BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Palo Alto City Council acknowledged tonight (Feb. 13) that residents of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park will deal with stress and anxiety as the Santa Clara County Housing Authority relocates them and replaces their homes.
“You‘re going to be forced to move out. You’re going to have to make large purchasing decisions,” Vice Mayor Greer Stone said to Buena Vista residents in the room. “We feel that anxiety that all of you are going to experience over the next several years.”
Flaherty Ward, the director of real estate for the housing authority, told council that all residents can return to the park after its renovated, and nobody should have to leave for more than a year.
The housing authority will cover the “reasonable cost” of relocating during construction, and advisors will try to find residents a place as close to Palo Alto as possible, she said.
Keeping the 71 kids who live at Buena Vista in their Palo Alto schools is a top priority, Ward said. But Stone lamented that these kids won’t be able to walk to school for some time.
The housing authority is getting feedback through June to help decide how the property will be designed.
Current plans show a three-story, 60-unit apartment building toward the back of the property and 60 new mobile homes in three rows at the front.
Council members said they wanted to see the U-shaped apartment building turned around to face the mobile homes rather than having a long wall divide the property.
Residents who currently own their mobile homes — which include RVs and travel trailers of different sizes, ages and conditions — will be bought out by the housing authority based on an appraisal, Ward said.
Their mobile homes are worth anywhere between $5,000 and $75,000, she said.
Owners will get first dibs at buying new mobile homes, and the housing authority will help finance them with income-based payments that could be forgiven after five years, Ward said.
For renters, their new rents will be based on their income. Very low income residents would have their rent go down, while higher income residents would likely pay more, Ward said.
Residents won’t have the option of staying in their home.
“Everything at the park needs to be replaced,” Ward said. “The gas, the sewer, the water — everything needs to be pulled out and redone.”
Two Buena Vista residents spoke at the meeting. Ana Garcia said she didn’t think that a playground should go next to mobile homes, because kids would hit them with soccer balls and frisbees.
Jessica Guzman, 21, said that it’s tough for young college students like herself, who can’t afford to move out and must stay in a crowded home.
“Being in this community means the world to me, but it’s just really hard as a young adult,” she said.
The housing authority has replaced 18 mobile homes already, and people are packed in, Ward said. Families of four or five are living in 400-square-foot mobile homes with two bedrooms, she said.
If people choose not to come back, then that would make space for mobile homes to be larger and less crowded, Ward said.
The housing authority will have to grapple with three competing priorities in the 4.5-acre space: increasing the supply of affordable housing, creating a sufficient amount of open space and improving quality of life for current residents, Councilman Pat Burt said.
Councilwoman Julie Lythcott-Haims asked Ward to come back next time with a Buena Vista resident so that council could know if residents support the plans. She suggested having shared cooking and dining facilities in the apartment building to allow for more bedrooms.
The plans are still in their early stages, and the housing authority is planning to apply for permits later this year.
Residents have gone through some disruption as they’ve adjusted to the housing authority taking ownership five years ago, Ward said.
They went from a landlord who wasn’t complying with rental laws to one who requires leases, housing inspections and income certifications, she said.
“That’s like a full 180,” Ward said. “It’s pretty burdensome.”
The housing authority purchased the park with Santa Clara County and the city of Palo Altpo for $40.3 million in 2017 to prevent it from being redeveloped as luxury housing.
County Supervisor Joe Simitian, who spearheaded the purchase, said that improving Buena Vista has taken longer than it should.
“Done right, the housing authority’s plans for redevelopment could actually increase the number of affordable housing units, upgrade the living environment for all who call Buena Vista home and preserve the sense of community that is unique to the Buena Vista — which is to say, it’s important to get this right,” said Simitian.