|
Additional Questions and Answers from venicedellpacific@vchcorp.org or other meetings, with additional Q&A added each week:
What social services that you know of will have to be on site for the chronically homeless? Please be specific.
For developments that serve chronically homeless people, there are generally on-site case managers and a 24-hour crisis response system. The case managers work with the tenant to identify actions and services that can improve their health, mental health, and address other needs and goals as well as ensure their housing stability. Depending on the size of a project, or the specific group(s) of people served, there may be other on-site services in order to provide an integrated and accessible service approach for tenants. Also, the case managers connect people to off-site services they may need such as health care, food assistance, and others. For the proposed project at Venice-Dell-Pacific, we will create a detailed service plan once the size of the project is determined and the specific groups of people to be housed are identified. We will share that as part of the project proposal.
Will these services be available to any homeless person in the area regardless of whether they have permanent housing at the site?
Neither HCHC nor VCH offers services to homeless residents at our permanent supportive housing sites – our services onsite are for formerly homeless tenants and other low-income tenants that live in the property. VCH offers our homeless services at our main site on Rose Avenue and our storage site on the Boardwalk – neither of which are housing sites. We imagine this property would operate the same way and only offer social services to tenants, not currently homeless residents, though we aren’t yet at the stage of development where all of the uses have been determined.
Who exactly is this housing for?
We are in the process of developing a draft proposal that would include specifics about who will be targeted and/or eligible for the affordable and permanent supportive housing at this site. Permanent supportive housing tenants must be homeless at the time of lease up, and can include families or individuals, people with a variety of disabilities, people with chronic health conditions, people who are chronically homeless (for more than one year and a disability), Veterans, and some other specific groups. Affordable housing generally serves people earning between 30% and 60% of the area median income, and can target individuals or families, seniors, lower wage workers, artists, and others. All residents in affordable and permanent supportive housing are tenants, with legal tenant rights and responsibilities.
Of the existing parking spaces that will remain, what percentage will be used by staff and tenants?
The parking requirement in the City program is that all of the current public parking spots remain open and available to the public. The development will generate additional parking requirements for residential tenants, staffing, potential commercial uses, or other uses – all of that parking has to be provided in addition to the current public parking.
Will the development generate a profit and/or are there private investors in the project expecting a return on their investment?
No. The development team consists of two non-profit affordable housing developers, and this team will develop, own and operate the project under the non-profit model. There is an initial private investment into most affordable housing developments through a tax credit program. The tax credit is the immediate return on the investment; there are no additional financial benefits to those investors.
Will the rents be subsidized at the current market rate in Venice?
No. In affordable and permanent supportive housing, there is a rent cap on each unit and an income cap for each tenant of each unit. The maximum rents that can be collected are set Citywide and Countywide by the government funding programs. For example, the maximum rent that can be collected on a 2-bedroom unit intended to house a family making 50% of the area median income is about $900 – no matter if the unit is built in Venice or in Lancaster. As another example, the City’s Housing Authority only subsidizes an individual household’s rent for a 1 bedroom unit up to a maximum of $1,300, no matter the neighborhood. No government funds would be allowed to subsidize rents at anywhere near the current market rent for vacant units in Venice.
Can you provide information for those of us who support the project to be better able to answer questions asked by friend and neighbors?
Yes. We are trying to do that through our ongoing Q&A responses, and we will be updating written materials people can use on an ongoing basis. Please feel free to reach out for specific information needed.
Please share the proposal submitted to the City by the VCH-HCHC development team.
We will share the specifics of our original response to the City’s RFP/Q at the same time we present our draft project proposal(s) that are informed by community input. We are working very hard to ensure that only accurate and up to date information is being circulated so that the community has the information they need and want, and that everyone knows they have time to give input to the draft proposal. Therefore, we will share our original concept along with our actual draft project proposal in late February.
Is the development team planning to build 200+ units at this site?
Although community engagement is in process and there is no draft project proposal at this time, it is very unlikely our proposal would include 200+ housing units. In our preliminary analysis of the land size and other project requirements, as well as adhering to the Venice Specific Plan requirements, this site could accommodate a maximum of 140-150 units. THIS IS NOT OUR PROPOSAL. This is the maximum number of units we believe the site could accommodate, which will vary based on unit size, open space, and other variables being considered through community input and ongoing analysis.
Where will beach-goers park?
All existing public parking must be included in any development proposal for this site, so beach-goers will have access to the same number of parking spaces.
|
Leave a Reply