North Bay Housing Officials Hail Statewide Prop. 1 as an Infusion After Bond Money Ran Nearly Dry
Michelle Whitman of Sonoma County's Community Development Commission said projects have been ready to build and stuck waiting for funding. Most of the measure's proceeds, $7.2 billion, are earmarked to help acquire, build or renovate as many as 40,000 rental units statewide.
By the Bay Area Brief staff · Edited by Seamus McKenna · · 3 min read
Sailboats on Richardson Bay below the Sausalito hillside on a sunny day. Photo: Daderot / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (cropped, resized and color-graded). Archive photo of the area; not a photo of the events in this story.
North Bay affordable-housing developers and government officials are hailing the passage of statewide Proposition 1, the housing bond voters approved this month, the Press Democrat reported.
"Across Sonoma and Napa counties, affordable homes have been ready to build and stuck waiting for funding. State housing bond money had nearly run dry. Prop 1 is an infusion our communities need to keep production moving," said Michelle Whitman, executive director of Sonoma County's Community Development Commission. Most of the proceeds, $7.2 billion, are earmarked to help local governments and private developers acquire, build or renovate as many as 40,000 units of rental housing for low-income households, veterans, seniors, people with disabilities and others, the newspaper reported. This account does not report any specific North Bay awards from the new bond.
Sources
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Heavy rain swept through Sonoma and Napa counties Tuesday morning, but vote centers from Santa Rosa to Rohnert Park and Petaluma reported steady activity, including many students at Sonoma State University.
PG&E's Wednesday update puts about 9,757 Sonoma, Napa, Lake, Mendocino and Solano customers in a potential shutoff that could start Wednesday evening, on top of thousands of Alameda and Contra Costa accounts in a statewide watch of about 88,000.
PG&E cut power for safety around 8 p.m. Friday in small areas of six counties ahead of dry, gusty north winds. Restoration depends on weather and inspections.
Gov. Gavin Newsom came to San Rafael on Friday to mark the opening of the Ritter Center's new health and wellness building. The state says it is the first behavioral health facility funded by the Proposition 1 bond voters approved in 2024. He also used the visit to push this Tuesday's Proposition 1, an $11.25 billion affordable housing bond.
