Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Ali Negus and I’m excited to serve as the new chair of the Generation Housing board, building upon Elece Hempel’s direction as Board Chair over the past two years. It means a lot to me to take the helm of our executive committee, not just because I work in the real estate industry in Sonoma County, but because I grew up here. It’s disheartening when friends and family leave our area because of the lack of affording housing, but I’m not discouraged. If anything, I’m inspired by the resiliency of our community and I’m proud of the work at Generation Housing thus far, and how our organization takes a bold approach at tackling our housing needs. As a board member over the last two years, I’ve seen firsthand multiple, tangible solutions to our affordable housing challenges.
When people talk about housing, the numbers may sound daunting. Median cost of a Sonoma County home for sale is $825,000, and we need 58,000 new homes built by 2030. I know we can do this. We can increase the supply of affordable housing, in a way that is equitable and environmentally sustainable, through policy changes like ending exclusionary zoning, streamlining approval and permitting processes for home building, and private-public partnerships. If we increase our home building rate to 6,000 units a year — achieved during the 1980s — we would meet our housing goals.
Housing is a central need to our economic vitality, environmental sustainability, and our community’s health and education outcomes. I hope to start a family and stay rooted in Sonoma County, and I think of how climate change affects our lives today and how it will affect future generations. New housing can be an environmental boon, if done right. Generation Housing champions multi-family, infill development, which have significantly less greenhouse gas emissions than single family homes. Local traffic is reduced when affordable, transit-oriented housing reduces commute times for workers. Plus, new developments have government incentives for more energy efficiency.
In a short span of time, our advocacy work has already made an impact on local affordable housing. In 2020, Generation Housing endorsed 11 new housing communities for a total of 1,498 units. We led efforts to secure $170 million in support of affordable housing in Sonoma County. We developed a housing educational program attended by community members and politicians, recorded and available for viewing on our YouTube channel. We continue to educate the community on the Housing Element. I’m also proud of our first annual State of Housing in Sonoma County report released this year.
I look forward to working with our new executive committee, including our vice chair, Dev Goetschius, and secretary Jorge Inocencio. Dev is the executive director of the Housing Land Trust of Sonoma County, which provides home ownership opportunities to low- and moderate-income families. Jorge is a lifelong resident of Santa Rosa and works as an electrical engineer at Keysight Technologies. Both are passionate advocates of quality of life and housing, along with our outstanding board who bring a breadth of professional experience and diverse perspectives.