The decision could help the city meet its affordable housing needs, mandated by the state.
Mayor Ron Bertsch asked Richard Birk, president of the local Habitat for Humanity chapter, to address the council and explain the group’s programs.
Birk told the council that Habitat for Humanity has been in Lake County since 2001, and the local chapter is affiliated with the nationwide group.
“We’re a grassroots organization,” he said.
Birk said Habitat for Humanity can ask the county to set aside properties on the tax default list that might make for good building prospects.
The group is composed of volunteers. Prospective home owners must take part in the program by helping with construction. “We don’t give homes away,” Birk said.
The people Habitat considers for homeownership must meet certain criteria which include need and some form of income to help pay for the expenses of running a home, he said.
Habitat for Humanity is active in 100 countries around the world, and the group builds about 6,000 houses a year, Birk said. Last year the group was the nation’s largest home builder due in part to the economy and the resulting slowdown in home building.
The group’s smallest home footprint includes two bedrooms. All the homes now are solar, with national manufacturers providing paint and appliances, according to Birk.
The local chapter also has started a home repair program, called “A Brush of Kindness,” that is targeting people who own homes but can’t afford repairs – specifically seniors over age 62, the disabled and low income families, Birk said.
When Habitat first announced the program’s launch in July, it estimated that 74 percent of the homes in Clearlake needed repair or replacement.
Homeownership has important benefits, Birk explained. Being in a home help stabilizes families, which in turn use fewer social services.
“Those are benefits that come back to the local community,” he said.
Birk said Habitat for Humanity can deliver the lowest-cost housing. The group targets families with incomes that are 60 percent or less of the area’s median income. In Lake County, that would mean a family of four could make no more than $30,000 a year to be eligible for the housing.
“We need help if we want to come to Lakeport,” said Birk. “We're tired of the image that we're just building for the city of Clearlake.”
In Clearlake, the group has completed 14 houses and is preparing to build a 15th, as Lake County News has reported. However, the repair program is countywide, with the first home chosen located in Kelseyville.
Many of the group’s volunteers and some staff come from the Lakeport area, Birk noted.
Bertsch said that when he first brought the suggestion to the council last month about working with Habitat, he envisioned helping the group with purchasing empty lots. He said he had concerns about sewer and hookup fees, adding that he believed many vacant lots haven’t been developed because people can’t afford the fees and costs.
Bertsch suggested a joint letter from Habitat and the city or its redevelopment agency should be sent out to property owners in an effort to buy infill lots.
Fellow council members voiced no objections to the plan.
“We definitely need to do some low income housing for our housing element,” noted Council member Suzanne Lyons.
Birk said the land is critical for Habitat. Otherwise, the will is there to start building in Lakeport.
Bertsch got the consensus of the council to move forward, and he asked Birk to get together with city Redevelopment Director Richard Knoll to craft the letters. The council voted 5-0 in support of the plan.
Birk invited council members to join them at a building site when the weather improves. Bertsch said they’ll be there.
City must meet housing element goals
As Lyons noted, the city needs to meet certain affordable housing objectives because of its housing element, the update of which the council approved at its Nov. 3 meeting.
According to that document, between 2008 and 2014 the city must provide an opportunity for 430 housing units – 97 for extremely low income (up to $16,150 annually), 98 for very low income ($16,151 to $26,900), 138 for low income ($26,901 to $43,050), 29 for moderate income ($43,051 to $64,600) and 68 for above average income levels ($64,600 and above).
Under its previous housing element, updated in 2004, the city was required to provide for 367 housing units from 2003 to 2008, of which 213 were supposed to range between very low and moderate income, as Lake County News has reported.
The new housing element noted that the city did not have any affordable housing projects completed during the 2004 plan’s implementation period.
In September of 2007, the council voted down a funding request for a proposed 62-unit affordable housing complex that Sebastopol-based Terra Partners wanted to build on a five-acre parcel on Martin and Bevins streets, as Lake County News has reported.
The firm was seeking a $600,000 deferred loan from the city in support of the $18 million project, but the council voted down the project – which had been in discussions for some time – at the urging of then-City Manager Jerry Gillham, who said they had other options to meet their housing requirements and suggested they focus on projects that would create jobs.
Last year, the council gave direction to staff to work with developer Bruce Shimizu on an agreement to support a proposed 18-unit affordable housing project in Berry Street. However, earlier this year Shimizu lost the property to foreclosure, ending the project.
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