Dishgamu Humboldt’s conceptual design for housing at 5th and D streets.Dishgamu Humboldt’s conceptual design for housing at 5th and D streets.

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Press release from the “Housing For All” campaign:

The Housing for All and Downtown Vitality campaign has started. The City of Eureka has provided the final paperwork that allows the campaign to begin collecting signatures for the ballot initiative. Approximately 1,600 valid voter signatures are needed to place the measure on the ballot.

The Housing for All ballot initiative is a comprehensive update to the Housing Element of the City’s General Plan. It includes rezoning 8.5 acres of the former Jacobs Middle School property for housing and provisions to preserve parking on public lots downtown where housing has been proposed. If passed by the voters, the Housing for All Initiative will enable Eureka to provide several hundred badly needed affordable housing units for all income levels.

“The initiative has changed slightly from the original one we submitted to the City on July 14,” explained Mike Munson, initiative co-signer. “The City recently awarded the contract for developing the 5th and D parking lots and the 6th and L lot to the Wiyot Tribe. Our revised initiative provides that those two lots will be exempt from the ballot measure as long as the Wiyot Tribe owns them. We support their efforts in building affordable housing in an environmentally friendly manner while protecting their heritage and keeping the work local.”

According to Munson, the Housing for All and Downtown Vitality campaign focuses on housing. He said that while the downtown parking lots are part of the initiative, the goal is to make a bad housing element plan better and bring that plan to the voters.

“There is much misinformation about the initiative we would like to correct,” said Michelle Costantine, initiative co-signer. “This is genuinely about housing for all and does not prevent the development of the downtown parking lots.” The downtown lots would remain sites for affordable housing to attract families downtown. Still, the initiative requires parking to be provided to the residents and preserve the 640 spaces that will be lost.

According to Costantine and Munson, the use of the former Jacobs Middle School site will provide the following:

· Stable family housing,

· Increase property values in the area,

· Badly needed funds for the City Schools, and

· Make the neighborhood safer.

“The City Schools are under capacity, and plenty of classrooms are available for the growth this housing will bring,” added Munson. “More housing means more students, and that’s a good thing.”

To read the initiative and learn more about signing, visit www.eurekahousingforall2024.org.