Second in a series, following “How to Solve Jigsaw Puzzle of Affordable Housing.”
As the Monday, March 23, date approaches for the next community discussion of how to proceed with mandated affordable housing, City Councilman Andy Weissman alluded to what was, what could have been.
“Back when we had a Redevelopment Agency and had a low- and moderate-income housing fund,” he said, “we had money that could have been used to create affordable housing.
“We could have built it. We could have assisted the developers in building affordable housing.”
The “but” came next.
“But I was not on the City Council then, and so I don’t know the reasons it was not done,” said Mr. Weissman.
“Nothing much came of that. No affordable housing was created.”
He was referring to the glory days a decade ago of now-defunct Redevelopment.
“At the time Redevelopment Agencies were killed by the governor,” said the Councilman, “we had projects like 4043 Irving Pl., Tilden Terrace and Globe Avenue, the Habitat for Humanity project.
“These projects were assisted, dollar-wise, by monies that the Redevelopment Agency put in from the low- and moderate-income housing fund.”
For four years, Mr. Weissman has said “it was unfortunate” that Gov. Brown outlawed Redevelopment Agencies.
“When Redevelopment was eliminated and our low- and moderate-income housing was taken away, the million and a half dollars we had planned, and which Habitat for Humanity anticipated going into its project, was lost. The million and a half went back to the state.
“The Habitat for Humanity project is in jeopardy,” Mr. Weissman said. “The gap money the Agency was going to put in, Habitat now has to go out and find. Until they are able to, the project is going nowhere.”
(To be continued)
