Do Clovis politicians have the ‘political courage’ to build low-income housing?
As far as housing developments go, this one was hardly worth getting riled up about.
And no one did. Even the handful of neighbors who addressed the Clovis City Council on Monday night over traffic concerns associated with the 137-unit project on the city’s northern outskirts did so without anger or obvious NIMBY-ism.
Still, it was instructive to observe elected leaders from one of California’s fastest-growing cities grapple with their housing shortage, particularly the low-income variety, and other associated issues.
Tactic No. 1: Blame Gov. Gavin Newsom for his housing mandates.
Tactic No. 2: Blame “San Francisco” politicians for policies that are not germane to the central San Joaquin Valley.
“This is not something the city of Clovis wants,” Councilmember Bob Whalen said. “This is something that has been foisted upon us by the state of California.”
To be clear, Whalen was not referring to the medium-density development proposed by national homebuilder Lennar on 21.5 acres located along the south side of Shepherd Avenue between Clovis and Sunnyside avenues.
Development wins approval
That project won conditional approval by the Clovis City Council, which voted 5-0 to accept the environmental documents and make the necessary general plan amendments and rezone approvals. However, the actual tract map was rejected by a 3-2 vote and must be resubmitted.
Whalen was referring to a 3-acre piece of the project that city staff had identified as a potential site for high-density affordable housing.
You know, the kind of high-density affordable housing that Clovis lacks and (if we’re being honest) doesn’t really want.
It’s funny. I live in the neighborhood and attended multiple community meetings about the proposed development. But Monday evening was the first time I’d heard anything about the high-density component.
Little surprise why. Land development consultant Dirk Poeschel made it clear Lennar didn’t want it. (“Lennar doesn’t build apartments,” he told the council.) The neighborhood certainly didn’t want it, especially those living across the street in $600,000 homes. And Monday’s meeting made clear the City Council majority didn’t want it — at least not at that location.
During Monday’s meeting, there was plenty of talk between council members and city staff about the Regional Housing Needs Assessment, or RHNA for short.
Mandated by state law, RHNA essentially sets a target for California cities and counties to build housing units at various income levels in eight-year cycles. Municipalities that don’t hit these targets could lose out in millions of state housing funds.
Low-income housing lagging
A recent survey by the Southern California Media Group found that fewer than 3 percent of all California cities and counties actually meet their RHNA goals. Turns out plenty of jurisdictions plan housing projects, but far fewer actually build them.
Clovis received a C+ grade on the SCMG’s housing report card (by comparison, Fresno received a B-), but as usual the devil is in the details.
A closer examination reveals Clovis has issued more than the mandated number of permits for moderate-income housing and above-moderate income housing. However, it lags far behind on very-low-income housing and low-income housing.
Based on data reported to the California Department of Housing and Community Development through 2018, Clovis has failed to issue any permits for very-low-income housing in the current RHNA cycle (2016 to 2023) and is well off the pace for low-income housing.
Officials seem to be aware of the city’s RHNA requirements. (No one brought up the recent lawsuit filed by Central California Legal Services.) Several council members requested that staff keep them apprised of the numbers each time a housing project comes up for a vote.
But in this instance, they punted.
Clovis must do its part
I’m not arguing that Shepherd Avenue is a great place to build a three- or four-story apartment building for low-income residents. I don’t think it is, for many reasons.
However, it is incumbent on Clovis to do its part in helping solve a statewide housing crisis. If cities such as Santa Monica, Pleasanton, Napa, Tustin, San Luis Obispo and San Rafael can build low income units, surely Clovis can too.
That is, if the city’s elected leaders have the spine to fight through the NIMBYs.
As Newsom said in his State of the State address, cities that aren’t meeting the state’s goals “need to summon the political courage to build their fair share of housing.”
Can Clovis officials summon that sort of courage, or are they more worried about being re-elected? That’s the question.
