| | The State of Evictions And Four Strategies To Avoid Future Eviction Proceedings Forbes With all 50 states in the process of unfolding plans to reopen the economy after the shutdown caused by the Covid-19 crisis, landlords and tenants alike are curious as to what this new normal will mean for rent payment, deferment or evictions. Like all things in the ongoing pandemic scare, those answers vary from state to state and municipality to municipality. By examining several large markets, we can begin to identify trends and information that are useful to all interested parties and explore potential steps that building managers can take to prevent loss of income. Read More | | | | A note from Evelyn Stivers, Executive Director of HLC HLC believes that everyone that works, lives, or grew up in a community should have a say in how the community grows in the future. During San Mateo’s General Plan Update, we hear time and again that people wanted to "protect" single family neighborhoods. Our organizational values of inclusion, respect, and compassion, would not tell anyone that their home is wrong or should not exist. Rather, we are looking to engage cities across San Mateo County in discussion and action in moving towards housing that meets the needs of all in our community. With the current restrictions on height and density, we are simply not meeting the needs of adult children living with their parents or nurses and teachers commuting for hours to their jobs from homes they can afford on the periphery of the region. The city of San Mateo is at a turning point in shaping the built environment for the next decades. The early 1990s height and density policies of Measure H and P are on the ballot once again. The latest version of the measure, which will be assigned a ballot letter next month, is the wrong path forward for San Mateo. We were encouraged to see the city council take 5-0 vote in opposition to it. At the same time San Mateo voters will be presented with the continuation of citywide height and density limits, we support the council putting on a compromise measure that would make it possible to increase heights and densities near transit. We need your help. The alternative measure will continue limits in single family home neighborhoods, while removing them along the Caltrain transit corridor. This measure has broad appeal in creating opportunity areas for taller and denser housing in these favorable locations while keeping older, established neighborhoods intact and clearly reflects the overwhelming input from general plan meetings. Please write to the San Mateo City Council before their next meeting on July 20th to ensure the placement of the alternative measure on our November ballot. This measure will allow for a thoughtful and comprehensive conversation to take place about our future. | | | | | | Coronavirus: San Francisco to move 200 homeless residents from hotels into housing The Mercury News San Francisco will move 200 homeless residents out of the hotels where they’ve been temporarily sheltering during the pandemic, and into housing, Mayor London Breed said Thursday. The announcement marks the city’s first step toward answering a question that has plagued activists and experts for months: What will happen to homeless community members once the coronavirus crisis is over, and temporary shelter programs end? Cities and counties across the Bay Area have moved thousands of people off the streets, out of group shelters and into vacant hotel rooms, in an effort to allow them to shelter-in-place safely. But those programs won’t last forever. And in a region that already has a marked shortage of housing for homeless residents, some advocates worry people will leave the hotels and end up back outside. To avoid that, San Francisco has promised to move 200 people into long-term rental units by the end of the year, using a new $11 million pool of donated funds. The city already has moved 12 people as part of a pilot program. Read More | | | | S.F. Mayor London Breed Announces Major Developments in Affordable Housing Post News Group Mayor London Breed announced July 2 that the city of San Francisco was awarded over $130 million in state funds for affordable housing, transportation and infrastructure projects. “This $130 million in grants from the state could not have come at a more critical time as we continue to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said Breed. “The funds will allow us to accelerate construction on more than 350 affordable homes and undertake major infrastructure improvements. This will help us free up financing capacity for other badly needed affordable housing developments across San Francisco and put people to work with well-paying construction jobs.” The grants were provided by the California Strategic Growth Council’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (AHSC) with funds from California Climate Investments. AHSC provided $30 million, of which $20 million will fund a 157-unit affordable housing project scheduled to begin construction in the summer of 2021. Read More | | | | 'A mini-urban miracle,' new Berkeley homeless housing could be model for the state Berkeleyside It’s been a big week for subsidized housing in Berkeley. And it just got bigger. On Thursday night, the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board unanimously approved a new project from Panoramic Interests for a 39-unit complex made from modular construction to house people who were formerly homeless. Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS), a 49-year-old Berkeley nonprofit, will run the operation, which could open within a year, barring delays. Commissioner Denise Pinkston said it was “nothing short of a mini-urban miracle” to see what is essentially a market-rate building provide homeless housing. “The highlight of my week is getting to approve a beautiful building to house homeless people,” she said. Earlier this week, the city broke ground on the Berkeley Way project, featuring 53 units of homeless and disabled housing and 89 affordable units for the general public, in addition to shelter beds. The mayor also announced that the city had won $42 million in state grants for two affordable housing projects totaling about 150 units. And Alameda County secured rooms at two Berkeley hotels for up to 60 of the city’s unhoused residents. Read More | | | | Evictions Could Be Next Shoe To Drop Forbes Evictions for millions of Americans may happen later this month. Here’s what you need to know. Real Estate: Evictions - There are a confluence of factors that could result in wide-scale evictions this month: potential expiration of $600 a week unemployment benefits; eviction prohibitions under the Cares Act expire, if not renewed; continued unemployment. The Cares Act placed a 120-day moratorium on evictions. However, that eviction moratorium expires on July 25, 2020. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, states such as New York, California, Texas and Florida could experience the most evictions based on rent costs and unemployment rate. Of course, a renter’s income, savings and government support could offset the possibility of eviction. More than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits as a result of Covid-19. Many renters have been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19, including losing their job in industries such as travel and hospitality. According to the Urban Institute, approximately 20% of renters have at least one family member who lost a job in the last two months. Read More | | | | America's looming housing catastrophe, explained Vox A patchwork of eviction moratoriums across the country and benefits from the CARES Act, including a one-time stimulus check and expanded unemployment benefits of $600 per week (which were also made available to self-employed and gig workers), helped forestall the catastrophe. Those policies helped keep people in their homes during the unprecedented health crisis and supplemented income so they could still pay their bills. But housing courts are reopening, and eviction moratoriums are expiring in the coming weeks, if they haven’t already. CARES Act benefits that expanded unemployment are running out. Unless lawmakers intervene, the $600-per-week supplement will expire at the end of July. “The United States is facing an eviction crisis of biblical proportions,” Aaron Carr, founder and executive director of the Housing Rights Initiative, a nonprofit housing watchdog group, told me. “Allowing eviction moratoriums and expanded unemployment benefits to expire will undoubtedly lead to a perfect storm of instability, homelessness, and human suffering.” Experts, housing activists, and renters themselves fear what could happen if there is no relief, and soon. Even before the pandemic, renters tended to be lower-income and spent a greater share of their income on housing costs compared to homeowners. A June 15 report from the Urban Institute estimates that 8.9 million households — about 20 percent of all renter households — have at least one member who’s lost a job between February and April. Read More | | | | New Bay Area housing goals in question San Mateo Daily Journal While regional officials claim the Bay Area should double its housing production over the coming decade, some question the area’s ability to reach such lofty goals amid a pandemic. The Association of Bay Area Governments announced last month the region comprised of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma counties should build 441,000 housing units by 2031. But with COVID-19 suddenly upending everything from work and transportation habits to the financial backbone of the housing industry, some Peninsula officials are wondering whether it’s wise to re-examine the residential development targets. Read More | | | | Breed's bond for parks and homelessness gains support as it grows by nearly $50M San Francisco Examiner After growing by nearly $50 million and adding a project to renovate Chinatown’s Portsmouth Square, a bond to improve parks and fund homeless and mental health needs is expected to come before voters in November. The $487.5 million “health and recovery” bond that was introduced by Mayor London Breed was approved Wednesday by the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee, and the full board is expected to vote next Tuesday to place it on the Nov. 3 ballot. Other changes that came from discussions between the board and the Mayor’s Office included increasing the total amount for homeless and mental health needs from $197 million to $207 million, as well as expanding eligible expenses. The money would be used for such things as permanent supportive housing and shelter beds. Peskin said it was the right time to spend more to address homelessness. “San Francisco has a unique opportunity to implement a Marshall Plan for homelessness,” he said. “It was an imperative before COVID-19 and has been magnified during the pandemic.” Read More | | | | | | | | | |
