June 12, 2024
At a public hearing last month, a real estate developer approached the Concord City Council with a proposal that, to many, might have seemed too good to turn down: 183 new downtown apartments, nearly all affordable, at no cost to the city.
All the developer asked of the council? Permission to accept up to $90 million in state financing to cover construction costs.
Yet a 4-1 majority of councilmembers rejected the request, reasoning the project would concentrate too much affordable housing in the suburban East Bay city’s central business district. Instead, they encouraged Idaho-based Pacific West Communities to develop the complex as mostly market-rate apartments, which wouldn’t receive subsidies.