Features

Editors, Daily Planet:  

A renaissance of interest in condominium development (”Developers, City Push Conversion to Condos,” Daily Planet, Sept. 21-23) should raise a few red flags amongst Berkeley’s affordable housing advocates. Frankly, condominiums are not the panacea for either Berkeley’s shortage of affordable housing, nor for Berkeley’s current (or is it permanent?) fiscal crisis. Condominium development does provide developers with quick profits far in excess of those obtainable through rental housing. Condominiums do nothing to increase the availability of affordable rental housing in our community. At the suggested sale price range for “affordable” units, virtually none of Berkeley’s low-income families could afford to buy into the so-called American dream, notwithstanding the formulae of “affordability” described—which clearly does not deal realistically with the low-income sector. Many of the claimed benefits of condominium development need seriously deeper investigation as the feel-good sloganeering in support of condos may be nothing more than air. One in particular—that condo ownership is good because “people who invest in their homes have a long-term interest in the community” is a cliché which strongly suggests that those who don’t “own” don’t have a long-term interest in Berkeley. This is simply poppycock. Many thousands of long-term Berkeley residents who have a serious commitment to this community have been renters for many years—and this due to the existence of Berkeley’s rent stabilization ordinance. Rent stabilization has provided a source of stabilization for our community. A long-term commitment to the community comes from many different sources, not simply from ownership of land. Current condominium ownership and residency should also be surveyed—nothing in the article provides the percentage of current condos which are actually owner-occupied, and particularly the percentage of owner-occupancy in those condos constructed since 1981. Other issues related to the claimed tax-benefits to the city should also be evaluated. But more significantly, condominium development must be reviewed in the context of a housing master plan, including the housing element requirements under state law.  

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