Springs affordable housing: 669 apply for 46 units

(By Anna Pier) In the formal application period ending July 8, MidPen Housing accepted 669 preliminary applications for affordable housing in its Fetters Apartments project in the Springs. From that group, MidPen will ultimately choose 46 families to move in, according to Project Manager Scott Johnson.

The compound of three, two-story structures with parking beneath has a total of 60 units. One will be occupied by a property manager. The remaining 13 are reserved for households that qualify for rental assistance under Section 8, and who apply in a separate pool.

For the accepted applicants, the odds of getting into one of the 46 units are about 15 to one.

Johnson said that MidPen is “aiming for construction completion in mid-November, with move-ins slated for December and January.”

The placement of the total of 59 needy and very lucky house hunters, whose rent will vary as per a formula based on income levels measured against the poverty line, will not stem the demand for affordable housing.

Executive director of La Luz Center Juan Hernandez said that housing is far and away the single largest issue that people have sought help for in the last five months. He added that this is a concern for the whole community, and may affect employers and the schools.

It is unknown how many of these hopefuls are Valley families. In compliance with the Fair Housing Act, the project cannot give priority to any applicant.

The situation is wreaking havoc with families who find themselves, through either notices to quit or steep rent hikes, forced to leave homes and apartments in the Valley where they have lived and worked and their children attend school.

Much of what is known is anecdotal information gleaned from agencies that serve these people, from community forums addressing the issue, and housing advocacy groups such as North Bay Organizing Project and Sonoma Housing Group.

In some cases, people are doubling up, moving in with friends or relatives. Others are leaving for Vallejo, American Canyon, Santa Rosa or outside the area.

Meanwhile, many are losing hope. After a community workshop organized by MidPen in June on how to apply for this new housing, one young mother told The Sun there were so many people hoping to be chosen for a spot that she believed “it was all in God’s hands.”

Another mother said that those who could present themselves well, especially with good credit ratings, would be selected. But, she added, since the economic downturn, many people who lost their houses, their jobs, had their credit scores ruined.

Others complained that the application process was unnecessarily complicated. Instead of having the leasing office on site for the application period, for example, MidPen chose a building on Andrieux Street in downtown Sonoma, a more difficult location for Springs residents to access.

Additionally, the application was in English-only, and during the two-week application window over 150 hopefuls sought help from La Luz staff for completing the paperwork.

The application process itself began in confusion. MidPen had originally announced that the window would begin a week earlier, and when this was postponed, the change created anxiety in many hopefuls who feared they were missing out.

In late July the MidPen will hold a lottery to determine the order in which the 669 pre-applications will be processed. Somewhere between 140 and 200 vetted families, with a lottery number giving them priority, will be identified in early August. They will then be invited to submit a full application with verifications, Johnson explained. He also confirmed that all the families who are not selected will be notified.

“Consistent with lottery results, approximately three to five applicants per available unit will be scheduled for intake interviews in late August and early September,” according to Johnson.