Clovis adopts an affordable housing ordinance. How will it affect homebuyers?
The Clovis City Council on Monday reluctantly approved an ordinance requiring new housing developments include at least 5% affordable units — a mandate council members worried could end up raising home prices in the city.
The newly passed Mixed-Income Zoning Ordinance, or MIZO, takes immediate effect. It requires any new residential development project consisting of 11 or more units to set aside 5% of the units to help address the availability of affordable housing to individuals and families at lower income levels.
The ordinance also includes several alternative compliance options for developers, such as land dedication, constructing affordable units off-site, or paying an in-lieu fee at the rate of $2.80 per square foot of net living floor area for all the market-rate units in the project.
“We want to make sure that we are as business-friendly as possible. We understand this is a different way of doing business,” said Chad McCollum, the city’s director for economic development, housing and communications, at Monday’s council meeting. “You heard all of those alternative compliance measures. They’re put in place in order to be as flexible as possible, while still being able to be in compliance with the judgment.”
The MIZO originated from two court rulings that found Clovis had failed to comply with a state mandate to provide affordable housing opportunities. Clovis is the first city in the San Joaquin Valley to enact such an ordinance, as it was one of the few cities in California exposed to litigation.
In 2019, local homelessness advocate Dez Martinez filed a lawsuit alleging that the City of Clovis had violated state law through discriminatory zoning practices and failed to plan for affordable housing. In 2024, as part of a settlement agreement, the city agreed to implement a mixed-income ordinance and establish a local housing trust fund, among other housing and development-related concessions.
Although the Clovis City Council had no choice but to pass the ordinance in accordance with the settlement agreement, the council and members of the public expressed concerns about the ordinance’s impact on property values and the city’s ability to improve affordability.
City officials told the council that developers are most likely to pay the in-lieu fee, among the available options in the ordinance.
The construction cost for new mid-range homes in Clovis averages between $180 and $350 per square foot, said Darren Rose, the president of the Building Industry Association of Fresno/Madera Counties.
In addition, there’s a surcharge of between $35,000 to $50,000 per home to cover services such as water, sewer, police, fire, parks, and roads, Rose said.
Rose told The Bee that the ordinance hurts affordability.
“The only way to affect affordability is by new supply coming online,” Rose said. “If it doesn’t make sense for my builders to continue producing supply, because it just doesn’t pencil out, from a financial perspective, they’re going to build on other locales around the valley.”
The housing inventory in Clovis has surged in recent years because it’s located within Clovis Unified School District, Rose said. But the surrounding areas of Sanger, Fowler, and Kingsburg are also very attractive to builders, he said.
Developers warn that the costs and fees will eventually be passed on to the homebuyers.
“Not only would this add costs to the home and therefore cost to the homebuyer, but also this might discourage builders such as my company from buying more land and building more homes in the city,” said Brandon De Young, president of De Young Properties. “You’re in a tough spot, probably have to do this regardless, but I guess we’ll see how this plays out in a number of years.”
Councilmembers said that they were concerned the ordinance could backfire and make it more difficult for the city to provide sufficient opportunities for affordable housing.
“Sacramento often does this type of thing to local jurisdictions without the ability for us to maintain that local control,” said Mayor Pro Tem Diane Pearce. “Millionaires, super wealthy, they’ll still be able to buy their homes. The people who are going to qualify for these deed-restricted units, they’re going to have the assistance to buy these homes. It’s the working class and middle class who are going to get hit the hardest because of those fees.”
