Sonoma County supervisors place Bay Area affordable housing bond on the November ballot

Come November, Sonoma County voters will weigh in on a proposed Bay Area-wide property tax hike to raise money for affordable housing construction.

The measure, known as Bay Area Housing for All, could unlock $20 billion from annual surcharges on property tax bills to spur construction of up to 119,000 affordable homes regionwide over 10-plus years. It will appear on the ballot in all nine Bay Area counties.

If passed in November, 80% of the bond funds would be distributed directly to all nine counties, as well as to large cities such as San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland and to cities with 30% or more of the county’s overall low-income housing construction obligation, including Santa Rosa.

The housing authority would retain 20% of the revenue for projects throughout the region and to generate “new housing resources,” according to proponents.

The measure could generate $552.6 million for unincorporated Sonoma County and the county’s cities and towns, except for Santa Rosa which will receive a direct allocation estimated at $242 million, according to recent calculations by the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority which is advancing the measure.

On Tuesday, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to formally place the measure on the ballot. Supervisor James Gore was absent from the meeting.

“It should be an interesting run and I look forward to that decision by the voters of the entire Bay Area,” said Board Chair David Rabbitt, an officer on the Association of Bay Area Governments’ executive board.

Supervisor Chris Coursey called the region’s chronic housing shortage a top priority and one of the “biggest problems in California.”

“This is a problem that is only going to be solved with this kind of resource,” Coursey said. “I look forward to voting for it in November.”

The measure would need a two-thirds majority to pass, unless a separate initiative on the ballot, Proposition 5, also passes, which would lower the threshold to 55% for bonds and taxes that fund affordable housing and public infrastructure projects.

The housing bond joins an already crowded ballot with statewide, local tax and school finance measures.

As of Tuesday, 12 measures had been filed with the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters for the Nov. 5 ballot. Of those, two are countywide, one is regional across the Bay Area, six apply to school districts, one is specific to Windsor, one is specific to Cotati and the other is heading to Healdsburg voters.

The housing bond has faced early skepticism from taxpayer advocates, including longtime Sonoma County Taxpayers Association Executive Director Dan Drummond, who questioned whether government leaders were capable of efficiently distributing the money to meet the greatest community needs and get residents the best value.

Next Tuesday, the county’s Community Development commission will present the Board of Supervisors with an expenditure plan for how to disperse the funds locally.

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.