Silicon Valleys 222m housing shortfall

Silicon Valley's $222M affordable housing shortfall

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Housing Trust Silicon Valley CEO Kevin Zwick this week released the results of a new study, which found Santa Clara County facing a more than $200 million affordable housing shortfall.

Lauren Hepler

Economic Development Reporter- Silicon Valley Business Journal

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It made sense at the time for Housing Trust Silicon Valley CEO Kevin Zwick to set up a Google Alert about his nonprofit's area of focus — affordable housing.
Now, however, that simple alert has morphed into a frequent reminder of just how far behind Silicon Valley is on providing housing for residents who don't make top tech salaries.
“It always infuriates me," Zwick said. "I see Austin has approved new affordable housing, Hawaii.”
Sick of only seeing good news in the field coming from other places, Zwick this spring set out with the Cities Association of Santa Clara County to actually quantify just how dire the situation is in Silicon Valley.
The verdict: Santa Clara County alone is facing a $222 million annual affordable housing funding gap needed to help finance an additional 1,482 new units per year, according to the first-of-its-kind report.
Zwick's organization this week released the findings of the white paper undertaken to help educate policymakers and potential corporate benefactors on a glaring lack of affordable housing funding mechanisms. Bay Area rents and home prices have skyrocketed with the post-recession tech boom, in tandem with a 62 percent drop in affordable housing funding since 2008.
"We're really getting to crisis levels," Zwick told me. "The status quo isn’t acceptable."
The 2012 dissolution of local redevelopment agencies by Gov. Jerry Brown was a major blow to city housing funds. Zwick said about 95 percent of local affordable housing funding — or roughly $65 million annually — came from redevelopment. An additional complication, state officials and local cities are now fighting over remaining redevelopment funds set aside for housing in places like Redwood City, Santa Clara and San Jose.

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Lauren Hepler covers economic development, sports, and hospitality for the Silicon Valley Business Journal. She can be reached at 408.299.1820

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