Santa Cruz Sentinel: Guest Commentary | Why I support Measure C for Santa Cruz
By Andy Schiffrin
These are depressing and uncertain times. Our national government bombards us daily with threats to our democracy and values, with low-income people and people of color under sustained attack. However, despite these realities, it is important to resist feelings of powerlessness and to support efforts in our community to help those in need.
Need
It’s almost a cliché that housing prices in Santa Cruz are among the highest in the country and that the market rate housing that is being constructed is unaffordable to low- and moderate-income families.
We are faced with an affordable housing crisis that jeopardizes the future diversity of our city. Are we moving inexorably to becoming an enclave for the wealthy?
Measure C’s purpose is to do what we can, as a community, to respond to the affordable housing crisis and help provide homes for families priced out of the private housing market.
Impact
Measure C will generate an average of $5 million each year for affordable housing.
By itself, these funds are obviously inadequate to construct affordable housing projects.
However, since the cost of building new housing is so high, affordable housing developments need a variety of subsidies, which usually come from state and federal sources.
Often, though, the outside funding is insufficient. This is where Measure C assistance will be crucial. It can fill the financial gap and make an infeasible development feasible.
What is affordable housing?
For rental housing, a family is eligible for affordable housing if their income is 80% of the HUD determined county median income or below.
Currently, 80% of the median income for a two-person household is $127,000.
Trying to calculate the number of city families who could qualify for affordable housing is tricky. However, using census data, it appears that perhaps 30% of the city’s non-student households have income below 80% of the median.
This means that a significant number of Santa Cruz residents are struggling with high housing costs and could benefit from the provision of the additional affordable housing that Measure C could support.
Cost
The opponents of Measure C claim that the $96 a year parcel tax is massive. However, $96 a year translates into 25 cents a day and this amount will not be increased over the 20-year life of the measure.
What about the transfer tax? If a house sells for under $1.8 million, there is no tax.
The tax would only be imposed on the price over this amount. For example, if a house sold for $2 million, the tax would be $1,000 ($2,000,000 – $1,800,000 = $200,000 x $5 per $1,000 = $1,000.)
The transfer tax is .05% of the purchase price (that’s five hundredths of 1%).
As a point of interest, a 3% fee for the seller’s real estate agent on the sale would be $60,000.
Leverage
There’s another potential benefit of Measure C to Santa Cruz residents.
Under current state laws, the city has very little ability to either deny or improve proposed housing developments.
We’ve seen massive projects approved with little or no consideration for the parking or visual impacts on the surrounding neighborhood.
Measure C revenues would give the city leverage in working with developers to ensure that there is a balance between the production of affordable housing and the concerns of its neighbors.
Opposition
The real estate industry has put a competing measure on the ballot for one reason only — to defeat Measure C. Like the beverage industry that tried to kill the soft drink tax by spending oodles of money, their concern isn’t with the welfare of our community but with making money, pure and simple.
Conclusion
Measure C isn’t a cure-all, but it will provide critical help in response to our affordable housing crisis.
Don’t just say that you care about the affordable housing crisis, show that you care. Vote for Measure C!
Andy Schiffrin is a Santa Cruz city resident and member of the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of Santa Cruz County.