Alameda County’s effort to cut red tape from housing production took a step forward recently with the selection of an Oakland-based architectural firm to spearhead part of the project.
The county’s Housing and Community Development Department announced last week that the firm Inspired ADUs will help flesh out the new “Scalable Housing Investment Funding Toolkit” pilot project during its first three-year phase.
“Alameda County’s SHIFT Program is among the most forward-thinking housing initiatives in the state, and Inspired ADUs is uniquely equipped to help realize its vision,” Inspired ADUs CEO Carrie Shores Diller said.
The firm, which responded to a county request for proposals from October, has built affordable housing in Oakland, Santa Clara, Novato, Berkeley and other cities across Northern California, according to county officials.
The SHIFT initiative is described by the county as “a first-of-its-kind pilot program” intended to boost production of affordable housing by using pre-permitted designs and streamlined approvals.
The goal is to build homes for families that make between 60 percent and 80 percent of the Area Median Income while cutting development costs and delays.
Making use of unusable land
SHIFT projects are intended for “small, irregular, or undervalued parcels that are currently uneconomical for traditional development,” county officials said when releasing the RFP.
Inspired ADUs specializes in those exact types of projects, according to the county, and the company’s proposal was chosen because of its “strong design approach” and its “wide portfolio of completed infill projects,” among other things.
“Pre-permitted standardized designs will bring down regulatory barriers and create quality housing below the cost we have been seeing in the last 10 years,” said county housing director Michelle Starratt.
The pre-permitted designs will be scalable from four to 16 units per property and will be publicly available to other counties or cities looking to do something similar.
Also, funding for SHIFT projects will be simplified via a “single-source, non-competitive investment model,” county officials said.
For the first three years of the pilot project, county housing officials will also work with local planning departments “to refine designs, navigate pre-permitting processes and support the development of up to 50 units in the pilot’s first round of development.”
The contract for design services presented to Inspired ADUs is worth up to $250,000, although the exact amount and terms are still being negotiated, according to county officials.