordable housing plus. The current library lot is one of the larger ones the city owns that could be used to build another affordable housing complex. There is an aversion to building multiple unit residences anywhere but downtown. That lot is large enough to build enough units to qualify for state funding subsidy.

Having sat through countless city council meetings where projects with affordable housing units are proposed I have heard every reason why something should not be built. Often the “No” speakers, and council members, begin their comments with, “I am for affordable housing, but…” There are no easy choices, but if affordable housing is a priority, then it should be given priority over all other considerations. There will never be a “perfect” project.

Affordable Housing Month is intended to inform and connect citizens to the challenges of increasing the number of affordable housing units. The annual calendar of events should remind the city council that very low income and low income housing choices are few and not to squander this rare opportunity.

Tim Willoughby is a Boulder Creek resident.