Creating a Great Community in San Leandro

Background

San Leandro has the opportunity to create a model downtown - a more vibrant, walkable community with new jobs and housing affordable to the spectrum of Bay Area families. This opportunity is made possible by San Leandro’s growing transportation resources and a grant to do a Station Area Plan (SAP) by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

By 2011, downtown San Leandro will be connected to Oakland and Berkeley by the first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in the Bay Area. The BRT will act like a light rail train running from the UC Campus down through San Leandro along E. 14th, speeding up travel time by up to 25% and making travel along this corridor much more comfortable, safe and reliable. Between the new BRT, continued AC Transit local service, the LINKs shuttle and BART, downtown San Leandro will be one of the most transit-rich places in the Bay Area. The SAP covers a half-mile radius centered in the heart of downtown at one of the BRT’s stops (Davis and E. 14th Streets) and includes the Downtown BART station.

Planning Process

The SAP planning process began in January 2006 and involved over 12 meetings of a Citizen Advisory Council, three ‘Town Hall Meetings’ to solicit public input, and numerous work sessions and meetings with members of the Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Adjustments and the City Council. The City of San Leandro hired BMS Design Group to lead the planning process, as well as Bay Area Economics for the Market Analysis and Design, Community and Environment for the Environmental Impact Studies.

Beginning in July of 2006, Urban Habitat and Congregations Organizing for Renewal (COR) worked to engage residents in the planning process, offer the GCC’s tools and resources to city staff and leaders, and provide analysis to assist residents and leaders develop a final SAP that would achieve a vibrant, walkable, mixed-income and transit-oriented community.

Community Recommendations

Many of COR’s members identified affordable housing as their top priority for improving their quality of life. Housing costs in the Bay Area are among the highest in the nation and San Leandro is no exception. As of 2005, less than 14% of San Leandro households could afford a market-rate, single family home.

San Leandro, while making concerted efforts to construct new affordable housing, has also not kept pace with identified need. According to the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) San Leandro needed to build 302 units of housing for low and very low income households between 1999 and 2006 in order to meet the need. In that time it only built 108 such units, leaving a deficit of 194 units. Notably, no new units were created that were affordable to low-income households and none were created for large families.

Another real concern is that the Station Area Plan could result in the displacement of existing renters. As public and private investment increase in the downtown and the BRT begins serving riders, real estate values will likely increase at a rapid pace encouraging landlords to raise the rents or convert rental units into condos. San Leandro’s downtown has many of the characteristics signature to areas that have gentrified in other parts of the Bay Area including: a tight rental market, a large housing/jobs imbalance, relative affordability compared to other nearby housing markets, high traffic congestion and targeted public or private sector investments. Currently 60% of households downtown rent and incomes are substantially lower downtown compared to the rest of the city and county. These families are most vulnerable to displacement.

Urban Habitat and COR, along with supporting the proposed residential densities and bike/pedestrian plans, advocated for strong affordable housing and anti-displacement policies and language in the final Plan. Not only will a diverse array of housing benefit San Leandro’s families, it will also ensure housing for San Leandro’s workforce and help San Leandro meet its goal of increased transit ridership. (Low-income families are much more likely to use transit than higher income families.)

Activities

Highlights from the planning process include:

• Urban Habitat conducts a training with COR’s leadership on mixed-income, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD);
• Urban Habitat and COR meet with city staff on a regular basis to provide input on the SAP;
• Urban Habitat, along with East Bay Community Foundation, contract Strategic Economics to produce two studies analyzing transit and affordable housing in San Leandro’s downtown for the benefit of city staff, the Citizens’ Advisory Committee and decision-makers;
• COR holds a Community Action Forum at which over 120 families meet with San Leandro’s Mayor Tony Santos and Councilmember Michael Gregory about bringing affordable housing downtown;
• Testimony from Urban Habitat and two of COR’s leaders encourage members of the Citizens’ Advisory Committee to add a policy to the draft SAP that ensures that any funds raised within the SAP for affordable housing will be used within the boundaries of the SAP;
• Urban Habitat and COR work with Non-profit Housing of Northern California to conduct an affordable housing bus tour with San Leandro’s three newest council members; and
• Urban Habitat and COR, along with allies such as TALC, EBASE, and representatives of the Central Labor Council and the Building Trades, pack city council chambers and provide half of all public testimony at the final City Council vote.

Final Plan

San Leandro finalized its SAP on September 4, 2007 in a unanimous vote. The SAP identifies 39 sites totaling 88 acres for re-zoning and redevelopment. These sites, if redeveloped according to the plan, could mean over 3,400 new housing units, about 120,000 square feet of retail and 700,000 square feet of commercial in the next 20-30 years. Areas near the BART station and along E. 14th Street will see dramatic increases to height and density of residential development, while other established neighborhoods are preserved as they are today. The Plan also includes progressive Transportation Demand Management (TDM) measures to reduce driving and parking demand, enhancements to retail downtown, a new civic plaza for events and festivals, improvements the creek and open space, and changes to make biking and walking safer and more enjoyable downtown and between downtown and the BART station.

The “Mixed Income and Workforce Housing Policy” section of the SAP makes strong statements about the city’s intent to ensure the downtown is affordable to a range of households. It includes many of the city’s current affordable housing policies including its inclusionary zoning ordinance and a housing trust fund for affordable housing development including an additional policy, establishing a housing trust for the SAP area, added by the Citizen’s Advisory Committee.

The final plan is available here (29 MB PDF).The city also provides a comprehensive Overview of the plan.

What’s Missing from the Plan?

While the SAP provides for much more housing in the downtown area, including affordable housing, it doesn’t ensure construction of very low-income housing or large units that can accommodate big families. The inclusionary zoning ordinance currently reaches only 50% of Area Median Income in Alameda County or $41,900 for a family of 4 and allows the inclusionary units to be smaller than the market-rate units. Furthermore, the SAP does not address the potential for resident displacement downtown.

Future Opportunities to Address Affordability

While the SAP did not address all of our concerns, San Leandro’s Mayor, many of its council members and the Community Development Department have all demonstrated interest and support of strengthening the city’s affordable housing policies and track record. The City Council, at the vote to finalize the SAP, in the wake of overwhelming public testimony on the issue, committed to holding two work sessions on affordable housing at the end of 2007 and in early 2008. The upcoming Housing Element process and in the actual development of parcels within the downtown are additional opportunities to create and preserve affordable housing for families at all income levels.

Urban Habitat and COR look forward to working with San Leandro’s elected leaders, staff, stakeholders and residents to achieve the community’s vision for a downtown that is truly transit-oriented, inclusive and vibrant. The SAP is a good foundation from which to make this happen.

Getting involved

• On November 26th at 7pm the City Council will hold a work session on affordable housing to learn more about affordable housing policy in San Leandro and the upcoming Housing Element. Join Urban Habitat and COR at the meeting to express your priorities for the city’s housing programs and policies. A second affordable housing session in January is also planned.
• Join COR by contacting their San Leandro Organizer, Tiffany Crain (510) 727-8833 x 3. Residents of south Alameda County and members of a COR congregation are welcome.
• Sign Up to receive updates and action alerts by contacting Urban Habitat’s Transportation and Housing Program Associate, Lindsay Imai at (510) 844-1191.