Crisis Resolved--One Family at a Time
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Alejandra, who receives services from San Andreas Regional Center, was living with her partner and two children in a studio apartment in Salinas, where she had moved after being unable to find housing in her home community in Santa Cruz County. Although the Salinas studio was small, the family was consistently able to pay the rent of $1,200/month. Nonetheless, Alejandra’s housing stability was threatened in May when she received a 60 day notice to move out. The landlord needed to reclaim the studio apartment so that her adult daughter could move back home during the pandemic.
Alejandra’s Service Coordinator at San Andreas Regional Center immediately referred Alejandra to Housing Choices for help with this unexpected deadline. Finding an affordable apartment in such a short time frame is challenging under the best of circumstances, and even more so during the pandemic. Since Housing Choices maintains close communications with property managers in our service area, Housing Coordinator Yuritzy Mondragon was able to act quickly. She had learned that the waiting list had just opened for Riverwalk Apartments in Santa Cruz. Riverwalk is owned by For the Future Housing and managed by EAH Housing, both experienced affordable housing companies with a history of collaborating with Housing Choices.
With support from Yuritzy, Alejandra’s housing application for Riverwalk Apartments was submitted and approved. Alejandra and her family moved into their two-bedroom apartment in July and now pay rent of $1,242/month--only slightly more than the rent for the studio apartment from which they were forced to move. Not only is the new apartment more appropriate in size for a family of four, it is closer to Alejandra’s relatives in Santa Cruz and to her partner’s job in Corralitos. Housing Choices was able to resolve Alejandra’s housing crisis with a housing solution that seems likely to meet her family’s needs for years to come.
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City of San Mateo Approves Inclusive Housing
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On August 17, 2020, the San Mateo City Council voted 5-0 to approve the Downtown San Mateo Opportunity Sites development, creating 225 new affordable apartments, 80 of which will benefit from Project-Based Vouchers. Responding to sustained organizing by Housing Choices, the City Council also gave direction to the developer to make available, eight apartments with Project-Based Vouchers, subject to a preference for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who receive services from the Golden Gate Regional Center.
Scheduled to complete construction in Fall 2023, the Downtown San Mateo Opportunity Sites Project will be located at 4th and Claremont with a parking garage located adjacent to the property on 5th and Claremont. The two structures will be connected by a pedestrian bridge above 5th Avenue. The proximity of the city-owned site to local jobs, shopping and services in the downtown area and to public transportation will increase accessibility for residents without cars, making this a great fit for residents with developmental disabilities seeking to live independently. The award of Project-Based Vouchers to the eight apartments for people with developmental disabilities will open up this housing opportunity to people with a range of income levels, including those whose sole source of income is SSI of $940/month.
To understand the impact that self-advocates make on local housing decisions like this one, check out this post by San Mateo City Council member Amourence Lee, featuring an interview with Housing Choices and housing self-advocate Nicole Adler.
Check out the project on Facebook
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Read more here!
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Breaking Ground in Mountain View
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With the virtual groundbreaking of 950 El Camino Real, the City of Mountain View is celebrating the start of construction of its third inclusive housing development for people with developmental disabilities. Developed by Alta Housing (formerly “Palo Alto Housing), the affordable housing property is located at the former site of a Taco Bell near Castro Street. Proximity to transit, shopping and city services make the location ideal for inclusion of people with developmental disabilities who will have a preference for fifteen of the development’s seventy-one apartments, with housing support services provided by Housing Choices.
The virtual groundbreaking video (below) showcases the artwork of students of the Morgan Autism Center, which will be featured as the public art of the completed property. Click here to check it out!
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California Adopts New Law for COVID-19 Tenant Protection
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Californians who have suffered a loss of income because of COVID-19 will have some protection from eviction under a new statewide law, AB 3088. Under the legislation, no tenant can be evicted before February 1, 2021 as a result of rent owed between March 4, 2020 and August 31, 2020 for a COVID-related reason, if the tenant provides a declaration of hardship according to the legislation’s timelines. For rent owed between September 1, 2020 January 31, 2021, tenants must pay at least 25 percent of the rent due to avoid eviction and provide a declaration of a COVID-related hardship..
Tenants are still responsible for paying unpaid amounts to landlords, but those unpaid amounts cannot be the basis for an eviction. Landlords may begin to recover this debt on March 1, 2021, and small claims court jurisdiction is temporarily expanded to allow landlords to recover these amounts. For rent that comes due beginning February 1, 2021, eviction is still a remedy if the tenant does not pay the rent.
In signing the compromise bill, Governor Newsom acknowledged that it is not a permanent solution but a bridge to keep tenants in their homes “until the federal government recognizes its role in stabilizing the housing market.” To learn more about the new California law, click here!
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California Supreme Court Rejects “Crabbed” Interpretation of Rental Subsidy Rules for People with Developmental Disabilities
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In reversing a decision of the California Court of Appeals, the California Supreme Court in Reilly v. Marin Housing Authority concluded that a Section 8 beneficiary’s compensation for providing in-home care for a family member with developmental disabilities should be excluded from income in calculating the family’s Section 8 rental subsidy.
The Supreme Court ruled that the income paid to mother Kerrie Reilly by the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program to care for her daughter with severe developmental disabilities must be specifically excluded from household income for purposes of determining the family’s income and the family’s portion of the rent under the Section 8 program.
The Marin Housing Authority had argued that the exclusion of income applied only when IHSS income was paid to a third party provider of care rather than to a parent caregiver who also lived in the home and thus indirectly benefited from the housing voucher. The Supreme Court “refuse[d] to adopt a crabbed interpretation that does little to advance the tandem goals of offering affordable housing to low income families and of supporting families who themselves provide in-home care for developmentally disabled members.”
Housing Choices was one of many advocacy organizations aided in challenging the Marin Housing Authority’s decision by the San Francisco office of Morgan Lewis & Bockius www.morganlewis.com We are grateful for the firm’s pro bono commitment to the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in affordable housing.
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Rising Together: Exploring the Intersectionality of Race and Disability
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Join Housing Choices at the Housing Leadership Day on October 30, 2020, where we plan to convene a virtual panel to discuss the intersectionality of race, disability, and housing inequity. An emerging body of research on the concept of “intersectionality” validates what our organization has learned from twenty-plus years of working to address the housing needs of people of diverse races and abilities. Simply put, intersectionality research shows that people of color with a disability will fare worse in the search for an affordable, stable, and inclusive home than either White people with a disability or people of color without a disability.
We invite you to join us to explore the implications of “intersectionality” of race and disability as it affects housing access and to work with leaders to propose solutions. To register for Housing Leadership Day and to attend our workshop on October 30th, visit HLCSMC.org.
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Transition to Independence Virtual Fair
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Are you a young person with a disability looking for resources and strategies to transition from public school to living as an adult in the community?
Then join Housing Choices and many others at the Transition to Independence Virtual Fair on October 24th 2020. Among other live activities, Housing Choices will host a virtual workshop on planning for housing when you are ready to move out of your family’s home.
Although organized by San Mateo County leaders, the Fair will include many resources and services not limited to San Mateo County. Check out the Fair’s website www.transition.org and join us on Saturday, October 24th 2020.
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To donate please use one of the donate buttons on this email or mail a check to Housing Choices:
6203 San Ignacio Avenue, Suite 108,
San Jose, CA 95119.
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With appreciation,
Ron Soto
Board Chair
Jan Stokley
Executive Director
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Housing Choices is a nonprofit corporation exempt from tax under Section 501(C)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Your gift is deductible as allowed by law. Our tax identification number is 77-0458221.
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