Mayor and Members of the City Council
City of San Rafael
1400 Fifth Avenue
San Rafael, CA 94901
Re: June 4 Study Session – Potential Affordable Housing Policy and Process Adjustments
Dear Mayor and Council Members,
On behalf of Community Development Partners (CDP), we are pleased to submit this comment letter in advance of the City Council's June 4 study session regarding Agenda Item #3: Potential Affordable Housing Policy and Process Adjustments.
CDP is an experienced affordable housing developer that has built, preserved, or is actively developing more than 55 projects comprising over 4,800 affordable homes across California, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado. We are dedicated to creating and preserving highquality housing opportunities for lower-income households. We are currently evaluating the feasibility of developing a 100% affordable housing community in San Rafael and appreciate the City's ongoing efforts to identify policies and programs that can help address local housing needs.
As the City considers potential strategies to encourage production, we encourage you to consider the range of tools that many jurisdictions have successfully utilized to facilitate affordable housing development. Examples include residual receipts loans, fee deferrals, and other financing mechanisms that can help close funding gaps, improve project feasibility, and position projects to compete more successfully for county, state, and federal affordable housing resources. As a result, relatively modest local investments can help leverage substantially greater outside resources and increase the number of affordable homes delivered to the community.
We believe San Rafael has an opportunity to utilize these and other proven tools to advance its housing goals while maintaining fiscal responsibility. We look forward to partnering with the City and discussing approaches that can help unlock additional affordable housing funding and create new housing opportunities for San Rafael residents.
Thank you for your consideration and for your continued commitment to addressing the community's housing needs.
Sincerely,
Jessica Woodruff
Chief Development Officer