Incluslonary Ordinance passed & upcoming Sharing Gathering – April 2025
Friend of CHOA,
This newsletter comes with really good news. City Council just voted last week to bring in hundreds of more affordable housing to Arcadia. The story also includes how many in the Arcadia community voiced their support, and enabled that vote to occur. You made this happen!!! Together, we did this. Thank you!!
This effort is the fruit of years of work from the CHOA team, and many, many of those connected to the housing effort in Arcadia. And this anD answer to prayer…like how Christ taught us to pray.
“May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.”
Mark 6:20 (NRSV)
We saw a little glimpse of God’s kingdom and will come on earth…in Arcadia. Affordable housing in Arcadia shows God’s mercy, love, and provision in a tangible way.
In this newsletter, we will explain what that means, and have another event in early May for you to connect with those that made it happen, and hear what is coming next.
Here is what this newsletter includes:
- On April 1st, City Council voted 4-0 for the Inclusionary Ordinance: This does not occur in a vacuum. There were people sending letters and emails. Some stayed for 3+ hours to speak for just 3 minutes. This will bring affordable housing for decades to Arcadia. This is just amazing!! Read more below.
- Next Sharing Gathering on May 10th: Every 6 months CHOA has an in-person gathering, to share what we have done, and what we have learned that may be helpful to the faith community, in regards to both homelessness and affordable housing in Arcadia. Join us to connect with us, learn, and maybe even get engaged.
- CHOA Academy: We trimmed our time to just an hour and a half on Saturday, March 29th. In the details below, we show some highlights of what we covered, some pictures (like the one above) of where we went, and even meeting Mayor Pro Tem Sharon Kwan at the City Council chambers. One full morning!
I hope you can see and believe that together, we can make a positive impact on affordable housing in Arcadia.
Peace,
–Mike Veerman
CHOA Team Lead
The Inclusionary Housing Ordinance passed with a 4-0 vote:
It is stunning!! Hundreds of affordable housing are required to be built in projects with more than 30 units. City Council passed the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance by a 4-0 vote, with one abstention (did not vote).
The key part of the ordinance is the below percentages. In new development projects with over 30 rental units, developers need to build in these percentages of affordable housing. These units are the same size and quality as the other units. These will last for 55 years, and with our preservation laws, probably longer than that.
Just think how many families can live in Arcadia, for nearly 2 generations. The below chart shows how one qualifies: Depending on your household size and income, you qualify if you make below the listed income. Notice, probably many people you know fit in these income levels.
If you qualify for affordable housing in the above chart, generally your rent will be calculated to be up to 30% of your income. The rent does not increase much, as it only moves year to year by the Los Angeles Median Income. This means families can afford this housing cost. They can enjoy being in Arcadia, they can use their funds for other interests (like higher education), and just be at peace, not worrying to make ends meet. You get happy people!!
This vote did not occur in a vacuum. There were many people that took the time and effort to advocate for this ordinance to be passed. This is the most clear example of advocacy resulting in housing development. When we speak, affordable housing units get built. It is a wild notion, but we witnessed that exactly take place.
We did this together! Sometimes one wonders, what can one individual actually do? What impact can I have? If we work together, you see clearly the impact can be large! Thank you for all your effort!!!
There were 6 letters sent to City Council. This means people had to take time out of their busy schedules and demands, and digest all the details of the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance. That is no small task. Then they had to craft a letter that connected with their own housing experience and what they see around them occurring in Arcadia, and why they wanted City Council to vote for the ordinance. Those letters move the needle, for sure. Thank you for writing to City Council!!!
Then there were 10 people who spoke, making public comment in support of the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance. We had to wait to speak for 2 hours, as this City Council meeting was quite lengthy, and there were many items before the ordinance vote came up. This means the meeting started at 7pm, and we did not speak until 9pm. As there were so many speakers, we each got 3 minutes to speak. And speaking is not easy within a small time limit, by yourself, in front of City Council. It takes guts. It takes preparation. It takes determination. It takes sacrifice.
We should show pictures of 8 of the 10 speakers below, and the video of them speaking (go to 2 hours and 5 minutes into the video). One of the speakers is a pastor. Our speakers come from Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Congregationalist/United Church of Christ, Friends, and Presbyterian faith traditions. Our speakers are of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Hispanic, and Dutch-Indonesian descent. One of our speakers is white. Two of the speakers are seniors at Arcadia High School. As you can see, the speakers represented the diverse community of Arcadia well, from our many faith backgrounds, cultures, and generations.
City Council meeting where the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance was passed, April 1st, 2025.
You can also imagine what is coming to Arcadia. Just visit the project under construction right now, next to the post office and across the street from REI, and you’ll be able to see for yourself. The picture below shows the rendering of the mixed-use development project called Arroyo Azalea (34 E. Santa Clara St.). It has a total of 319 units, and 26 will be “Very Low” affordable housing units. That’s 8% of the total. That’s pretty good. However, with the new ordinance, new development will need to have 9% Very Low units.
96 affordable housing units are in the pipeline to be developed in Arcadia. If you would like to see more details of this Arroyo Azalea project and other developments coming to Arcadia, just visit the link from the City of Arcadia’s website below. Hundreds more affordable housing units will be coming to Arcadia!!
To track the pipeline of new affordable housing units coming to Arcadia, review the city link below.
