☆ Regional housing tax to make retired and middleclass homeowners subsidize rentals for the well-to-do
A $20 billion regional housing bond to raise property taxes for the next 54 years in Santa Clara and eight other counties has a somewhat strange definition of “affordability.” Since when did folks who make over $200,000 need a handout from working class homeowners, renters, and retirees on a fixed income? Will Sherman reports in this Opp Now exclusive.
Voters in November will decide on whether to hike the cost of housing for everybody in the Bay Area. It’s all part of a maneuver to shore up funding for a narrow, but astronomically expensive subsidized housing scheme that crams projects into urban areas around the region, with the lion’s share going to developments in Santa Clara and San Jose.
Activists frame the property tax as a solution to homelessness and a leg up for the middle class. However, a closer look at the numbers reveals that affordable housing units built with taxpayer debt will be open to families earning around a quarter million dollars a year.
“I’m going to be retired,” said Mary Stompe, director at Marin County’s Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers, “I’ll be subsidizing people who make more than me.”
So-called affordable rental units will be available to people making up to 120% of the Area Median Income (AMI), as determined by California’s Housing Department. Already in 2024, that “moderate income” for a family of four in Marin County is $223,900 a year. In Santa Clara, it’s $221,150.
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