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A correction to an earlier version of this article has been appended to the end of the article.
SAN JOSE — Flanked by Gov. Gavin Newsom and surrounded by Bay Area residents struggling with the region’s cost of living, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo on Tuesday pledged $10 million to help fund the governor’s ambitious housing development goals and hinted more money will follow from Silicon Valley tech companies.
In their joint San Jose appearance, the new governor and the mayor of Silicon Valley’s largest city sent a message loud and clear — the state’s housing shortage is a top priority. Newsom, in his second week as governor, promised “historic, unprecedented investments” in housing now that he’s in charge. And San Jose is “all in,” Liccardo said.
“This is the housing crisis — it’s not an exaggeration,” Newsom said during a round table discussion with five local residents at the Seven Trees Community Center in San Jose. “It’s impacting communities, not just impacting your paycheck and pocketbook. It’s impacting our lives in a profound way. The California dream is in peril unless we address this issue. We can’t continue to sell good weather.”
The event comes five days after Newsom proposed a budget with significant funds for housing development, including $500 million to build homes for middle-income workers. San Jose will supplement that sum with an additional $10 million to build housing for workers making between 60 and 80 percent of the area’s median income, Liccardo said.
“We know they’re teachers and administrative assistants and a lot of folks who are struggling to afford to live here,” he said in an interview following the event.
Last month, San Jose dedicated $100 million to fund affordable housing.
The mayor also is working on enticing private companies to buy city bonds that would fund housing development. Liccardo declined to provide specifics Tuesday but said his office is in talks with several major area companies.
After pledging to build 3.5 million new homes in California during his tenure, promising in his inauguration speech to launch a “Marshall Plan” for affordable housing and dedicating $1.75 billion to housing in his first state budget proposal, Newsom signed an executive order Tuesday that signals another step toward reaching his lofty goals.
The first part of the order will create an inventory of all state-owned property that could be turned into housing — a task that will be completed by April 30. The second, to be completed by Sept. 30, will move the building process forward by soliciting development proposals and long-term lease agreements. Newsom hopes to break ground on those properties in two years and move in residents in three.
And while Newsom voted against Prop. 10, which would have removed the state’s restrictions on rent control, he said he’s open to pursuing rent caps and other adjustments.
“I know there’s a lot of legislative desire to see what we can do,” he said, “and just want folks to know that we’re engaged in that conversation.”
Newsom and Liccardo were joined in their housing discussion by 42-year-old Nuemi Guzman, who works in San Jose as a legal assistant for the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. Because she and her husband couldn’t afford to buy a house in Santa Clara County for themselves and their three young children, she commutes two-and-a-half hours to work each morning from Los Banos. On Fridays, the return commute can sometimes take up to six hours, Guzman said, eliciting shocked expressions from Newsom and Liccardo.
“Oh wow,” Liccardo muttered.
“It’s just gotten harder and harder,” Guzman said, her voice cracking as she began to tear up. “My kids are growing up with their grandparents and I’m not seeing them, to be able to take them to basketball and soccer.”
Guzman and her husband are considering moving to Arizona for a cheaper cost of living. But Guzman left Tuesday’s discussion feeling optimistic. Newsom and Liccardo may not be able to improve the housing shortage quickly enough to prevent her from moving away, Guzman said. But if they act on their promises, maybe someday she’ll be able to return.
Michael Lane, deputy director of affordable housing advocacy organization SV@Home, called the governor’s commitment to housing “historic.”
“We’ve never seen anything like this, this type of attention,” Lane said. “But it’s also indicative of the amount of human suffering we’re seeing in our communities.”
Correction: January 16, 2019 An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two housing-related executive orders Tuesday morning, due to a misstatement by the governor. He signed one, his office later clarified.