Sonoma County Housing Fund Producing Big Results

In the summer of 2019, the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber, in partnership with Housing Trust Silicon Valley, launched the Sonoma County Housing Fund. Leveraging each other’s strengths, expertise and local relationships, the Sonoma County Housing Fund was created to finance critically needed affordable housing in the Sonoma County region. The partnership includes a financial match from Housing Trust Silicon Valley, which increases the amount of capital coming into Sonoma County.

At the time of launching, Peter Rumble, CEO of the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber of Commerce said, “If our kids are going to have a good education, we need to make sure our teachers can afford to live here, if our technology companies are going to thrive, we need to be able to recruit engineers. If we are going to be able to care for our aging population, our hospitals need to keep nurses and doctors living here. If our tourism industry is going to continue to be the envy of the world, we need to make sure there is a thriving workforce in our community. All of this comes back to creating housing throughout Sonoma County, and while the Sonoma County Housing Fund isn’t the single solution, it is an important step forward.”

With generous investment from Chamber member Kaiser Permanente, the Sonoma County Housing Fund began providing financing to affordable housing projects in 2020, allowing around 250 affordable homes to start construction. Now, it is a tremendous pleasure to report that the first projects have already begun repaying their loans, allowing the Sonoma County Housing Fund to invest in even more homes for families in Sonoma County. “Very few Chambers in the country have taken such a bold step as we have here,” said Jeremy Little, current Board Chair of the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber. “I’m proud that our Chamber is a part of the housing solution, and able to have such a meaningful impact on the lives of our neighbors.”

The Chamber welcomes additional investment in the fund, as well as inquiries from interested affordable housing developers. For more information about the Sonoma County Housing Fund, please go to the Chamber’s website at santarosametrochamber.com/programs/sonoma-county-housing-fund/