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Tempers boil, City Council says yes to crisis housing
By Sam Scott
Tempers flared on Feb. 15 as the Sunnyvale City Council voted 6-0 to award a $1.4 million federal grant to the Emergency Housing Consortium, a low-income housing provider planning to buy property in west Sunnyvale.
Several property owners in the Acalanes Drive area bitterly objected to the move.
"You, you don't deserve to be mayor," one woman yelled at Mayor Pat Vorreiter as the council's intention to approve the grant became clear.
As the matter moved to a vote, the anger of protesters in attendance boiled over. Many began to yell at the council, and security escorted several out of the meeting.
"You can only put so many locks on your door," said Helen Young, a Sunnyvale property owner. "Why are they homeless? Because maybe they have bad habits."
Property owner Tom Fair asked, "Why are they coming in an upper-middle class neighborhood? I think they deserve to be in a neighborhood that is going to receive them better."
Riled by opposition outbursts and by hours of testimony, Councilman Manuel
Valerio lobbed a response of his own.
"I am disgusted," he said. "This is terrible. If we can't help people try to make it in this valley, I'm very disappointed."
A somber-looking Vorreiter echoed his sentiments. "These are really fear-based beliefs that run too deep in our community." She called some of the protests "disgraceful."
Property owners said they fear the low-income housing projects' effect on the neighborhood and on property values. Council had tabled the vote from its Feb. 8 session so that concerned owners could learn more about the EHC program. That move only seemed to increase landowner protests.
The approved federal funds will help EHC, a Santa Clara County-based private nonprofit, to buy a 20-unit complex at 167 Acalanes Drive. The organization plans to provide transitional housing for needy families.
The tenants, all families, will pay rents in the $700 to $800 range while receiving job and life skills training. Tenants can stay in the apartment for up to two years as long as they stay drug free and follow all rules, said Maury Kendall, EHC's spokesman.
Barry Del Buono, founder of EHC, said his group has 300 families on their list for housing. He stressed families would be case-managed and rules, including residents' total sobriety, would be enforced. He said the group would be improving an apartment complex that property owners and city officials have acknowledged to be a neighborhood blight.
"We find crime usually goes down [in areas we operate in]," Del Buono said. The mission of EHC, he said, is to help people squeezed in the real estate market get back on their feet without disturbing the area. "We will be good tenants, good landlords," he said.
Councilman Tim Risch raised the point that EHC could purchase the land without the federal funds. The city awarding the grant gives officials future leverage over the situation it might not have otherwise.
Vice Mayor Jack Walker said he saw little risk in the EHC project. The Acalanes complex currently is a "dump," he said, and EHC's plans will improve it. "The safeguards are there. I am convinced of it," he said.
Few of the protesters, however, were as convinced. Despite the opposition, at least one landowner said he would make the best of the situation. "Now that it's done, let's try to make it work," said Roland Felix, who had protested the emergency housing plan at consecutive council meetings. Felix said he plans to get involved with EHC to ensure the program's success. "Since we're neighbors, let's be friends."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
