NorCalUrban

As I mentioned in my post about about my 'blogcation' we've been working diligently on a shared equity or 'third sector' housing solution for our community. This has occupied much of my mental bandwidth, along with the important curriculum development project for our youth program, Future Profits. We're beginning to see some light. On April 24th the city of Menlo Park will vote on a proposal for funding for our housing project. If approved, we will have the funding to save around ten homes and families from foreclosure. This will happen through an investment of public funds as an equity partner and a write down of the current (underwater) mortgage by the lender to a level where, with the public funds, will place the homeowner in a fair mortgage with a payment they can afford. However, the homeowner will give up some of their future appreciation by which the city will be paid back it's funds. We're also looking at a similar project with private funding....

Here is a 'hot off the presses' report on California housing affordablility from the State Department of Housing and Community Development. While I need to study the report further - there are some stark figures. The sub-prime crisis is (rightfully so) getting a lot of press right now. I've been watching the trends in East Palo Alto. There are currently about 130 houses on the market in EPA - in about 2.5 square miles. A significant number of them are bank owned (about 1/3). As we've investigated some properties, there are individuals who are purchasing them with cash. This tells me that investors are jumping on the opportunities. The outcome, I fear, will be played out with affordability issues in the coming years. I think, and this is soley my opinion, that we are seeing a temporary dip in housing prices that will pave the way for accelerated gentrification of East Palo Alto. The report states:  "Over four out of ten of all California households are renters, and...