A Feasibility Study for Urban Edge Agricultural Parks - SAGE

down payment requirements in the surrounding area. Rental Housing LoanProgram regulations limit occupancy to low- and moderate-income households.Carrying charges remain low due to the RHS 515 mortgage limits programregulations, which set minimum monthly charges at the amount necessary toservice the low-interest mortgage and meet operating costs. Maximum monthlycarrying charges are set based on operating costs and debt service if the lowinterest mortgage subsidy was not available. Carrying charges for cooperativemembers are 30 percent of income, less a monthly utility allowance. In caseswhere carrying charges would exceed 30 percent of income for renters, the RuralRental Assistance Program pays the difference. Seventeen cooperative householdsreceive this assistance at San Jerardo.Lessons LearnedCHISPA staff advocate development of affordable condominiums as an alternativeto coops to provide access to ownership without additional management hurdles.Additionally, CHISPA’s leadership is intrigued by community land trusts (CLTs) asan emerging strategy for providing affordable housing, but stresses thataffordability covenants must still allow a return on residents’ down payment or elsethere is questionable incentive to participate. However, California Coalition forRural Housing case research suggests that the exertion of control over property useand protection from rising rental costs may be a strong attractant to low incomeresidents separate from return on investment.While mirroring elements of conservation land trusts used to acquire and protectopen space and agricultural land; this strategy has focused on reducing the cost ofhousing by removing land values from the price of associated units. CLTs typicallybuy and retain the rights to land, while selling any buildings. The housing then hasan attached long-term renewable land lease (typically ninety-nine years),assignable to the heirs of the leaseholder. CLTs then place "limited equity" policiesand formulas that restrict the resale price of the housing in order to maintain theproject’s long-term affordability.Additionally, it should be noted that none of the funding sources that the SanJerardo cooperative utilizes requires that shareholders continue in farm workeremployment after they become members. While households moving into thecooperative are required to earn at least 51 percent of their household income fromagricultural labor at the time that they move in, there are no mandates to continueemployment in the sector. The practical implication of this has resulted in onlyabout one-third of households at San Jerardo actively participating in farm labor.DRAFT 1.6.05 76