In Yuba-sutter, we need more solutions, not just complaints

Over the past few years, there have been several housing and community projects in Yuba City that have faced fierce opposition from neighboring homeowners and residents.

As is the case with most proposed solutions to our current housing crisis in California, these loud voices are a minority, seeking to drown out the majority for their own perceived benefit. The term often used in reference to this trend is NIMBYISM (not in my back yard).

In 2022, the city of Yuba City and its council halted a plan to convert Bonanza Inn, located at 1001 Clark Ave. in Yuba City, into 130 low-income apartment units through the primary use of state Homekey funds.

“This program is not just a homeless program,” Joseph Hale, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Yuba-sutter, said during a presentation at a Yuba City City Council meeting in December 2021. “It is a permanent housing program. This is where individuals will live for long term. These individuals aren’t living there for free. These individuals pay rent, just like everyone else, and live under the same rental conditions as other people. So, this isn’t a shelter and won’t be operated like a shelter.”

On the outside, the project looked like a win-win for everyone. For the city and state, more housing would become available to those in need – those who are being pushed out of their current homes due to increased rents and other costs. Neighbors, in the weeks prior to the 2022 decision on the project, said Bonanza Inn had become an eyesore and hotbed of crime and possible drug use.

“My husband and I have been residents on Orange Street for 30 years,” one resident who lives on Orange Street said during a December 2021 council meeting. “… Our neighborhood has been going downhill. We’ve been battling the homeless situation and crime. Our grandkids go to the park and our animals come in the house with human feces for a while on a regular basis.”

The proposed project for Bonanza Inn would have addressed those issues, all of them. From the concerned neighbors to leaders who are searching for any and all solutions to increase available housing.

But that didn’t happen. The council members at the time didn’t have the will to help out fellow citizens, instead listening and taking the advice of a few neighbors who thought a gated and regulated apartment complex was not the solution to what they perceived as an increase of crime and undesirables near their homes.

Whether the site of the former Bonanza Inn -- now Red Roof Inn -- is ultimately turned around remains to be seen, but had the Homekey project moved forward as intended, it’s possible several of our most vulnerable residents would be in their new homes now or in the coming months.

Did that vocal minority of residents have real solutions for what should have been done instead of what Habitat proposed? In large part, no. They didn’t care what happened, they just didn’t want it in their backyard.

Now another project has come before the city that has caused a stir among local residents – Henson Farms Apartments.

These are not planned low-income housing options. Located on the north side of North Colusa Frontage Road between Hooper Road and El Margarita Road, Henson Farms Apartments was initially proposed as a 138-unit apartment complex that would offer market-rate multifamily units on 7.48 acres.

Much like the Bonanza Inn proposal, Henson Farms Apartments can help to fill an important need in our community and state. Yuba-sutter needs not only affordable housing, but housing for those that can afford to pay – think young professionals and families living in our area but working in Sacramento or elsewhere. Several reports have come out in recent years signaling a shift away from the expensive coast to more affordable options inland.

Can our leaders and area jurisdictions take advantage of this opportunity?

Some are and some seem to be dragging their feet.

Complaints specific to Henson Farms Apartments have mostly centered around traffic issues, but our officials have properly answered those concerns and pointed to possible solutions. Unfortunately, when misinformation and disinformation reign supreme on social media, feelings often get in the way of facts.

There are other projects on the horizon that could help alleviate stress put on our hospitals and cities with regards to homelessness. Those too have faced pushback from some in the community that would feel better shipping what they view as undesirables away, some even going so far as to suggest isolated locations, far from vital resources needed for those who require services either to live or pull themselves out of whatever situation they are currently in.

These are our friends, our family, our neighbors, our people. Yet we treat them like second-class or third-class citizens.

We are not a small country town. We are not a small farming community. Those days are gone and it’s time we realize that and learn to grow quickly, but responsibly.

We ask those NIMBYS and others opposed to housing and homelessness solutions, what is your answer? How would you solve this problem? Does it involve moving people away and the associated complications of such an endeavor? Does it involve housing solutions far from public transit? Does it involve more expensive infrastructure projects located far from city centers rather than filling in empty or deteriorating lots?

This is where our leaders need to step in. This is their time to show why they were elected in the first place. They need to make the hard decisions, the unpopular decisions, the decisions they know are essential for our community but could ultimately cost them their seat on the dais.

It’s not about taking polls or hiring more consultants. You were elected to make a decision. You were elected to know more about the inner workings of government than what the average resident could reasonably know.

We are not saying the public shouldn’t have a voice. We are not saying residents don’t have the right to speak up. They absolutely should. But, just like those citizens should be, our leaders too should be solution oriented. Weigh legitimate concerns with the overall good to the community and make the hard decisions. That’s what real leaders do.