By Linda Taaffe

Los Altos

State law mandates city find space for affordable housing

he Los Altos City Council is scheduled to review a draft of the city’s new Housing Element Tuesday night that will include strategies for adding a minimum of 162 state-mandated housing units to Los Altos between now and 2006. The Housing Element is part of the city’s General Plan slated for completion by this December under state regulations.

State law mandates that the city provide new housing and has certain goals that Los Altos must meet. The Agency of Bay Area Governments determined earlier this year that over the next five years, Los Altos needs to add 162 new housing units to its inventory, as follows: 38 very-low income units, 20 low-income units, 56 moderate units and 147 market-rate units. Every home that is demolished and replaced with a new home in Los Altos will count towards the required market rate units, city officials said.

Affordable housing is defined as housing capable of being purchased or rented by households of moderate incomes or lower, based on the household’s ability to make monthly payments necessary to obtain housing. Housing is considered affordable when a household pays less than 30 percent of its gross monthly income for housing.

The median income for a family of four in Santa Clara County is $87,300, according to a city staff report. This means a family that earns 50 percent of the county’s medium income, would qualify for “very-low income” housing; those who earn 80 percent would qualify for low income; and those who earn 120 percent of the median, would qualify for the moderate units.

“These (housing) numbers do not have to be exactly met, but the city does need to show that we have both made a legitimate effort in the past to allow for affordable housing and that we have realistic ordinances and programs in place for the future to meet our housing responsibilities,” said James Walgren, community development director for Los Altos.

The city reached its housing goal over the past reporting period, from 1990 to 1999, approving approximately 50 below-market-rate units, half rentals and half ownership units.

Not all of those units are currently built, but the city has approved their future construction.

The eight rental units planned for the Loyola Corners projects are included in this number.

The updated housing plan is intended to provide policies and programs that will help the city to create affordable housing. Walgren said the update is a refinement of the city’s current, state-certified, Housing Element.

Under the current plan, the city code requires a residential developer to provide either 10 percent of the units as affordable to very-low income households or 20 percent of the units as affordable to lower-income households.

In return, the city must offer incentives to developers, such as greater density for a project, waiving or lowering city fees.

Second dwelling units, zoning districts that mandate maximum density and the approval of mixed-use projects that allow housing in areas otherwise zoned commercial are all tools that the city could include in the updated housing plan.