Thomas Soules, Livermore
I would like to make a couple of points that were not mentioned at the May 24 city council meeting.
First, let me say that I am all in favor of trying to make living in Livermore affordable for working-class families. Clearly, Livermore is not affordable for the working class.
However, the proposed housing will not do what is intended, namely to significantly help make Livermore more affordable. At best it will be like putting a small band-aid on a huge wound. Only a small number of very low-income people will be significantly helped. With a stipulation that the renters would only pay 30 % of their gross income in rent and would have an income of 20-60% of the median, teachers making $60 K per year will either not qualify or will get a small reduction in their rent. Hospitality workers making $30 K will get a substantial reduction in rent. The units will be âaffordableâ only to these very low-income workers. But there are only 130 units while Linda said there was a backlog of 13,000 people on a waiting list. We are not addressing the big problem or getting at what is really causing the un-affordability.