Wine Country Inter-Regional Partnership
Existing Conditions
These following factors have contributed to the jobs/housing imbalance in the
Wine Country region:
- Wage Growth and Change. In the Wine Country, the influx of high wage jobs
associated with the dot-com boom along the US-101 corridor overlaid an existing
employment base dominated by low-wage jobs. The loss of these jobs has returned
the economic base to reliance on tourism, the wine industry, retail and service
sector activities.
- Housing Cost Dynamics. The volatility of the Wine Country is now of such
a nature that in 2004 the average cost of housing has increased by over $100,000
in a single year. With ever-shrinking income levels based on the real value
of wages, buyers are looking across jurisdictional boundaries and regional
boundaries to find affordable housing that meets buyers' needs.
- Housing Affordability. The relatively low wages earned in the Wine Country
region limit the ability of workers to enter the home-ownership market. The
dramatic increase of housing prices within the Wine Country region have far
exceeded wage gains and left housing unaffordable to the majority. Long distance
work trip commutes will be inevitable if current patterns persist. Until building
workforce housing becomes a priority on a level with other public need priorities,
the conditions creating jobs-housing imbalance and separation will significantly
worsen.
- Workforce Housing Shift and Work-Trip Commute Impact. The Projections data
show sub-areas of the Wine Country that stand out as contributing to the process
of jobs-housing imbalance and separation. The Santa Rosa Metro sub-area and
the Petaluma Metro sub-area will be the areas of employment concentration
within the Wine Country area. The Calistoga and Saint Helena sub-areas will
also be subject to a workforce housing shift because of the relatively high
costs associated with each sub-area. The sub-areas that will provide locations
for shifted housing supply are Cloverdale, Ukiah Valley, Middletown, Hopland,
Lower Lake, and American Canyon.
- Transportation Impacts. The most prevalent symptom of jobs-housing imbalance
is the impact on the roadway system connecting sub-areas of high housing affordability
with sub-areas where housing is significantly more affordable. Indeed, for
the majority of the other IRPs statewide, the issues that triggered interest
in pursuing an IRP work program were roadway congestion and safety issues.
GIS
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