Affordable Housing

FIGHTING FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING
By Paul Payne
SANTA ROSA PRESS DEMOCRAT, May 11, 2003

Attorney David Grabill knew his victory in an affordable housing case still rankled Santa Rosa City Hall insiders, so he shied away from their favorite downtown deli.

He opted instead for lunch at an out-of-the-way Nepalese restaurant. But before he could finish his turkey curry, a Sierra Club leader unhappy about Grabill's push for a housing project in Sebastopol walked up to the table, frowned and said, ``We've got to talk.''

Grabill's relentless fight for more low-cost homes has angered powerful forces across the political spectrum. Over a dozen years, the 60-year-old lawyer has sued or threatened to sue a half-dozen local governments, won four major lawsuits and reached settlements that require planning for hundreds of affordable homes and apartments.

``Some of what we do is contentious,'' Grabill said. ``It doesn't make us a lot of friends.''

Grabill works as counsel to the Housing Advocacy Group, a coalition representing labor, religious faiths, farmworkers, seniors and the disabled. His lobbying and legal pressure have forced:

* Politicians in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, Healdsburg and Rohnert Park to rewrite their housing policies and pay legal fees totaling more than $300,000, and leaders in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County to provide homeless shelters.

* Developers to build more low-profit homes, sometimes at the expense of lucrative development plans.

* Environmentalists to accept housing built on land they want to protect.

To many critics, Grabill is rigid, confrontational and so zealous that they have had to compromise hard-won policies to balance housing growth and land protection. He's been called an extortionist, a blackmailer and a shameless opportunist by those who say his suits are misdirected and take money from public projects.

``So many of us are just so angry,'' said Santa Rosa City Councilwoman Janet Condron, who believes the city was doing a good job providing affordable housing before Grabill intervened. ``Somebody comes in with a hammer like this not really directed at the target ... I gag at paying his legal fees.''

But he is revered by social activists, who say he's a champion of the poor in a region that has grown increasingly more expensive.

``He's an incredibly dedicated guy with a passion for helping the less fortunate,'' said nonprofit developer Clark Blasdell, president and CEO of Northbay Family Homes of Novato. ``And I've found him to be an extremely wise counsel.''

Majida Gibson, a longtime Petaluma housing advocate, said without Grabill, elected officials would ignore the obligation to get land for low-cost homes.

``He has put teeth in the legal requirements for affordable housing through his lawsuits,'' said Gibson, a Housing Advocacy Group board member. ``Public officials are sitting up and taking notice.''

Even those who disagree with his confrontational tactics concede Grabill's work has brought positive change.

``We don't sue local government and we don't threaten local government,'' said John Lowry, executive director of Burbank Housing Development Corp., one of the largest local builders of homes for low-income residents. Grabill ``has raised the profile of affordable housing. From that perspective, I admire his work.''

Grabill's commitment to what he calls social justice is rooted in the civil rights and peace movements of the 1960s.

The son of a doctor, he grew up in suburban Washington, D.C., went to the exclusive Sidwell Friends school with the children of lawmakers and government officials and developed friendships that connected him to an emerging class of white, liberal lawyers.

Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. were more than just names to Grabill. On a summer break from Yale University in 1963, Grabill participated in King's historic march on Washington. He later worked on Kennedy's presidential campaign.

Grabill was radicalized by the war in Vietnam. He went to the University of Pennsylvania law school, and committed himself to correcting inequities he saw in a military draft that sent a disproportionate number of minorities to Vietnam and a government that turned its back on the poor.

``If you were interested in promoting social change, or should I say, if you were a white do-gooder, you went to law school,'' Grabill said.

In 1973, after running a law commune in Venice Beach, Grabill dropped out of the workaday world. He and his wife moved to a West Virginia farm, where they spent the next seven years going back to the land with another family.

After his marriage ended in divorce, Grabill returned to professional practice. He joined California Rural Legal Assistance in Santa Rosa, and spent 14 years as an advocate for farm laborers, helping to improve living conditions and encouraging union organization. He married again, to Dorothy Battenfeld, a teacher at Montgomery High School.

When home prices skyrocketed and the Housing Advocacy Group sought his help in the mid-1990s, Grabill left CRLA. He now works from his Santa Rosa home office for the affordable housing group, which even Grabill jokingly calls by its acronym, HAG.

The advocacy group was formed in 1998 by people who had tried for years to provide housing for low-income people, seniors, farmworkers, the disabled, the homeless and others in a county that is one of the least affordable in the nation.

Membership is a few dozen and the group is organized without officers. Stephen Harper, a retired stockbroker, is the chairman.

Housing is considered affordable if it can be bought by people earning less than the median income -- $71,000 annually for a family of four in Santa Rosa. Low-income housing is for families that earn less than 80 percent of the median income, or less than $56,500.

A typical day finds Grabill poring over pending legislation and lobbying for homeless shelters, or attending public hearings and pressing officials to make way for low-cost homes.

``We're telling them they have to do things differently than they are doing,'' Grabill said. ``A lot of times there are some painful parts. There are repercussions.''

Every so often, he winds up in court. Other times, the hint of a suit gets results.

His latest victory happened last month. The Sebastopol City Council was poised to scrap the 145-unit Laguna Vista housing project, which both the developer and housing advocates said was the city's best hope to get low-cost homes.

