The availability and affordability of housing in Chico is the top concern according to Mayor Randall Stone, who last night delivered his state of the city address.
In spite of all the Camp Fire’s repercussions, Mayor Randall Stone said Chico was in fairly good shape, but the scarcity and cost of housing is bad and getting worse.
Stone said with the median priced home going for $389,000, families earning the median household income of $44,000 are squeezed out. Stone said Chico must do more on all fronts to ease that imbalance or face a problematic future.
He said developers aren’t building the more basic, smaller units most needed.
“This past year, of all the multi-family units constructed, again, this is post Camp Fire disaster." Stone said. "Of all of the units constructed, nearly every unit was marketed toward luxury and affluent tenants.”
He said ‘inclusionary zoning’ – a policy requiring some affordable units in certain types of developments could help. Stone said city staffers and the council would work out the details.
Conceptually, he’d like to see it apply to new rental developments with 50 or more units. He said an ordinance requiring 10 percent of new units to be affordable is achievable.
Stone also urged the city to reduce development fees on smaller homes, saying they are the same for a one bedroom cottage as they are for a five bedroom McMansion. He said the shift could deliver more, smaller homes.
Stone said despite naysayers, the downtown remains vibrant, offering a nearly 10 percent boost in sales tax receipts as evidence. He said enough money was collected from hotel taxes to pay for an additional police officer.
Stone also took aim at the city’s approach to homelessness, saying issuing tickets for vagrancy wasn’t a solution.
“It is time for the city of Chico, and I mean that collectively, to stop hoping that citations will end homelessness. To that end, Vice Mayor Brown and I have called for council to end destructive ‘sit/lie’ ordinance and ‘offenses against public property’ ordinance.” Stone said.
He said the policies succeeded in reducing downtown homelessness, by pushing homeless people into creeks, parks and residential neighborhoods.
Stone proposed secure storage lockers, so homeless people aren’t compelled to carry or cart belongings to every destination.