With our coalition partners Pittsburg Better Together, ACORN, Contra Costa FaithWorks! and the California Affordable Housing Law Project, Public Advocates made real progress in the fight for affordable housing in the low-income community of Pittsburg. When efforts to meet the community’s objectives short of litigation were unsuccessful, we filed suit in February 2004. The suit, backed by grassroots and coalition advocacy, persuaded the City Council to accommodate the need for lower-income housing in its amended General Plan, and to adopt the Housing Element of that Plan through a transparent public process.
In 2005, we settled our suit with a court-ordered agreement under which the City and its Redevelopment Agency were to produce 990 units of affordable housing over the next ten years. The agreement included an intermediate deadline for producing 200 units of very-low income housing by July 1, 2009.The Council also met another of plaintiffs’ demands, adopting the strongest inclusionary housing ordinance in Contra Costa County.
We have continued to monitor semi-annual progress reports from the City and to follow up with the City to inquire about the City’s plans for the development of new units and rehabilitation of existing units to ensure that the terms of the settlement are satisfied. The City’s semi-annual progress reports show that, while the City has made progress, it failed to meet its obligations that came due under the agreement on June 30, 2009. In particular, the City is behind in its production of very-low income units needed to meet the housing needs of extremely-low and very-low income families, especially larger families with children.
We are requesting that the city to explicitly set aside the sum of money necessary to meet its ongoing need for very-low income units, and to dedicate that money to specific, properly zoned, sites.
