By Maggie Angst, Bay Area News Group, September 2, 2020
“After years of controversy and debate, San Jose is finally imposing new development fees that many residents believe are long overdue and could help remedy the housing crisis that large businesses and developers, in part, created.
“The council decided in a split 7-4 vote to begin charging commercial developers with linkage fees to fund affordable housing projects.” The four dissenting councilmembers, “sided with dozens of residents and housing advocacy groups that argued the fees were not high enough to make a significant impact.”
“The funds generated by the fee, which the city estimates will bring in roughly $14 million over the next three years, will be used to build and fund affordable housing projects — a category that the city is severely lacking.
“The new commercial development fees will become the second recently added affordable housing funding stream for the city. In November, voters passed Measure E — a tax on the sale of San Jose properties worth $2 million or more — that city leaders have vowed to put toward building affordable housing and addressing the city’s homeless crisis. City officials estimate the new tax would generate at least $22 million during a recession year.”
Read the full article here. (2 ½ min.)