Intent v. Commitment

The Independent‘s March 10 housing article reports, “But what’s extraordinary about the Carpinteria project is the developer’s take on the concept of ‘workforce housing.’ Red Tail intends to base its market-rate rents on Oxnard/Ventura.”

What’s extraordinary is Red Tail gets away with using PR terms “workforce housing” and “affordable by design” when neither have a true definition.

The company’s Bailard proposal includes 132 “market-rate” units defined as “An apartment that has no rent restrictions. A Landlord who owns market-rate housing is free to attempt to rent the space at whatever price the local market may fetch.”

Intending to do something and committing to do something are very different.

Chairman of the 22 February Planning Commission review on Red Tail’s proposal stated, “I know it is ‘moderate income by design,’ but it is market-rate housing. True moderate income housing projects have controlled rents, they’re for certain rents, certain income levels and so forth and that’s different than moderate income housing by design.”

Market-rate in Carpinteria is more than $1,000 higher than Oxnard/Ventura on Dwellics.com.

I respectfully ask the reporter, Jean Yamamura, to ask Red Tail “Are you guaranteeing that rents for these market rate units will match Oxnard/Ventura rents permanently?” And if no response is forthcoming, your readership should know.

She might also ask if their “detached community amenity building and pool area for the market rate portion of the project” will be available also to tenants of the Housing Authority’s 42 truly affordable apartments? Answer so far is a noncommittal “we’re working that out.”