Rick Jacobus

Tag: Press

  • The Most Interesting Things from Thursday’s Housing Forum at City Hall

    The Most Interesting Things from Thursday’s Housing Forum at City Hall

    From The Stranger

    Posted by on Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 4:23 PM

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    Last week, Dominic urged you to attend a forum organized by the city council around affordable housing in Seattle. Why did he want you to go hang out at City Hall and watch PowerPoints? Because the affordability of housing, and how to better achieve it, is one of the most hotly debated topics in the city.And you know why: Because if you’re a renter, or a prospective home-buyer, and you make less than the median income (around $60,000 a year for a single-person household), you may have noticed recently that shelter is expensive as all hell, and only getting expensiver.

    But the things that really stood out most in my mind from the housing forum were not part of any PowerPoint. They were a couple of offhand comments by a consultant, Rick Jacobus:

    • First, he mentioned that data shows that mixed-income neighborhoods are good for everyone—both the higher- and lower-income people who live in them. Which is an important reminder for people who keep arguing that the only solution is to just have developers keep building whatever and wherever they want, without much restriction, and let the market take care of it—meaning let the centrally located, amenity-filled neighborhoods with expensive land prices house the rich, while the poor and middle-class are pushed out into outlying, less-accessible, transit-starved neighborhoods where land prices are cheap.

    I have a message for y’all market-solutions-only-forever people: Your city sounds terrible.

    • Second, someone asked Jacobus about the inherent conflict between affordable housing requirements and density. If you’re not a housing/land-use nerd, this is basically a fight between well-intentioned density activists, who say that adding more housing will drive prices down (they sometimes sound just like the market-will-solve-everything people I mentioned above), and well-intentioned affordable-housing activists, who say you should straight-up require developers to build some moderately-priced housing while they’re also building fancy-schmancy units for the rich. He answered carefully, saying that while studying Seattle’s housing issues, he heard that argument a lot. But, he continued, you don’t hear that argument anywhere else. In other cities, he said, people who fight for affordable housing requirements and people who fight for density are on the same side, and the developers use the fact that they’ll be paying for affordable housing as a way to sell density to wary residents.

    Seattle, it would seem that we keep having entirely the wrong conversation here.

    Way wonkier stuff coming soon, but for now, I leave you with one more important thing I learned: Eating a banh mi in the back of a conference room and wearing fleece don’t mix. (Crumbly sandwich + fleece = CRUMB MONSTER.) Hot tip, y’all! Don’t forget.

  • Hemet considers new ways to boost housing

    Tuesday, September 1, 2009

    By MICHAEL PERRAULT
    The Press-Enterprise

    Hemet officials may have a new tool next month to create affordable housing: a community land trust.

    Community land trusts are nonprofit, community-based housing organizations that acquire land through purchases or donations and hold it in perpetuity, said Rick Jacobus, an Oakland-based consultant hired to look into forming the land.

    The land is then leased to the homeowners for as long as 99 years, cutting the overall cost of homes and helping to promote affordable housing.

    The trust could also work with lenders to reduce mortgage costs by using equity of the land as part of the mortgage calculation.

    “By retaining ownership of the land, the city is sort of a silent partner,” Jacobus said.

    Hemet could screen potential homebuyers and tenants while ensuring homes are adequately maintained and occupied by working families instead of being bought up by investors, Jacobus said.

    Another option Hemet City Council may consider is joining forces with a non-profit affordable housing developer, said Adam Eliason, president of CivicStone, a Chino-based consulting firm that advises cities on how to develop affordable housing.

    Eliason and Jacobus have been asked to work the city’s housing authority to develop a business plan to boost affordable housing options, stabilize blighted neighborhoods and reduce absentee ownership.

    Hemet officials want to buy and fix up foreclosed properties and sell them to working families. The city plans to use nearly $3 million awarded by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program, said Mark Trabing, Hemet housing manager.

    Hemet has teamed up with Moreno Valley to apply for a second round of federal funding, Trabing said.

    The city council teamed up in July with two nonprofit housing groups to improve their chances of receiving about $10 million in additional federal Neighborhood Stabilization grants.

    Hemet is awaiting word whether it will receive about $3 million more to be used to purchase and renovate homes for resale, rent or redevelopment and to demolish blighted structures.

