It’s important to, on occasion, reflect and recognize significant milestones in getting more, more diverse, and more affordable housing built. So let’s take a moment this month…and celebrate!
SMART VILLAGE
The SMART Village has cleared another major milestone! An infill project, the SMART Village design proposes a six-story, 114-unit residential building consisting of a combination of studio, one-, two-bedroom, and ‘family’ style apartments with 12 units reserved for income-qualified households. On Wednesday (11/17), the project received unanimous approval from the Santa Rosa Cultural Heritage Board with minor input. The project is now headed to the Santa Rosa Design Review Board for additional review.
We celebrate this project for several reasons. The nearby SMART station, regional bike network connections, proximity to downtown, and convenient connections to local and regional road networks, will give the residents a broad array of transit options, creating opportunities to reduce car dependency. These transit oriented strategies, coupled with a highly sustainable approach to site planning and organization, will allow for the creation of a forward looking, sustainably driven and resilient community. This project, and others soon-to-be approved in the same vicinity, represent a measurable step forward in creating a vibrant downtown core for the City of Santa Rosa.
STONY POINT FLATS
We’re proud to share that Stony Point Flats, a 50-unit all affordable development located in southwest Santa Rosa along Stony Point Road, has successfully navigated a recent appeal hearing before the Santa Rosa City Council and will proceed forward. The outcome of this hearing reflects the council majority’s commitment to accelerating the process of building safe and affordable housing amidst this region’s intensifying housing crisis. We are grateful for their bold leadership and welcome this soon-to-be new addition to our affordable housing inventory.
3575 MENDOCINO AVENUE
We celebrate our friends at Burbank Housing who are set to break ground in a matter of months (two at most) on their project located at formerly Journey’s End Mobile Home Park. This 162 senior affordable project offers more homes than stood before with access to a wide variety of amenities, public transit, and medical facilities – resources that are all highly desirable for senior housing. We are honored to not only advocate for, but endorse this project as well. Stay tuned for more information!
Housing Elements
This once-in-8-years transformative process offers ample opportunities to robustly reform our current housing policies. We celebrate this because it creates a unique moment in time where we can surgically alter existing housing policies and drive our core mission values of increasing the supply, diversity, and affordability of our housing stock. To learn more about the Housing Elements process and get involved, click here!
The Return of the Legislature…
Tis the season for giving thanks and breaking bread with your families, but it’s also the season for kicking off the 2022 Legislative Session! Over the next several weeks, representatives of our State Legislature will begin the process of formally introducing their bills for consideration. This process extends through the second week of February before all bills are referred to their relevant policy committee. At that point, the real work begins! We celebrate this new year and cherish the opportunity to work with our local, regional, and state partners to advocate and advance robust housing reforms that can help further spur the affordable housing growth we so desperately need. Get involved and learn more here.