Affordable Housing

x Glendale renters are being ignored by the City

✔ The facts is... It’s no secret that a housing crisis has gripped the State of California, and that the housing shortage only continues to expand. The City Council/Housing Authority received a series of reports and information on rental rates, rent control, and other affordable housing related issues impacting Glendale residents. In reviewing the analyses, it was made clear to the City Council/Housing Authority that Glendale was not alone in this predicament as nearly all California communities have been impacted by the high cost of housing and the impacts it has had on lower income households.

Despite the number of internal and external challenges in providing affordable housing options, the City Council/Housing Authority subsequently adopted an affordable housing strategy containing specific action items to promote the development of more housing affordable across all segments of the community. The strategy is summarized into three broad affordable housing categories — Legislative Platform, Dedicated Revenue, and Land Use Tools. As seen in the illustration below, these categories are interrelated and, when working collectively, can best result in corresponding actions that help address affordable housing need. Since adoption, CDD staff and the City Council/Housing Authority have been working on advancing concepts and/or taking action on the various strategies identified.

The Glendale Housing Authority, since its inception in 1975, has invested over $100 million in funds to develop nearly 1,450 low income units. There are currently two new low income projects under construction or in development. The Habitat Lomita project consisting of 6 ownership units and the Fifth and Sonora 66-unit senior rental development will increase the affordable housing supply by adding a total of 72 new units to the Glendale market. These additional investments round up to over $10 million in affordable housing funds. With the number of affordable housing units created in combination with Section 8 vouchers serviced annually, the Glendale Housing authority can claim nearly 4,450 units that serve lower income resident in Glendale. That said, the City Council and Housing Authority are committed to creating balanced, quality housing, and will continue to work relentlessly to satisfy the growing need for affordable housing in the City of Glendale. They recently issued a “Statement of Interest for Affordable Housing Development” to inform the development community of Glendale’s interest and funding availability for future affordable housing proposals/projects for lower income households. Here is the link if you have not seen it. https://www.myglendalecitynews.org/single-post/Statement-of-Interest-for-Affordable-Housing-Development

On July 17, 2018, the Glendale City Council unanimously voted to place the Glendale Quality of Life and Essential Services Protection Measure on the November 6, 2018 ballot. If you watched city council debate this issue. Video can be found here and the item starts at 49:10. http://glendale.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=47&clip_id=7704 All of them wanted to do this so they could have control over $30 million dollars of sales tax revenue. The number one priority – affordable housing.

And most recently was August 14, 2018, when the City and Housing Authority met to find more ways to raise revenue for low income and affordable housing. That can be found there. http://glendale.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=47&clip_id=7756

The Demographics of Glendale can be found here: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/glendalecitycalifornia/PST045217

There are a number of cities that do not have rent control -- to say that Glendale is different, does not care or not doing anything is disingenuous. You may compare us to any other city and will not find that any other City Council that has done as much as Glendale over the years and in the very recent past. Like every other community, we continue to look to the state for help. See this letter: https://www.glendalerumorpage.com/affordable-housing