It”s getting near election time and there is a proposition on the ballot that has the capacity to affect Lake County in a big way. Proposition 1C will bring state resources to bear on local problems that we can”t afford to ignore. The bond will not only provide stable homes for Lake County”s workforce and its most vulnerable community members, it will also boost the local economy through new jobs and an overall increase in housing-industry economic activity.
The relatively low wages earned in this region limit the ability of workers to enter the homeownership market and even their ability to afford decent rental units. Since the 1990s the dramatic increase in housing prices has far exceeded wage gains and has left housing unaffordable to the majority. Long-distance work-trip commutes are the norm for many county residents and will continue to be if current patterns persist.
The recent coverage of domestic violence in the Record-Bee draws light on the fact that last year in California 5,108 women and children were turned away from domestic violence shelters because they were full. Another chilling statistic is that 65 percent of youth in foster care became homeless when they turned 18 and were “emancipated” from the child welfare system.
Proposition 1C is part of a five-bond package approved earlier this year by Gov. Schwarzenegger that directs $2.85 billion in bonds to fund housing for low-income residents, senior citizens, farmworkers, battered women and their children and the homeless. The bond also earmarks an additional $1.35 billion for related infrastructure services: water, sewer; sidewalks, parks and upgrades to aging public facilities. The bond would be repaid over 30 years within existing resources without raising taxes.
In Lake County, the passage of Prop 1C will lay the foundation for a community where the workforce has suitable rental housing and opportunities for homeownership; where seniors have a safe, decent place to live; where youth who emancipate from foster care at age 18 will have transitional housing while they take their first steps towards self-sufficiency, and where victims of domestic violence will have a safe haven. It will provide resources to ensure that community members who suffer from physical and mental disabilities or who are grappling with substance abuse will not end up homeless, but will instead have a place to begin working towards stability and independence. These will be lasting structures that will benefit tens of thousands of people over time.
The passage of Prop 1C also means that some of the estimated 87,000 jobs that this bond will generate will be created in Lake County and will benefit the local economy.
As the executive director of the Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation I work to bring state and federal resources to bear on the problems that we face in Lake and Mendocino Counties. Prop 1C will sustain the government programs that we at RCHDC use to acquire, develop and construct affordable housing. RCHDC has used these programs to build five separate developments for seniors and the disabled around the Lake, and these programs have also supported the new farm worker housing that will soon open in Kelseyville.
Maybe you”ve heard the adage: “If you don”t vote you don”t count.” This November, we need the voice of rural California to be heard in Sacramento. If you haven”t registered to vote, please do so. Also, please consider a “yes” vote on Proposition 1C.
Duane Hill
Executive Director
Rural Communities
Housing Development Corp.
Ukiah
