Affordable housing crisis tackled in Salinas long-term housing plan.

When a local nonprofit announced a lottery for a new batch of rental subsidy vouchers in 2012, about 2,000 applicants jammed the waitlist.

In the end, thousands applied to get the chance to live in one of the available multi-family apartments at Haciendas Place at the corner of Sherwood Drive and Calle Cebu, but only 53 units were available.

“We had to close the waiting list,” says Starla Warren, director of development for the Monterey County Housing Authority. “We are really active and would like to think we are making a dent in Salinas, but the demand for affordable housing is just too great.”

By March 2016, Warren projects the $18-million Haciendas Place housing project will be complete, and offer a total of 160 affordable housing units – a fraction of the city’s long-term housing needs.

According to the city’s housing element draft report for 2015-2023, which Salinas officials are set to vote on Dec. 15, the city needs to build 2,093 affordable units in the eight-year period – about 261 units per year – to keep up with demand.

The city is not even close to this amount of housing production, Salinas Assistant Director of Development Alan Stumpf says.

Housing data for the period of Jan. 1, 2014 to April 28, 2015 indicates 136 units were approved, and that between 2010 and 2015, only 350 new units were developed in Salinas – an average of 70 units per year. At this rate, the city is only meeting 27 percent of the target recommended by the state.

As a result, affordable housing demand continues to rise, shelters are over capacity and the homeless population is increasing faster than in any other city in Monterey County – 867 residents are homeless in Salinas, a 70 percent uptick from last year.

One issue for developing housing is budget constraint, Stumpf says. “In essence, we had $2.5 million in 2012 and now we have $500,000,” he says. Another concern is a job deficit in the area, Salinas Planning Commissioner Matthew Huerta says.

“The cost is so high we feel there is a housing crisis – but then people feel there is not enough being put into housing because resources are being allocated to creating jobs,” Huerta says.

Before the Planning Commission voted to recommend the housing element to City Council on Dec. 2, Huerta said: “In this town, do we have an affordable housing crisis? Yes. Do we have the political will? Maybe. Do we have the money? No.”