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lucas1When George Lucas couldn’t get approval to build a  studio in Marin County, he opted to build affordable housing on the site, instead. With his own money.

Of course, the link above says Lucas “trolled” his rich neighbors by putting them in close proximity to “poor people.” Uh…to steal a quote, I do not think “affordable housing” means what the writer thinks it means.

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  2. Something’s wrong somewhere when people making $77,000 a year qualify for designated affordable housing in Marin County, CA.

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  3. RE: Isn’t that insane?
    This made me suspect that the reporting I was reading on the Lucas project wasn’t entirely accurate…or at least incomplete.

    For instance: Lucas isn’t building “public housing”. Lucas is proposing to build new construction. So the question is: How will the condo units Lucas is proposing to build, in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the West, be made “affordable”? One answer might be the Marin Housing Below Market Rate (BMR) Home Ownership Program.

    The BMR Home Ownership program offers low and moderate-income , first-time homebuyers the opportunity to purchase specified condominium units in Marin County at less than market value. Marin Housing administers the sale of newly constructed units as well as previously owned units being offered for resale.

    Income caps on participation are set by HUD:

    The Income Limit for the BMR Program is 120% Area Median Income; however, some units will be priced for and have an Income Limit of 80% of Median. (emphasis in original)
    Household size 120%/median 80%/median
    1 $85,600 $57,100
    2 $97,800 $65,200
    3 $110,500 $73,350
    4 $122,300 $81,500
    5 $132,050 $88,050
    6 $141,850 $94,500

    So, if the BMR Program turns out to be the administrator handling sales for that project, it gets a little clearer how affordability will be accomplished: complex design and unit pricing will traget specific household size and income demographics…and age, (one report states seniors between 30% and 60% of median income would be eligible).

    Some other BMR Program requirements make me think that if they are the sales administrators, households more in line with the FPL might not qualify for participation.

    –You must have cash and savings available equaling approximately 5% to 10% of the purchase price to cover down payment, closing costs and reserves. [average cost would be about $670,000 each]
    –You must be able to qualify for financing through a BMR lender based on your verifiable income and credit standing.
    –Your assets, as well as income, will be reviewed to determine eligibility.

    However, Lucas has formed a foundation to get get the project realized, so different criteria might well be negotiated to determine “affordability.” Something closer to FPL/HUD guidelines, for instance. (His neighbors would love that!) There just isn’t enough information, that I’ve come across, on how affordability is going to be determined.

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    2. I wish I knew more about affordable housing in Calif., but I have a hard enough time keeping up with affordable housing rules in Conn. Thanks for posting this.

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      1. That’s why I wish there was better coverage. I understand the desire to focus on Lucas because he’s a great guy. But housing affordability is such a severe problem in that part of California it would be nice to have a little more detail than “working people.” I mean…what’s a multi-hundred-billionaire’s idea of “working people.”

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