Sonoma recently took a step forward to ensure affordable living opportunities in the city with the joint acquisition of 18 units that are intended for low -income and managerial households.
The units, 10 in Maysonnave Apartments, 270 First St. East, and eight in Setor Senior Affordable Apartments, 673 First St. West, are owned by Burank Housing Burank Housing in North Bay, which is based by North Bay.
“When we think about building houses for people, the families and seniors, I think that seniors who live in these apartments can not only preserve the buildings as affordable living space,” said the mayor of Sonoma, Patricia Farrar-Rivas. “It's about protecting your houses and being calmed so that you know that you can stay in your houses.”
According to the city officials, the purchase of the units was completed on September 30th.
More than 4.7 million US dollars, including an affordable housing amount of 250,000 US dollars from SONOMA, as well as 4.5 million US dollars from the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) and 1.2 million US dollars from the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund -bought both non -profit organizations for affordable apartments – -Dollar.
The affliction protection for these previously subsidized real estate was endangered when the previous owners, private individuals, decided to sell, civil servants said. In order to protect the affordability of the units and protect the residents of Sonoma, the sellers looked for a buyer who shared their wish to make the units affordable.
Then Burank Housing entered.
“We wanted to work with the city of Sonoma to ensure that the residents did not have the risk of losing their affordable living space,” said Stefanie Begala, spokeswoman for Burank. “This is definitely an important motivator – everything you do is to offer affordable apartments or continue to offer you for the widespread community.”
As part of the purchase contract, the units are classified as affordable at least 55 years.
Depending on the number of inhabitants per unit, the average rent will not exceed 30% to 80% of the district income of the district, which is added that the residents can also remain in their houses, even if their income improves.
The city of Sonoma follows the income and rental borders of SONOMA COUNTY, which determine the rental limit based on the size of a unit, the number of tenants in a household and household income.
As a result, the range for these 18 units of extremely low incomes (below 50% of the average income of the district) will be to low income (80% of the average income of the district). This means that a unit with two bedrooms with up to six tenants will not exceed a monthly rent of $ 2,721, the highest rent for a household with low income (a rental limit of 80%), according to the city's employees.
In July, the city council approved the housing fund affordable by the Sonoma in the amount of $ 250,000 from the Sonoma in the support of the purchase. The agreement required BURBANK HOUSING to secure the financing for the remaining purchase amount, as well as the renovation of the units and the maintenance of the affordability.
Bahfa, a regional agency who provides financial support for affordable residential projects, provided through her pilot program for living space protection loans. The initiative offers non -profit developers and municipality of Land Trusts with low interest to acquire and rehabilitate real estate that are occupied by residents with low and moderate incomes.
Somaya Abdelgany, program manager for the Bahfa Preservation, said the organization was motivated by the proposal of burbank houseing for these 18 units, which matched the criteria of the Bahfa credit program.
“We expressly have a displacement of displacement in our legal agreement, which says that nobody can be postponed regardless of income due to the conservation measure,” said Abdelgany. “We really want to make sure that people who are there are right to stay there as long as they want.”
According to Abdelgany, Sonoma County is the first North Bay County, which is financed through the Bahfa program, which is supposed to support all nine counties in the Bay Area.
“(Bahfa) supports the entire Bay Area to which we belong. “And burbank makes a difference in the administration of these long -term.”
Rebecca Foster, CEO of the Housing Accelerator Fund, said the organization also wanted to offer its support. With this public-private partnership, they were able to “move at the speed of the market to get affordability and opportunities,” she said.
“We did that here, and the result is 18 units that will remain accessible to the future of Sonoma,” said Foster.
The members of the Sonoma city council continued to support the project, which corresponds to the long -term housing strategy and the affordable housing program from SONOMA, which was founded in 1992.
“It is very exciting that this happened,” said Farrar-Rivas. “It's not just about the numbers here – these numbers that we have to meet – this does not apply to the requirements for RHNA (regional housing needs). It is about protecting the people who are the focus of our community.”
The existing units do not fall through the regional allocation of the city's housing needs, which stipulates that SONOMA has to place 311 new residential units for different income levels by 2031, including “very low income” (less than 50% of the average income in the area).
The planned renovations for real estate include upgrades to modernize the units and minimize and minimize the disorders of the residents, said Bagala.
The improvements include new HLK systems, replacement of hot water, updated wall and gas heaters, mini climate systems, repaving and sanitary updates where they are needed. She noticed that the goal was to improve living conditions without overwhelming or suppressing the tenants. Burbank Housing Plans to consistently communicate with the tenants and clear out concerns.
Further information on Bahfa can be found at https://mtc.ca.gov/about-mtc/authorities/bay-rea-housing-finance-authority-bahfa. More information about Burank Housing can be found at https://burbankhousing.org/.
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