Friend of CHOA,
We have come to a key time for housing in Arcadia in the next few weeks. This newsletter is probably one of the most important we will have this year.
Here is what this newsletter includes:
- The Inclusionary Ordinance vote at City Council on April 1st: Now is the time to send emails to City Council, or come in person to make a public comment. This matter will affect affordable housing in Arcadia for decades. Read below on what this is about, and how you can use your voice to make affordable housing a reality.
- CHOA Academy: The CHOA team is putting together a time for folks that are interested in becoming housing advocates, on Saturday, March 29th, from 9am to 1pm. We show the details of what is entailed below. Join us if you like to take an active role in building affordable housing and reducing homelessness in Arcadia.
- Recap the Homeless Count in Arcadia in February: Thanks to many volunteers, the Homeless Count was done again. We show pictures and provide a summary.
- Housing Rights Workshop on March 19th, 6:30pm to 8pm: CHOA just learned about this from the city newsletter, so wanted to pass this opportunity on. If you are a renter, or a landlord, this virtual workshop offered by the Housing Rights Center can be very helpful to you. Read a bit more details below.
Together, we can make an impact for housing in Arcadia.
Peace,
–Mike Veerman
CHOA Team Lead
Inclusionary Ordinance vote coming on April 1st:
The Inclusionary Ordinance is mainly about requiring the percentage of affordable housing units in new mixed-used development that are over 10 units or more in Arcadia. With this method, the total is to build 1,000+ affordable housing units in the next 4 years, to Year 2029.
The City Council vote for passing the proposed Inclusionary Ordinance is scheduled to be on April 1st.
We need to voice our support for the Inclusionary Ordinance in large numbers. Our City Council listens to our residents and churches in our city. We need to write emails/letters, and come speak in-person as public comment. CHOA believes we need at least 10 to come speak in-person as public comment (3-5 minutes each), and 20 emails/letters. That would give City Council a good indication that there is support for this large change.
Please email Arcadia City Council at this email: CityCouncil@ArcadiaCA.gov.
If you are coming to make public comment, to speak before City Council,
please let us know, by responding to this email.
What we need to do is each speak from our own housing experience, why our faith informs us to speak, and why we want these changes to come to Arcadia. CHOA wants you to speak from all the diverse viewpoints that we the faith community represent. We do provide a few talking points to help you as your write your email/letter, or public comment.
- As a faith community, we recognize the connection of the divine to land, and how the land is used, for people. From the Christian perspective, God is clear that the community needs to speak for those that are vulnerable, the orphan, the widow, and the stranger. There are many, many folks that are struggling with the cost of housing, especially those that rent. Frankly, all generations are vulnerable: the elderly on fixed income, young families making ends meet, and young folks coming out of college and very likely have college debt.
- We need affordable housing in Arcadia. These are housing units for working people, like teachers, social workers, police men and women, fire men and women, secretaries, and city staff, as well as folks on the lower end of income levels like janitors, gardeners, cooks, waiters, house cleaners, garbage collectors, bus drivers, etc. These are hard working people, with jobs. They will be proud residents of Arcadia.
- Affordable housing will be so valuable in Arcadia, as our city is safe, has great schools, and beautiful parks. The number of students living in Arcadia in our public school district is decreasing. We need more families to come to Arcadia.
- Bringing in more folks can revitalize Arcadia, especially in a mixed-use development. These residents are built-in customers to the businesses nearby/downstairs. These more housing units bring in more property tax to the city, and vibrant businesses bring in more sales tax to Arcadia.
- We recognize this is the first step for Arcadia to have an Inclusionary Ordinance, so the 9%-14% for Very Low and Low is understandable. We recognize the balancing required to make the percentage of affordable housing low enough for developers to find it financially visible to still build in Arcadia. We also need the percentage high enough to receive our RHNA number of 1,000+ affordable housing by 2029.
- The percentage of affordable housing units must be required by the city for projects with more than 10 units. It should not be up to each developer. This is our opportunity to make developing affordable units in Arcadia.
For a quick overview, review the below information and video created by the City of Arcadia.
Remember, in Arcadia, affordable housing is not free housing, for the unhoused. Affordable housing is by income (so that means folks have a job), and depending on how many people are in the family, and combined income, your rent is calculated.
If you need, below is some more details on the Inclusionary Ordinance.
For starters, the below chart shows the options developers have. They can include fewer affordable housing units (9%) if they include the more needed Very Low income levels. The developer would need to income more affordable housing units if the build for the Low or Moderate income levels. There is a combination option, a total of 11% (5% Very Low, and 6% Low).
