Click here if you are having trouble viewing this gallery on a mobile device
SAN JOSE — Gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday had a message sure to resonate with Bay Area residents struggling to live here — if he’s elected, he’ll pour resources into solving the region’s affordable housing shortage.
Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, called the housing crisis a “tsunami disaster,” and pledged to make it a top priority.
“If you look at LA, San Jose, San Diego and San Francisco, we’re the engine of the California economy,” Villaraigosa said, addressing journalists and affordable housing advocates at the Vermont House, a 16-bed facility recently renovated to house homeless veterans. “We’ve got to get the workforce, our veterans, all of the people who are generating that economy, the housing that they need.”
The promise came on the heels of an important endorsement from San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo — the first Bay Area elected official to stand behind Villaraigosa as he battles Lieutenant Governor and former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in the race for governor.
“We have got a serious crisis of homelessness in this state,” said Liccardo, who recently announced a plan to build 25,000 homes, including 10,000 for low-income residents, in the next five years. “And we need bold ideas, and we need leadership that will take bold action. And Antonio Villaraigosa has shown time and time again that he is willing to be that bold leader.”
Villaraigosa said he also has a plan to tackle that crisis, and he laid out the basics of his strategy on Wednesday. One of his top priorities is to bring back local redevelopment agencies — financing tools city governments once used to funnel tax revenue to certain construction projects. The state legislature discontinued the practice in 2012, amid concerns redevelopment agencies were siphoning too much money into special projects. Now Villaraigosa wants to remedy what he admits were excesses and loopholes in the prior program, and create what he calls “version 2.0.”
Villaraigosa also plans to fund a housing trust with money that will go to cities, like San Jose, that are taking steps to house their homeless and low-income residents, and build high-density housing near transit. He put $100 million into such a fund when he was mayor of Los Angeles, he said, and managed to get 20,000 units of housing built in the midst of the recession.
Lastly, Villaraigosa wants to reform the lengthy permitting and environmental review processes that slow projects down — particularly the California Environmental Quality Act, which requires developers to meet strict rules and opens them up to challenges that can stall projects for years.
Liccardo greeted Villaraigosa with a hug Wednesday before the two men took a tour through the rooms of the Vermont House, which is set to welcome its first residents in a few weeks. Residents will pay 30 percent of their monthly income in rent, and will receive support from Abode Services that includes job training, drug and alcohol recovery and anger management.
Villaraigosa and Liccardo also heard from three formerly homeless veterans who used Abode Services. Chris King, a 62-year-old Vietnam vet trailed by a tiny service dog named Baby, described the series of traumas that landed him on the street. The former Marine developed a drug and alcohol addiction while in Vietnam, and when he returned to the U.S., got a job helping other addicts. But after his father died, his wife divorced him and he broke his neck in a freak accident — and was prescribed pain killers — he relapsed, his life spiraled down, and he lost his home.
He found Abode last year, and the organization moved him into a one-bedroom apartment in Santa Clara.
“It has literally changed my life,” King said. “I can’t even tell you.”
Villaraigosa hopes his strategy will help house more people like King. But first he’ll have to defeat Newsom, a formidable rival who has scooped up endorsements from local politicians, including Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and the late San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.
Also in the running are Democrats John Chiang, the state treasurer, and Delaine Eastin, the former public schools chief, and Republicans Travis Allen, a state assemblyman, John Cox, a businessman, and Doug Ose, a former congressman.
But with Wednesday’s endorsement, Villaraigosa said he’s “planting a flag” in the Bay Area.
“Getting the endorsement of Mayor Sam Liccardo, for me, is a big, big deal,” Villaraigosa said. “And I couldn’t be prouder of that.”
Staff writer Casey Tolan contributed to this report.
