3A Public Hearing 2010 0405 - Laserfiche WebLink

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urban Habitat we have identified additional areas of improvement that we ask the City to incorporate into the final version of the Element that is adopted by the City Council. What follows are our recommendations for additional policies, as well as particular policies that we strongly support and would like to commend the City for including in the Element. Our Recommendations and Commendations: Bilingual Housing Staff: Your housing needs assessment has revealed that there is a growing population of immigrant and non-English speaking households in the city. It is critical that non-English speakers are able to participate fully and equally in the housing market without fear of exploitation. Thus, we commend the city for committing to hiring bi-cultural, bi-lingual staff within the Community Development Department in the future to better assist the changing population. And, we encourage the City, whenever possible, to make housing related information available in all the major languages spoken by San Leandro's Limited English Proficient residents. 2. Sites for Adequate Affordable Housing To meet its Regional Housing Needs Assessment, San Leandro must develop 152 new units for very low income households and 221 new units for low income households (on top of what it has already built or committed to building since January 1, 2007). This is a total of 373 units needed. To accomplish this, the City should designate appropriate transit oriented development (TOD) sites for 100% affordable rental housing development and other TOD sites for a higher percentages of inclusionary units (at least 30%). The city is well aware of the many public and environmental benefits that accrue when affordable housing is co-located with transit. The recently passed Downtown TOD Strategy, as well as available sites along the future Bus Rapid Transit route (East 14T") and at the Bay Fair Mall station area, all provide critical opportunities to achieve the city's affordable housing goals while also building toward its vision for vibrant, walkable neighborhoods. We recommend the following TOD sites for 100% affordable housing developments for extremely and very low income families: Site # (in Name/Location creage Density otal Units # of current (dwelling Affordable H.E.) units/acre) Units 7 EBMUD (on .42 60 12-30 30 Parrot btw (minimum) envisioned Washin ton and 436 1[t"' Street. Suite izo5, Oakland, CA 946iz (510) 839-9510 • Fax: (510) 839-g61o www.urbanhabitat.org