100 Percent Affordable Overlay: Next Up for Berkeley s Reform Movement
After moving forward with parking and zoning reforms, the Berkeley City Council is also considering a new Affordable Housing Overlay on a model previously adopted in Cambridge, Massachusetts. March 5, 2021, 8am PST | James Brasuell |
Berkeley is not resting after taking several significant steps toward planning reform in recent months first by removing residential parking requirements in most parts of the city and then by voting to rescind single-family zoning.
Berkeley Councilmember Terry Taplin has also sponsored a 100% Affordable Housing Overlay, building on a model provided by a similar overlay approved by Cambridge, Massachusetts in October 2020.
Taplin Pushes to Increase Inclusion
After ending exclusionary zoning and moving forward to legalize fourplexes, Berkeley is still pushing for a more inclusive city. In a huge step toward that goal, Councilmember Terry Taplin is sponsoring a 100% Affordable Housing Overlay modeled on Cambridge’s recent measure.
Taplin’s move is transformative. Berkeley and other cities can best advance economic and racial inclusion by facilitating the citywide expansion of 100% affordable housing.
I promoted Cambridge’s Housing Overlay as a national model in the paperback edition of Generation Priced Out, and wrote about its October 2020 passage. I have repeatedly encouraged other cities to enact such an Overlay. The strategy getting increased national attention. On March 11 Harvard’s acclaimed Joint Center for Housing Studies holds a free webinar on the Overlay’s importance; it’s a great chance for those in other cities (Denver? Los Angeles?) to learn of the policy’s advantages.
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Great Start to 2021
Housing advocates have had a lot to celebrate. President Biden’s Executive Order extended the national eviction moratorium through March and a longer extension with increased tenant protections is on the horizon. In addition, flawed rent relief procedures issued by the Trump Administration to access the $25 billion already allocated were tossed and will soon be replaced. Biden ended his first week raising the FEMA reimbursement rate for housing the unhoused in hotels from 75% to 100% that’s a game changer for cities struggling to address homelessness.
Last week also saw the National Low Income Housing Coalition and over 2000 groups ramp up a national drive for significantly increased federal housing funding. I’ve followed national housing politics since Jimmy Carter’s presidency; this is the first time I recall “affordable housing” being highlighted by top officials on the first day of a new presidency.
Relentless. Exceptional. Thoughtful. When you think of the Capstone Communities team, these are the descriptions that leap to mind. Drawing on years of commitment to serving neighborhoods across eastern Massachusetts, the Capstone team recently upped the ante with their partnership with smart building solutions company ePropertyCare.
Together, the companies will incorporate building protection and automation solutions into affordable housing developments, which will help increase resident, landlord and contractor safety during the ongoing pandemic. The ePropertyCare platform enables landlords and property managers to remotely protect, monitor and control properties over the cellular network without requiring building WiFi. The process will help minimize in-person interactions that can spread COVID-19.