To generally see the housing web pages on the city website, use the below link.
Sharing Gathering on Saturday, May 10th:
Every 6 months, the CHOA team holds an in-person gathering, to share what is going on with housing in Arcadia. This is a time for the faith community to get informed, hear from those that are engaged, possibly hear from city officials, and determine how best each of us can get engaged going forward.
Try to come to one of these gatherings at least once a year. You will be inspired by others; you will inspire others as well.
We are having our next Sharing Gathering on Saturday, May 10th, from 9:15am to 11:30am. (And yes, that is Mother’s Day weekend.) We are grateful to have the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration host us again. Below is what we will cover:
Focus on what we can do for the unhoused in Arcadia.
Review the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance vote
Go over other housing developments in and around Arcadia
Join us!!! RSVP with the below link.
Register for the CHOA Sharing Gathering
The flier is below. Click the link below to pass out the fliers to those around you, and place these fliers at your church.
Recap of the CHOA Academy:
The CHOA team tried out a new idea and event, to allow more folks to be housing advocates in Arcadia. We called it the “CHOA Academy”.
We are grateful to Santa Anita Church for hosting us, in their chapel.
We started with reviewing Scripture, from Exodus Chapter 3. Moses is asked to go back to Egypt, to see the Hebrews free. Only there is one problem. Pharaoh is in complete control, oppressing the Hebrews. God tells Moses at the burning bush that He has heard the people’s cry, and will make a drastic change, and instructs Moses to be the one to carry out this plan. Moses has a few concerns with this plan…believing he is the wrong guy and lacks the qualifications. He tells God to find someone else and doubts his own abilities. How does this story connect with us, and the crisis of housing now, all around us? What can we do? Is God really behind making new alternatives for people, in this crushing housing situation? Can God provide hope? Can God’s people provide hope?
We also briefly reviewed Walter Brueggemann’s book, “The Prophet Imagination”. (This is included in our Recommended Reading web page…see that list by clicking here. Initially written in 1978, it still reads so fresh today. There are so many great points Walter makes, such as: God is a God of hope. God provides alternatives that others cannot believe is possible. God calls us to imagine something different. And Only when we can imagine something different, can we begin to speak and advocate about that into reality.
This is how housing advocacy connects with faith. As we learn what God is interested in, we begin to move…begin to speak.
Then we got in our cars, and in one hour, visited key places around Arcadia where housing is changing. We could not visit all the places in Arcadia that are changing in an hour. In fact, we had to cut out a few of these places, and just stop by for a few minutes at other places.
- Hills Church provides free food on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month. As they do this, they allow 600 families to reduce their food costs, so they can use that for housing costs. Learn more details in our “Church Efforts” web page, click here.
- Arroyo Azalea is a mixed use project that has 316 units, with 26 affordable housing units, near REI. The rendering is shown in the Inclusionary Ordinance section above.
- Arcadia Town Center is a new project proposed recently, at the corner of Santa Anita and Huntington, near Denny’s, providing 181 condos and zero affordable units. This is why we need the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.
- Derby mixed use project providing 214 units, and 9 affordable housing units for seniors only. That’s 4%…another reason we need the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance. (The group had to skip this due to lack of time.)
- 1st Avenue has been rezoned for mixed use development. Can we imagine many more multiple floor projects on 1st Avenue? Review the Rezoning map to see what that may look like. See the link here.
- Lucile parcel: This property is designated for affordable housing, and is owned by LA County right now, and they are reluctant to grant the parcel back to the City of Arcadia, and may just sell this property. This is another opportunity for CHOA to advocate to LA County for the city to receive this parcel, and then the city can decide on the affordable housing developer. Imagine that!! (Read more form our May 2024 newsletter, in our blog, see this link.)
- Elara project: This is a new project in unincorporated Arcadia, providing 90 units. 45 of these are affordable housing units. Now that is a lot if you are tracking other developments in Arcadia. The other 45 are permanent supportive housing for the unhoused. Mind you, if an unhoused person is housed, they are no longer unhoused. Right!! The project provides case management and other wrap around services for those recently coming out of unhoused situations. To read more, visit their website, click here. CHOA will also cover this in our upcoming Sharing Gathering on May 10th.
- Live Oak Avenue: Like First Avenue, this is rezoned for many mixed use projects. This can provide homes and revitalize this area. Reference the Rezoning map again, click here.
- City Council Chambers: This is where the key votes happen. Mayor Pro Tem Sharon Kwan met us there, and discussed what housing advocates in Arcadia need to do to get decisions passed, like the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance. Thank you Sharon for taking the time to visit with us!! See the picture above, and the picture at the very top of the group at City Hall.
- Steven Boi has provided breakfast for the unhoused at the northwest corner of Arcadia County park on Friday mornings, for 12+ years now. He does the same at Eisenhower Park on Monday morning. He also provides a Christian message, and when appropriate, sometimes jobs, sometimes housing. Join him to support and check out what he is doing. Learn more details in our “Church Efforts” web page, click here.
CHOA may do this again each year, or maybe every 2 years. It may look in a different format, but all who participated thought it was time well spent. We got to understand what is going on more clearly, and got to connect with the projects and land itself. To review some of these mixed use development projects from a web page, just visit the city’s web page below.
https://www.arcadiaca.gov/shape/development_services_department/current_projects.php
