FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The nearly $260,000,000 ‘One Fresno Housing Plan’ was presented to city council members at a special meeting on Monday. It’s a long-awaited potential solution to ease the growing housing crisis in the city.
Statistics show the cost of a one-bedroom apartment in Fresno rose 28% between 2021 and 2022 on average.
According to Deputy Mayor Matt Grundy, nationally, 64% of households are owned by the residents.
In the city of Fresno, 60% of households are rentals.
The city’s plan calls for an investment of $101,645,000 to create nearly 4,700 affordable housing units over three years. They say they want 25% of those units to be 2-3 bedroom units for people who can afford $500-1000 a month in order to avoid becoming “rent-burdened:” paying from 30-50% of income toward housing.
“If your household is paying the majority of money on rent, you don’t have extra money for landscaping, putting away for retirement…” said councilmember Miguel Arias.
77% of extremely low-income Californians are severely rent-burdened. 47% of very low-income California residents are severely rent-burdened, and 17% of low-income state residents fall into that category.
“Develop as much quality housing, as fast as possible, at a price point every Fresno resident can afford,” Deputy Mayor Matthew Grundy said of the plan.
The next priority is housing the homeless. The city’s plan calls for an investment of $153,184,000 to create roughly 2,200 affordable housing units for the unhoused who earn 0-50% of the area median income. That adds up to essentially minimum wage.
“We are playing human ping pong. We need more affordable housing,” homeless advocate Dez Martinez said.
Housing advocates critiqued the city’s plan, saying they need to adopt more policies from the “Here to Stay” report completed by an agency that recommended 46 policies for the city to adopt at the end of last year.
“You have the solutions to the problems. They’ve been outlined, researched and truly collaborated with the community and organizations that are presented in the Here to Stay report which you’ve had for months,” one advocate said during public comment.
Now that city officials have heard both plans and public comment, they say their next step is deciding how to prioritize the policies and develop concrete plans.