A new look at the jobs/housing balance in the East Bay

In its simplest definition, the term "jobs–housing balance" is urban-planning shorthand for land-use and growth patterns that locate housing and jobs near each other. The theory is that doing this reduces the time, costs and pollution that result from commuting. To achieve these savings, however, it is necessary to look at local and regional factors such as the skills of the local workforce, housing prices and incomes, and transportation options.

Frequently, major imbalances lie beneath the surface, even when the total number of jobs and residents in an area are numerically close. Ultimately, jobs and housing are only balanced when workers can afford to rent or buy the housing that is available within easy reach of their jobs.

Ultimately, jobs and housing are only balanced when workers can afford to rent or buy the housing that is available within easy reach of their jobs.

The NCCRC and our allies in the affordable housing and sustainability movements are scratching beneath that surface and promoting policies to bridge the gaps for working families.

The problems are multiple- as are the responses.

The first challenge is the inadequate supply of affordable homes. Carpenters and our allies are organizing for solutions, including preserving existing affordable homes and expanding new production through stronger inclusionary housing policies, increased public investment in affordable housing, and a reorientation of our land-use patterns toward more compact, higher density development.

Statewide policies, such as SB375, to limit sprawl and promote sustainable development near transit, and AB32 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, will help reconfigure our development patterns. But we have much work to do to increase affordable housing development at a time when private construction has dropped and local public finances are stressed. There are also hopeful new opportunities with the recent federal investment in affordable housing as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—recognizing affordable housing development as an economic stimulus that creates quality jobs.

Putting together a solution

Quality jobs are the other pieces of the puzzle. That is, affordability depends on income as much as housing prices. We must rebuild workers’ earning power so they can afford the housing their families need.

While there is no doubt that this challenge is great and will require an effort equal to the task, the seeds of this movement are sprouting in the East Bay, and indeed throughout Northern California. Advocates, alongside Carpenters, are promoting proven measures such as prevailing wage construction standards, living wage ordinances, and linking public financial support to job quality standards such as the provision of health care benefits.

In several East Bay cities, there are training initiatives to get workers into building trades apprenticeships and the emerging green economy, local hire policies to help residents secure work, and other measures to spur the creation of good-paying, green-collar jobs. Moreover, this sort of initiative is being actively promoted at major projects such as the Concord Naval Weapons Station redevelopment in the heart of Contra Costa County.

The economic, housing and environmental imbalances we face today did not occur overnight. Our efforts to bring jobs and housing into balance will eventually turn the tide.

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﻿A new look at the jobs/housing balance in the East Bay

Putting together a solution

A new look at the jobs/housing balance in the East Bay