Politics & Government

Suit Accuses Albany of Breaking Law on Affordable Housing

Albany was sued Wednesday by Albany Housing Advocates, Albany Bulb resident Amber Whitson and homeless home-care aide Betty Stephenson for allegedly violating state law on providing for affordable housing.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court accuses the City of Albany of violating state mandates for local governments to facilitate affordable housing.

The suit was filed by the non-profit Albany Housing Advocates, Albany Bulb resident Amber Whitson and Betty Stephenson, identified in the suit as a homeless home-care aide. Representing the plaintiffs are attorneys for Bay Area Legal Aid and the Public Interest Law Project.

The suit asks the court to order the city to comply with state law and to block the city from issuing any building permits or approving any construction development, except for affordable housing. It also asks the court to block any zoning changes or variances outside of those related to affordable housing. State law permits a court to suspend such city powers when a city fails to meet the state housing mandates, the suit says.

The suit comes as the city accelerates efforts to remove the estimated 60-70 people living in makeshift shelters on the city-owned Albany Bulb. The City Council voted in May to ask the police department to begin enforcing the city's no-camping ordinance at the Bulb this month. On Thursday, the city co-sponsored a "Services Fair" next to the Bulb to offer relocation assistance for Bulb inhabitants.

The suit says homelessness in Albany has been caused by the city's alleged delinquency in providing for affordable housing.

"There is a problem with chronic homelessness in Albany due to the lack of availability of affordable housing, as evidenced by encampments of up to 100 individuals living at the Albany Bulb over the past 20 years," the suit says.

"Beginning in October 2013, the City will will begin enforcing a no-camping ordinance, displacing people from the homeless encampment, currently estimated to be at least 60 individuals," the suit says. "The City has no official plan to re-house the residents of the Albany Bulb, no homeless shelters or transitional housing, and no supportive housing for persons with disabilities."

The suit alleges that the city has twice failed to meet the state requirements for updating its Housing Element, the part of a city's General Plan that identifies housing policies. The Housing Element is the one part of the general plan that requires state approval. It is supposed to describe how the city intends to meet its allocation for needed housing, especially affordable housing.

Albany last updated its Housing Element in 1992, and the suit says it failed to meet the deadlines in 2001 and 2009 for required updates for the 1999-2006 and 2007-2014 planning periods.

The city has been well aware of the threat of a suit over its delay. The City Council met in closed session at its last meeting, on Sept. 16, to discuss what the council agenda described as "significant exposure to litigation against the City regarding the Albany Housing Element." The agenda for the next meeting, on Oct. 7, includes closed-session discussion of the suit filed Wednesday.

Under state law, each city is assigned a target quota of affordable units, and the city has not developed the required plans or identified the required sites for its unmet quota of "more than 553 units of housing affordable to very low-, low-, moderate-, and above-moderate-income households," according to the suit.

The city is working on the Housing Element and held a public workshop Tuesday night to discuss the latest draft.

A press release Thursday by the plaintiffs and their attorneys says, "Albany is the only community of 109 jurisdictions in the Bay Area that has not formally submitted a housing element update to the California Department of Housing and Community Development for the current planning period which began in 2009."

It also quotes Albany Housing Advocates President Julie Winkelstein saying, “I'm looking forward to the time when the City of Albany has a Housing Element that is not only in compliance with state requirements, but that also demonstrates a welcoming and all-inclusive attitude toward people at all income levels.”  

Patch learned of the lawsuit Thursday evening when it received the press release and when David Sanger reported it in his Albany Patch blog.

We intend to publish the city's response once we have it.

Published Oct. 4, 2013, 1:24 a.m.; updated 11:47 a.m.

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