Editorial: Novato’s commitment to affordable housing is commendable

The goal is to gather a collection of public and private grants needed to help get the plans from blueprints to real homes for families who need them.

Once again, the Novato City Council is taking a step toward getting more affordable housing built.

The council is tapping its development fee account and waiving some of its fees to give Habitat for Humanity’s plans to build 80 for-sale residences for low- and moderate-income families a boost toward construction.

The nonprofit’s project, which would be built on a 15-acre site at the north end of town, next to the Birkenstock building, would be the largest affordable homeownership project in the state.

It is also one that would have likely advanced without the state’s housing construction mandates.

The houses will be deed-restricted in order to help keep them affordable. In addition, Habitat for Humanity is not planning to require down payments and is offering no-interest mortgages.

This is a model that not only provides affordable housing, but more importantly provides qualified low- and moderate-income households the opportunity to own their own homes and a chance to start building financial assets.

The project, which also includes a 2,154-square-foot Habitat for Humanity office and a community center, is estimated to cost $97 million to build — a sizable investment, especially for a nonprofit.

The organization is building a collection of public and private grants needed to help get the plans from blueprints to real homes for families who need them. The county’s housing trust fund is also giving the project a boost.

Sure, this development is going to help Novato toward meeting the state’s mandated housing quota – 2,090 new housing units by 2030.

That’s about a 10% increase over the next seven years. Other Marin jurisdictions face similarly ambitious state-ordered goals. Countywide, the quota calls for about a 12% increase over the next seven years, a significant increase in the construction of local housing.

But Novato already has established an impressive track record in getting affordable housing built. The commitment of parts of Hamilton Field to affordable housing and housing for the homeless is an example.

Another is the city’s support for Habitat for Humanity’s 13 affordable homes built off Fourth Street in 2017.

The organization has built a solid track record in town.

But the city’s track record gets lost in Sacramento lawmakers’ focus on other Marin cities’ reputations for restrictive anti-growth politics.

Local politics is not the only hurdle facing the construction of new housing. The state quotas fail to reflect the difficulty in getting affordable housing built when affordable local real estate is scarce. The price of land, the cost of planning, financing and construction, as well as expensive local governmental fees, add up to a sum that remains a hurdle in achieving those quotas.

But Novato and Habitat for Humanity have found a way to make affordable housing happen. The city is invested in meeting a vital need.