    Hemet’s land trust would likely be governed by a board of directors representing people who lease the land, as well as surrounding neighbors, public officials, nonprofit housing providers and social services.

    Land trusts have sprouted up in cities such as Madison, Wis., where teachers, police and other workers with modest, middle-class incomes were priced out of neighborhoods.

    A land trust could give Hemet a chance to be involved on an ongoing basis, helping neighborhoods break out of “boom and bust cycles” that have left residents facing foreclosures.

  • SF Chronicle: Coffee Shops Perk Up Streets

    Coffee shops perk up streets; SAN FRANCISCO; Cafes revitalize neighborhoods by providing safe gathering places, drawing other businesses

    Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
    The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
    October 25, 2008

    Neighborhoods like North Beach and Noe Valley are teeming with coffee shops, but head south and you’re likely to find people clamoring for a cafe.

    In recent years, these businesses have become a key part of community efforts to revitalize commercial strips, arguably the most visible and telling element of any neighborhood. Coffee shops offer a safe, warm gathering place for neighbors, bring foot traffic to areas that need it, and tend to reflect the flavor of a community.

    Sometimes they also lead to some unexpected benefits. In the Bayview, for example, Javalencia coffee shop owner Servio Gomez parlayed the success of his Third Street business – and its open mike nights – into an adjacent gallery, which focuses on local artists. Mama Art Cafe in the Excelsior district also showcases local artists and musicians, and often opens its door for community meetings. And at Joe Leland cafe in Visitacion Valley, people stop by just to chat with owner Russel Morine, whose business is filled with posters for community events.

    “There wasn’t a cafe on Mission Street in the Excelsior when I first became supervisor in 2001,” said Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, adding that there are now three in the area. “It was one of the ideas that always came up when you sat down with a group and said, ‘What would you like to see happen to the street?’ I think that reflects a need that people have for community, and a space where they can come together and relax.”

    Draw for other businesses
    That’s exactly what Portola district neighbors have been asking for, said longtime resident Irene Crescio.

    “We’ve been trying to get a coffee shop on San Bruno Avenue for a good six, seven years,” she said. “Once we get a business like that in, it will draw other businesses.”

    Cafes can help draw other businesses to an area previously seen as unsafe or untenable, agreed Rick Jacobus, a retail revitalization consultant who has helped efforts in the Excelsior and Portola districts.

    “The presence or absence of different businesses telegraphs the success of a neighborhood,” he said. “A retail area is a neighborhood’s front door. It’s the face they present to the outside world. If you have a coffee shop, it sends a message about what kind of neighborhood you have. … It seems like it’s successful, safe and desirable.”

    Later hours
    They also make nighttime businesses, such as restaurants, more likely to move in, he said.

    “Cafes can have longer hours than other businesses,” he said. “In the Excelsior, people wanted the commercial district to feel like a safe place, but it felt closed up at night. You can’t just open up one restaurant and expect it to survive, but a coffee shop can stay open later and bring some eyes to the street.”

    That’s exactly what Javalencia and Art94124 have done since opening this year on Third Street in the Bayview, said India Basin resident Kristine Ennea. That commercial corridor lost a number of businesses during the drawn-out construction of the Third Street Light Rail.

    “It was sorely needed,” Ennea said of the cafe. “In the Bayview, probably more than any other neighborhood, there’s a perception of danger. If you have businesses clustered together, they start drawing in customers and people feel safe.”

    Gentrification fears
    The fear of gentrification is a real one, but neighbors say coffee shops, if done right, can actually bring together different groups that exist within neighborhoods. This is particularly the case when they are owned by community members, such as Morine, who grew up in the Bayview and has lived in Visitacion Valley for 12 years.

    “It wasn’t my goal to own a coffee shop,” said Morine, who recently completed his master’s degree in city planning from UC Berkeley. “But a cafe was the one thing the community wanted that we didn’t have that was doable. It’s a place for people to meet, sit and talk – and it’s there every day.”

    All income strata
    Many communities list other businesses, including grocery stores and bookstores, right up there with cafes when they are trying to revitalize commercial corridors. But coffee shops are often more likely to materialize because they are fairly simple retail businesses, Morine said.

    And, regardless of your ethnic or socioeconomic heritage, you can usually find something you like there, said Sandoval.

