HUD AND HCD SAY ABAG'S NEW HOUSING NUMBERS MAY DISCRIMINATE AGAINST LOWER INCOME FAMILIES

Here's a LINK TO AN APRIL 9 LETTER from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to ABAG expressing serious concerns about ABAG's proposed Regional Housing Needs Allocations ("RHNA") for the upcoming 2014-2022 planning period. HUD says that 1) by concentrating new multi-family housing in communities with already high concentrations of lower income housing; 2) by limiting the affordable housing which certain communities with very little affordable housing must plan for; and 3) by ignoring the housing needs of farmworkers in rural areas (like Napa, Sonoma and Marin), ABAG may be violating fair housing laws. HUD points out that as a recipient of federal funding, ABAG has agreed to affirmatively further fair housing in the bay area, but the proposed RHNA may actually worsen patterns of residential segregation in the region. This follows a February letter to ABAG from the California Department of Housing and Community Development sent to ABAG late last year pointing out that ABAG's methodology (which cuts new housing numbers for Marin and Napa Counties and some jurisdictions in Sonoma County by 50% or more) didn't comply with state laws governing the allocation process. Here's a LINK TO THE HCD LETTER. Various public interest advocacy organizations have written recently to ABAG expressing grave concerns about the new regional housing numbers. Links to those letters will be posted shortly. Let's hope that ABAG listens.