Opponents argued that Laguna Vista would bring traffic and harm nearby wetlands, which are home to a variety of animal and plant species.

But Grabill intervened. He warned that if Sebastopol didn't allow Laguna Vista to go forward, the city wouldn't meet goals for affordable housing. And he threatened to sue.

The council reversed course, much to the disappointment of what Grabill calls Sebastopol ``cucumbers,'' people he describes as having a thin layer of green on the outside but who are white on the inside.

``We see people waving the environmental banner when their real interest is themselves and what's going to be built next door,'' Grabill said. ``By the same token, we see developers waving the environmental flag.''

That was partly the case when Grabill sued Sonoma County in 1998 in one of the biggest wins ever for the affordable housing movement.

The county's housing policy had discouraged apartments and other high-density projects in rural communities, leaning instead toward custom homes on large lots. The county's goal was to preserve open space and maintain zoning that allowed developers to build more profitable homes.

Grabill sued, saying the policy violated state law, which requires counties to earmark land for affordable housing.

A judge sided with Grabill and the county was forced to rewrite its policies and pay incentives to affordable home builders. A moratorium on all building was imposed until the matter was resolved.

``There's a kind of a philosophical conflict here,'' Supervisor Mike Kerns said. ``Our goal is to protect open space and agricultural lands. Then there are those like David Grabill who want more affordable housing. That kind of flies in the face of what we're doing. He's made it a little more difficult for us.''

Santa Rosa critics said Grabill's efforts make life easier for developers and run roughshod over the public.

Grabill's suit, settled this year, claimed Santa Rosa was overdeveloped with pricey homes and that the city's newly adopted general plan housing element failed to specify where 1,800 units of low-income housing could be built over the next few years.

City planners and the housing group negotiated changes in planning documents to streamline approval of affordable housing projects.

Under that plan, projects wouldn't have to be reviewed by the Planning Commission as is now required. Nor would the projects have to be reviewed by the City Council unless an appeal is filed.

Critics argued that the plan limited chances for opponents to persuade decision-makers that projects should be changed or rejected.

But Grabill said opponents have plenty of chances for appeal at various levels.

And without a steady increase in affordable homes, Sonoma County could be headed for a crisis.

Forecasters say Santa Rosa alone will get 50,000 new light-industry and service-sector jobs by 2025. Something must be done to provide housing for workers, he said.

``Where are these people going to live?'' Grabill asked. ``There isn't the political will to say `no new jobs' or to cut back on expansion. So you have to provide housing for people.''

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 521-5250 or ppayne@pressdemocrat.com.

PHOTO: 3 by JOHN BURGESS / The Press Democrat
1. David Grabill speaks during a Santa Rosa City Council meeting.
2. Lawyer David Grabill, right, confers with Stephen Harper, left, chairman of the Housing Advocacy Group, at the back of the Santa Rosa City Council chambers, on their strategy to promote low-income units in a proposed high-end Fountaingrove apartment complex.
3. Patty Davenport shows her frustration over dealing with Social Security issues while lawyer David Grabill searches his backpack for phone numbers to resolve her problems during a pro bono morning recently at the Homeless Services Center in Santa Rosa.
4. The Oak Grove Apartments in Healdsburg are among the affordable housing developments that David Grabill had a hand in influencing.

LOW-COST HOMES

Major affordable housing groups:

Housing Advocacy Group: Formed in 1998 by Arnold Sternberg, retired executive director of Burbank Housing Development Corp., to push for lower-income housing. The chairman is Stephen Harper, a retired stockbroker and president of the Interfaith Shelter Network in Santa Rosa. David Grabill is the group's General Counsel

Sonoma County Housing Coalition: Formed by the business community about three years ago. Broad representation from labor, environmental groups and housing advocates who endorse housing projects that address low-income needs. Formerly headed by Supervisor Valerie Brown. Now run by Jim Leddy.

Burbank Housing Development Corp.: Created in the early 1980s by Sonoma County to qualify for federal housing money. Mission is to build housing for lower-income families on a nonprofit basis. Executive Director is John Lowry.

HOUSING POLICIES UNDER PRESSURE

Legal actions by attorney David Grabill, representing Housing Advocacy Group:

Sebastopol: Threatened to sue the city in April over the City Council's announced intention of rejecting a 145-unit housing project that included dozens of affordable homes and apartments. The council reversed course and allowed the planning to move forward.

Santa Rosa: Sued and settled in 2002. Said the city did not identify enough sites to meet affordable housing obligations. City agreed to identify sites and agreed to programs involving the construction of homeless shelters and farmworker housing. Legal fees: $28,000.

Rohnert Park: Sued and settled in 2001. Said the city was not zoning for affordable housing. City agreed to designate areas in future annexations for affordable housing. Legal fees: $23,000.

Sonoma County: Sued in 1998 over lack of high-density housing in rural areas. Judge ruled in 2001 that county housing policy did not comply with state law. Led to county ordinance encouraging affordable housing. Also, homeless shelter. Legal fees: About $200,000.

Healdsburg: Sued in 1991, along with California Rural Legal Assistance, over policies limiting apartments and affordable housing. Settled in 1993. City made zoning changes that opened up sites for low-cost homes. Legal fees: $75,000.