    “There are often questions about who will pay $3 for a cup of coffee, that it won’t be a lot of working-class people,” he said. “But surprisingly, that’s not the case – if you go into these cafes, you will find people from all economic stratums reading newspapers, using the Internet or talking to friends. People want a place to congregate and socialize.”

    Copyright 2008 San Francisco Chronicle All Rights Reserved

  • San Francisco’s Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative

    Mayor Newsom Announces Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative
    Unique program targets public, private resources
    to strengthen neighborhood business districts

    May 23, 2005

    SAN FRANCISCO – Speaking at a national conference on urban commercial district revitalization held in San Francisco today, Mayor Newsom announced a new program to bolster neighborhood business districts – the Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative. The initiative is a public-private partnership between the City of San Francisco, the nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and private corporate and philanthropic donors. Coordinated by LISC and the City, the Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative (NMI) represents a major step forward in efforts to strengthen the city’s neighborhood business districts.

    The City and LISC are backing the Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative to improve job creation, investment and the physical landscapes in San Francisco’s neighborhoods. Piloted recently in the city’s Excelsior district with tremendous results and modeled on similar LISC-supported programs around the country, the Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative brings together business, resident, and other civic leaders in selected neighborhoods to develop and implement business district improvement strategies. Across the country similar programs have proven effective at reducing storefront vacancies, bringing in new businesses and jobs, and stimulating community involvement.

    “What makes this program unique, and why we are excited about it,” said Mayor Newsom, “is that we have city departments, LISC, and local funders coordinating work and dollars to assist our neighborhood business districts — and to assist the districts based upon what the residents and merchants say they need and want. It is a public-private partnership that is do-able and proven successful. It is exactly the kind of collaborative, targeted approach we need to help our neighborhoods and local businesses.”

    Under the Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative, the City and LISC jointly plan to invest approximately $500,000 annually to support neighborhoods selected for the program. Private funders play a pivotal role; approximately half of this investment is provided through donations to LISC from the State Farm Insurance Companies and the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, among other funders. In addition, LISC is targeting an additional $25 million in flexible loan dollars ($10 million) and other financing ($15 million) for viable and desired development projects in neighborhoods selected to participate in the initiative.

    Five neighborhoods have been selected to receive initiative assistance as part of the program’s launch. The Excelsior and Visitacion Valley will receive assistance in implementing comprehensive commercial corridor plans while Third Street in the Bayview, San Bruno Avenue in the Portola neighborhood, and Ocean Avenue in the OMI (Ocean-Merced-Ingelside) neighborhood will all receive assistance in developing a comprehensive strategy and beginning implementation. The targeted neighborhoods will benefit from coordinated services from several city agencies. For example, some of the neighborhoods will receive priority for façade improvement grants through SF Shines, a program of the Mayor’s Office of Community Development as well as support from the Mayor’s office of Economic and Workforce Development in working with property owners, developers and retailers to fill vacant retail properties.

    Some of the targeted neighborhoods will also receive help in forming community benefit districts (CBD). Similar to a Business Improvement District, a CBD is formed when property owners in a proposed district voluntarily agree to a special assessment in addition to their regular property taxes, in order to finance capital improvements and services over and above those already provided by the City.

    “Because the City, LISC and other funders are working together to support these neighborhoods, we are not only using existing resources more effectively but we hope to engage more local corporate and philanthropic institutions in helping our neighborhoods”, said Stephanie Forbes, Director of LISC’s Bay Area program. “With this partnership, we now have the infrastructure for a new era of neighborhood change based upon residents and merchants working together on the ground, and the local funders and the City working together to support their visions. We can’t afford to work separately anymore.”

    The Mayor’s announcement was made at the opening session of a conference bringing together more than 400 neighborhood revitalization practitioners from around the country. Urban Forum 2005, the third such conference hosted by LISC’s Center for Commercial Revitalization, will include several workshops and presentations, with a special focus on successful efforts to help communities revitalize commercial corridors. The conference is being held today and tomorrow at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

    LISC is a 25 year-old national nonprofit community development support organization that provides program models, policy analysis, training, technical assistance and financing to help community-based organizations working on behalf of our nation’s lower income families and neighborhoods. LISC works in 33 urban areas around the country and operates a rural program in 66 rural areas. LISC is the largest nonprofit community development financial institution in the country. Bay Area LISC has supported the region’s affordable housing and community development work since 1981.
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