Latest news with #OttoLee
San Francisco Chronicle
21-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Santa Clara County approves $28.7 million for affordable housing projects
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved nearly $29 million in funding for affordable housing projects in San Jose on Tuesday. The $28.7 million authorized by the board will add 612 units, Santa Clara County said in a press release, and includes financing for two projects to be built on land near public transportation stations. The funding will be used for four multifamily affordable housing projects and one affordable homeownership development, the county said. The projects will include 238 units for low-income tenants, 191 units for people considered to have 'very low incomes' and 120 units of supportive housing for previously unhoused seniors and families, the county said. 'As housing costs continue to rise in San Jose and throughout our region, the need for more affordable housing becomes clearer and more urgent by the day,' Santa Clara County Executive James R. Williams said in a statement. 'Unless cities significantly expand our housing supply, we will never be able to combat housing insecurity and unaffordability in our community.' Two of the affordable housing projects will be built in partnership between Santa Clara County and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which owns the land where the apartments will be located. The projects will be 'transit-oriented affordable housing' built next to the Berryessa and Capitol VTA stations, the county said. The affordable homeownership development that received funding from the county will include 36 units for sale at 'affordable' prices. The development, called East Santa Clara Townhomes, is 'important for the diversity of the local housing ecosystem,' the county said. The county said that Tuesday's authorization brings total funding for the five projects from the board of supervisors up to $48.2 million, with more than $38 million of that coming from funds provided by Measure A, a 2016 affordable housing bond measure. The county credited Measure A with funding more than 5,800 units of affordable housing from the more than $890 million that has been committed from the bond so far. More than 2,700 Measure A-funded units house nearly 6,300 people currently, the county said, and more than 1,100 units are currently under construction. 'Thanks to Measure A, the county has been making and continues to make a difference to address the region's need for housing,' Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee said in a statement. 'More than 6,000 people who were unhoused or at risk of homelessness now have the safety and dignity of a home.' The county cited high costs of housing in the area — where the median home price is just over $2 million — and lack of affordable housing, along with rising rents and 'structural inequities,' as contributors to 'housing insecurity and homelessness in the county.'
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Santa Clara County launches outreach effort for immigrant community
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Santa Clara County on Monday announced a major campaign to try to connect immigrants with services in the face of ongoing threats from the Trump administration. Immigrants comprise more than 40% of the population in Santa Clara County and more than 100 languages are spoken. Two different Spanish-language television commercials are one way the county is working to get the message out. The outreach campaign also features signage on VTA buses and a new website called "One County, One Future" with information in six languages. County leaders said there is still fear, and confusion, over Trump administration policies. "I want to reassure you that in Santa Clara County we have your back, your rights, your fundamental rights, your constitutional rights will never be compromised," said Otto Lee, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. The county already invests nearly $6 million each into immigration-related programs and services. The county added another $5 million this year to help defend the immigrant community. What they're saying "Santa Clara County will not abandon you. We will not waiver in our commitment to the values and priorities by which this county has conducted its policies and funding decisions for decades," said Supervisor Susan Ellenberg. Mexico's Consul General, Alejandra Bologna, said her office values its partnership with Santa Clara County. "We have a wonderful relationship. We recognize the commitment that they have with the immigrant community," Bologna said. Consul General Bologna said her office does not know if Trump administration policies are encouraging more undocumented immigrants from Mexico to return home because the consulate serves Mexican nationals for any reason, regardless of U.S. immigration status. She said support from Santa Clara County is a huge benefit. "To protect the rights of our nationals and do give the information that is necessary for them to know to keep them informed but not be afraid," Bologna said.
CBS News
30-01-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Santa Clara County files suit over Trump executive order on birthright citizenship
Officials in Santa Clara County on Thursday said they have filed a federal lawsuit over President Trump's executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship. The lawsuit, which names Mr. Trump and other top federal officials, argues that the order violates the U.S. Constitution. "Executive orders that conflict with the Constitution have no legal standing and only create unnecessary confusion and hardship for immigrant families, and all Americans," said Otto Lee, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement. Trump's order, signed hours after he was inaugurated on Jan. 20, seeks to deny birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally or on temporary visas. The U.S. government has long interpreted the Constitution to mean that those born on American soil are citizens at birth, regardless of their parent's immigration status. Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." California played a role in setting the precedent in the late 19th century. Wong Kim Ark, a Chinese-American man born in San Francisco, was denied entry back into the U.S. under the Chinese Exclusion Act. A landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1898 affirmed his right to citizenship under the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment. "No president has the power to enact, amend, or repeal statutes, much less the Constitution itself," County Counsel Tony LoPresti said. "This order illegally instructs federal agencies and officials to refuse to follow and execute a wide range of laws that rest on the bedrock constitutional foundation of birthright citizenship." Officials said if the order were implemented, thousands of county residents would be impacted, including refugees and asylees awaiting for green cards, along with professionals working in the county under H-1B visas, students residing in the county on visas and those who are in the U.S. illegally. According to U.S. Census data, more than 40% of county residents were born outside the United States, an estimated 773,000 people. More than 60% of children in the county have at least one foreign-born parent, the highest percentage in the California and one of the highest percentages of any county in the U.S. The executive order has already been challenged in court. A federal judge in Seattle has placed a 14-day restraining order on Jan. 23. Meanwhile, that includes attorneys general in 17 other states and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu.
