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PART I. PRIORITY AFFORDABLE HOUSING NEEDS Priority: Increase the availability of affordable rental housing for extremely low, very low, low and moderate-income households Priority Analysis and Obstacles to Meetiu~ Underserved Needs The City of San Leandro is a participating jurisdiction in the Alameda County HOME Consortium. The following analysis of the availability of affordable rental housing for low- and moderate-income households, and obstacles to meeting this need, was prepared in part by the Consortium. As a Consortium member, the City of San Leandro subscribes to this priority and has proposed activities that meet the objective of providing affordable rental housing for extremely low, very low, low and moderate-income households. The need for affordable rental housing in Alameda County has increased dramatically over the past five years. The need far exceeds the supply of affordable rental housing in the Alameda County HOME Consortium. The Alameda County HOME Consortium Housing Needs Analysis indicates that the majority oflow-income rental households (earning 80 percent or less of the area's median income) spend more than 30% of their incomes on housing costs. Affordable housing is in short supply throughout the County. Very high cost housing markets reduce the supply of affordable housing even further. As rents have increased, subsidies in rental assistance programs also have increased, which results in a reduction in the number of persons that can be served in these programs. The 2000 Census information indicates that there are over 132,000 low-income renters in Alameda County of which 6,363 (or 5%) are in San Leandro. The need for affordable housing is especially acute among extremely low-income renters in the County and in San Leandro who are defined as households earning less than 30% of area median income. About seventy-seven percent (77%) of extremely low-income renters are considered cost burdened, which HUD defines as paying more than 30% of a household's income on housing costs. In particular, seventy-eight percent (78%) of extremely low-income renters in the County and City with large families face cost burdens. The Alameda County Subsidized Housing Inventory (2001) includes 18,695 rental housing units with long- term affordability and income level restrictions. Despite this, there are over 83,573 low-income renter households in the County and over 4,000 renters in the City who pay more than 30% of their income for rent according to Census 2000. In addition, the majority of the available supply of units in both the County and City are smaller units, more suitable for singles, elderly and smaller households than for larger families. Of the 18,695 total designated subsidized rental units in the County, 8,106 units were designated for family housing, 6,437 units were designated for seiuorhousing, 1,551 were Single Room Occupancy (SRO) units, and 842 traits were identified as accessible to people with disabilities (these units often overlap with other types of housing). Classifications were unknown for 1,7597 units. A sizeable portion of the subsidized units in the County face conversion to market-rate rents in the near future. This indicates that very low-income Housing and Community Development Strategic Plan - FY 2005-09 City of San Leandro Page 6