Fresno mayor’s housing plan does not put new homes where they are needed most
The Central Valley is often considered one of the most affordable parts of our state, but rather than escaping the state’s housing affordability crisis, Fresno is at the center of it. Since 2017, the average rent in Fresno is up nearly 39%. This has created a crushing burden for many residents, who certainly haven’t seen a corresponding increase in wages, and solutions are desperately needed.
But urgency is not an excuse for city officials to plow forward with a plan that lacks both community involvement and strategies to create equal opportunity. That is why the Fresno City Council should ensure community members are able to improve Mayor Jerry Dyer’s One Fresno Housing Strategy before the council takes it up for a vote.
Like much of California, Fresno lives with the legacy of redlining — the now unconstitutional practice of labeling largely Black neighborhoods as undesirable. The direct result of this practice was to discourage investment in these communities and deny residents homeownership opportunities and the ability to build generational wealth. These policies, paired with single-family zoning, continue to keep higher opportunity, wealthier, and whiter neighborhoods unaffordable and inaccessible to Black and Latino families.
As our city has grown, resources and amenities like parks and good public schools continue to be concentrated in the wealthier neighborhoods north of Shaw Ave, inaccessible to many of our city’s lower-income and minority residents. In contrast, lower-income neighborhoods in the southern and southwestern parts of our city lack public investment, and instead struggle with industrial pollution and the deliberate erosion of community-based environmental justice efforts.
Addressing the ongoing impacts of historical racism and housing discrimination on our city means not only acknowledging them, but being thoughtful about developing our city in a way that overcomes them. This is where the One Fresno Housing Strategy falls short.
While the strategy acknowledges the need for both market rate and affordable housing, it does not do enough to put new housing in the right places. We should not create even more unaffordable sprawl out from the edges of Fresno’s wealthiest neighborhoods. Instead, we should be creating more housing that is affordable for our lowest-income residents within north Fresno’s existing neighborhoods. That can be achieved by utilizing inclusionary zoning policies and affordable-housing incentives to make these neighborhoods, and the amenities they provide, more accessible to lower-income residents and communities of color.
At the same time, the lack of investment and new development in traditionally lower-income communities south of Shaw Avenue is making it impossible for lifelong residents to choose to stay and deepen their roots in the communities they grew up in. South and southwest Fresno’s long-neglected neighborhoods must see an equitable share of investment in new housing options of all types — affordable apartments, duplexes and single-family homes — making it possible for more families to afford the housing that fits their needs in the neighborhoods they choose. We need community-based development that will create housing choice for Fresno residents of all incomes while employing the anti-displacement strategies outlined in Here to Stay, the Thrivance Group’s report on the tools Fresno can use to increase housing affordability and availability while preventing displacement.
As we aim to increase affordability in north Fresno while creating more housing choice south of Shaw, we need to make sure that the communities most impacted by these decisions have a say in the process. The poverty rate for families south of Shaw is nearly 20% higher than Fresno as a whole, and about 60% of Fresno renters are cost burdened — these are the residents that should be driving and defining what “affordable” means and guiding our city’s affordable housing goals. The One Fresno Housing Plan’s goal to make only 25% of the new “affordable” housing — or less than 1,500 units — attainable for our city’s very-low-income residents does not go far enough when tens of thousands of residents can afford no more than $500 on monthly housing costs.
Finally, the One Fresno Housing Plan leans heavily on strategies intended to incentivize our city’s biggest developers to do the right thing and build more affordable housing. Without also employing more of the community-based strategies thoughtfully laid out in the Here to Stay report to empower renters — like rent control and eviction protections — offering these investments to private developers does not benefit our community.
In order to effectively address Fresno’s housing and equity crises, city officials have to be willing to collaborate with community members most impacted. I believe that we can build an inclusive, resilient, and affordable Fresno that offers opportunity and stability to all our residents. But to do that, community voices need a real seat at the table to improve the One Fresno Housing Plan before it moves forward.
