Housing Alternatives 2014
Housing is a crucial component of any vibrant city. For diversity (socio-economic, ethnic, generational) and to attract and retain families, affordable housing has to be a key ingredient of urban planning.
Developers, i.e., corporations, are currently defining our neighborhoods.
The fundamental problem with development as it is occurring in Berkeley, particularly Downtown and South Berkeley, is that there has been no overarching master plan that mandates truly affordable housing in the over-heated Berkeley rental market.
Meanwhile, services, such as the downtown Ace Hardware, Berkeley Vacuum Supply, Grocery Outlet and Alco Stationery are being lost to new construction, with the mistaken and deceptive mantra that density on our transit corridors will decrease automobile usage. Adding housing units while simultaneously subtracting essential services will in fact increase the use of cars to surrounding neighborhoods and cities. And adding small and micro-units will do nothing to prevent urban exodus of young families seeking some additional space for growing children.
Here are some suggestions for future planning and development. Some are in partial implementation, others have not been implemented at all. We can take incremental steps toward a more rational and sustainable housing future for Berkeley if we work on these areas:
- City Planning has to actively and aggressively recruit and retain essential services in the Downtown, such as a hardware store, clothing, shoes, groceries, and other basic needs.
- The City and neighborhoods have to become more proactive in directing development that will add multi-generational and family housing in the Downtown and elsewhere in Berkeley.
- The Demolition Ordinance must be strengthened and clarified. Currently the City Attorney, ZAB, Planning, and City Planners are implementing an arbitrary and non-binding Demolition policy. Housing units, and current tenants, must be protected. Rent-controlled units must be preserved and when it is necessary to replace them with new development, permanently affordable housing must result.
- Displacement costs were set in the 1990’s and are low and unfair by anybody’s standard, roughly $4,000. This must be increased with a Cost of Living index attached.