4A Public Hearing 2014 1006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Planning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes September 11, 2014 Page 10 of 11 of language occurs in several places in Chapter 6. Over the past five years, he said we’ve built affordable housing and converted market-rate housing, but added no new market-rate housing. Monitoring the conversion process and creating a metric to evaluate the numbers by category would be helpful, because the combination results in a larger percentage of affordable housing and depletion of the market-rate housing supply. Commissioner Fitzsimons also expressed gratitude for the attention that the Working Draft pays to family housing because it’s intrinsic to building a unique and cohesive community. Commissioner Collier wanted to ensure that the final document is spell-checked and grammar- checked before it goes to HCD or anywhere else. Referring to Policy 56.10 – Efficient Use of Housing Stock, Acting Chair Hernandez asked whether this section should talk about the Airbnb model for shared senior housing as well as the ECHO Housing program. He suggested that the younger people the City wants to attract might want to rent a room for a short-term stay as they transition to longer-term housing. He said he understood that Innovation Officer Acosta has communicated with Airbnb executives. Mr. Miller said it’s an issue that warrants more discussion. Some argue that the short -term stay arrangements deplete the market of housing stock, he explained, with some people using second units as vacation rentals instead of as affordable housing for longer-term tenants. On the other hand, having the flexibility of being able to rent out a room and generate additional income that enables some people to stay in their homes would be a plus. He said that San Francisco, for example, is struggling with how to regulate short-term stays and Airbnbs, but in the context of our Housing Element, something along these lines might help achieve our housing goals. Acting Chair Hernandez also inquired about Action 57.03-B, part of a policy that recognizes the link between climate change strategies and housing costs. He asked whether the Working Draft should expand upon participation in Plan Bay Area that might leverage funding for development through either domestic or foreign investors. Secretary Liao said San Leandro has been pretty involved in the process, and will be again when the Plan Bay Area update effort gets under way in about 18 months. In a further question about the link between climate change and housing, Acting Chair Hernandez asked whether a mandate calls for a greater emphasis not only on green housing but zero net energy as well. Mr. Miller said to his knowledge it isn’t a mandate yet, but he’d research it because that’s the direction in which most cities are moving. Commissioner Rennie said that to preserve, conserve and protect the existing supply of affordable housing, it would be worthwhile for Goal 56 to include a policy related to a soft -story program, at least to the extent of taking inventory to get a scope of the soft -story situation in San Leandro, so that we can decide what to do about it. Commissioner Rennie moved to recommend forwarding the Working Draft to the City Council for HCD’s review, including comments with the following additions/material changes [based on additional summary and input from Assistant City Faubion and Commissioners Hernandez and Fitzsimons:  Add a policy to Goal 56 relating to soft-story structures and other seismic retrofit and an action item to explore developing a soft-story program that could inventory, evaluate standards for retrofit and a program to address the issue.  Rent-to-buy; clarification/enhancement of “encourage”  Tenant retention; clarification of effect of change in status/meeting qualifications after housing rehabilitation