Davis in 250 Words (Part 2)

Each week the Davis Vanguard asks candidates a question. Here's the second question, my answer, and a link to the article.

The city of Davis must build 930 low and very low income housing units during the next RHNA cycle ending 2029.  Explain your plan to meeting the city’s affordable housing requirements.

The city is in an unfortunate situation when it comes to affordable housing because of previous council decisions to allow developments to meet the city requirements in ways that do not count toward RHNA standards, repeatedly renewing an interim affordable housing ordinance that only requires 15%, and continuing to require an arduous and costly process to create affordable housing in our city.

To address the first and second issues, the council must reject the interim affordable housing ordinance in favor of a long term ordinance requiring 30% dedicated affordable housing with at least 10% very low income and an additional 10% low income. The city must also work with developer and nonprofit partners to secure outside funding to create additional affordable housing opportunities outside of these requirements.

The Downtown Plan and a new General Plan are two large pieces of addressing the third issue. My opponents both supported Measure H which only built 85 affordable housing units while creating demand for over 2,000 new employees. This would have made the housing affordability in Davis worse. The city has favored ad hoc proposals like Measure H instead of prioritizing planning. 

We can do this. We can choose not to settle for developer scraps. If we set strong standards, have reasonable, high goals, and work together, we can achieve them. There has to be an appetite for doing better, and that is what I bring to council. 

Vanguard Article