Do know, there is no quality or size difference between the market-rate units, and the affordable housing units in the mixed-use development. They are the same. Also, these affordable housing units will mostly be rentals, and will last for 55 years; with the preservation laws, they will probably last longer. That is decades. Lots of people and families will benefit for a long time.
CHOA has mentioned this a few times now, so we forward you to past newsletters for details, see the 2 links below. There is some good extra details in those newsletter. We do not want to repeat this all in this newsletter.
CHOA Sept 2024 newsletter
CHOA June 2024 newsletter
Lastly, we need to review what recent developers have done, without the Inclusionary Ordinance. To highlight, we copy one of the slides in the cities presentation mentioned above. This shows the percentages each developer has chosen for their project. Do know, they do get incentives to add affordable housing units, like having more units, less parking requirements, or increased height. Notice these percentages range from 4% to 10%. Sounds like we are OK.
However, notice the most recent development coming up has zero affordable housing units, see the link below, and the pictures below. The project is called the Arcadia Town Center, with 181 condos. It is at a prime part of Arcadia, at the intersection of Santa Anita and Huntington. If we had the Inclusionary Ordinance, they would be required to add affordable housing units. Without it, the developers really don’t have to build affordable housing units. We cannot allow this to keep happening.
Read the details of the Arcadia Town Center proposal in the link below. This is coming from the Planning Commisison meeting on January 14th.
City of Arcadia Planning Commission meeting on January 14th, 2024
CHOA Academy on Saturday, March 29th, 9am to 1pm
The CHOA team is putting together a new type of event. The purpose is to allow more people in the Arcadia community to learn how to become housing advocates. We are grateful to Santa Anita Church for hosting us. We will meet in their chapel. The church address is 226 W. Colorado Blvd, Arcadia CA 91007, see the flier below. We figure we need 4 hours, gathering from 9am to 1pm; lunch is included at no charge.
This housing advocacy work connects with your faith. We explain how the Christian Scripture urges people to be engaged, and to speak up for those that are vulnerable…on the margins. You will hear from the CHOA team what motivates them to keep working on these efforts.
We will cover the key topics of affordable housing and homelessness in Arcadia. Advocacy is effective. You just need to put in the time to understand the matter at hand, which are not trivial. We will cover the basics….it’s a start for you to learn more.
For an hour, we will tour around Arcadia together, by car and/or bus. We will see the sites that are being discussed first hand, up close. You will be able to imagine the development, and see how this will impact people, businesses, and the city.
And by the way, if you have a large bus/van that 8-10 or so folks can ride in, let the CHOA team know. Are you willing to join us for the housing tour (between 11am and 12pm), and drive many folks around Arcadia? We could use about 2 of these large vans. Plan B will have us all caravan…in many cars together around Arcadia.
We wil have lunch from Subway together. When you register, just pick the sandwich, chips and cookie that you like. We will have water to drink.
We will wrap-up to see where you may lean on these very large topics. You do not have to do it all, but in working within a team, and building partnerships, some impactful solutions can be found. Your part – large or small – will help to make this happen.
Register in the link below, by March 25th. Join us!! You can make an impact!
https://choaarcadia.org/events/
See the flier below. The link is the PDF flier; please pass that out to others.
CHOA Academy Flier
Recap the Homeless Count in February:
On February 19th, 22 volunteers came to help with the Point-In-Time Homeless Count. Each person was needed. Thank you for coming to help the city in this important effort.
We split into teams of 2, and were assigned sections of the city (see the picture below). After we were assigned these sections, we made got last minute instructions on how to use the smartphone app, to do the actual counting. We drove all the streets in that area, slowly looking for anyone that is unhoused, or tents, or older RV that seem out of place.
The last few years since 2019 were actual good-faith efforts to count the unhoused in Arcadia. We will see that the count is for year 2025.
Housing Rights Workshop on Wednesday, March 19th:
CHOA just learned about this, and wanted to pass this information to you. Please pass this on to others. Looks like the City of Arcadia is helping to provide housing counseling, for renters, landlords, and others in general.
The workshop is free, presented by the Housing Rights Center, and will be online via Zoom. Below are the topics covered in the workshop, and will provide Mandarin interpretation
- Fair housing laws and protections for families with children
- Disability accommodations
- Eviction process, rent increases, new housing laws update, and more!
See the same information from the city’s website below:
https://www.arcadiaca.gov/discover/public_information/communitynewsmarch2025.php#HousingRightsWorkshop
To register, use the link below. Even if you cannot attend the workshop, by registering, you will get a copy of the presentation. See the fliers below, in English and Mandarin.
https://www.housingrightscenter.org/workshops
Below is some direct contact information to the Housing Rights Center.
Email: info@housingrightscenter.org
Phone: 1-800-477-5977
TTY: 1-213-201-0867
