Supporting Low-Income Families

By Sheri Spellwoman

Albany needs to increase its commitment to supporting low-income families in new ways, and I believe the City Council can play a critical role in increasing support for these families.

For starters, I would like to do outreach to the community to promote the programs that are currently available. We could make the paperwork easier by working with the school district and other entities to create an application through the City that is good for multiple programs, including the PG&E program, the free and reduced lunch program, subsidized mental health services and the low-income homeowner exemption/renter rebate provision of our parcel tax.

I will protect our ordinance that mandates low-income housing as part of any new construction of housing. This requirement was unfortunately waived in the recently approved UC Village Mixed Use Project's Development Agreement.

As a member of City Council, I would like to pressure vendors like Waste Management to offer breaks to low-income families. A year ago Albany approved a 40% increase in WM charges with a provision to offer reductions for seniors based on age, but not income. I would work to provide such reductions to low-income residents as well.

I would like Albany to join other cities in passing a Living Wage Ordinance for large businesses like Target, so that its employees can survive and support their families in the city in which they work.

I would advocate for a Just Cause Rent Ordinance that would prevent landlords from proportionally large rent increases without demonstrating underlying cost increases.

I will propose creating a Public Health Committee, to address community health issues and affordable healthcare. We could maintain a list of practitioners in Albany who offer free, low-cost or sliding scale rates for healthcare.

I would like the City to provide job search assistance and to promote community barter and skill-trade programs.

I am also very interested in working with the City's Homeless Task Force, to find compassionate and respectful ways to support our homeless population and help them find services they need.