Housing

The Martinez Fair and Responsible Growth Coalition, a group of local residents, filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the City, Resources for Community Development (RCD) and the Earl D. and Joanne Dunivan Trust over the proposed “Berrellesa Palms” housing development.more...

Sept. 10 — The Martinez City Council denied appeals on Wednesday night regarding a Planning Commission approval of a low-income senior housing development known as Berrellesa Palms, prompting one of the appelants to seek recourse in the judicial system.more...

Not since the height of the Great Depression, when California’s Board of Equalization (BOE) began keeping records in 1933, has the value of property statewide dropped so precipitously.

Betty Yee, the BOE’s chairwoman, announced this week the agency saw the first year-to-year decline in at least seven decades, with the sum value of state and county assessed property decreased by a whopping $107.2 billion from last year.more...

Four hours and a vote of six to one.

That’s what it took for the Planning Commission to approve a proposed senior housing development on Tuesday that has divided neighbors and consumed a great deal of time, energy and money on behalf of both City staff and the development team at Resources for Community Development (RCD).more...

A curious group congregates daily on the steps of the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse on Court Street in Martinez. They are not waiting for a trial. They’re participating in an auction, bidding on foreclosed homes, taking advantage of the real estate crisis in unprecedented ways. 

444 out of 478 properties currently for sale in Martinez are victims of foreclosure, according to AOL’s Real Estate Web portal.

Last October, before he became President, Barack Obama gave a speech in Toledo, Ohio calling for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures. more...

The County Board of Supervisors will vote on Tuesday whether to approve an additional $1,350,000 in HOME Investment Partnerships Program funds to RCD, the non-profit housing developer of a proposed 49-unit senior housing project in Martinez.more...

At today’s Design Review Committee meeting, a new single-family home to be built on a vacant lot in the Muir Oaks neighborhood will get a second vetting by the four-member advisory team.

If Committee members approve the redesign, the applicant will move on to the City’s Building Department for the necessary permits.more...

During the public comment period of last week’s City Council meeting, a homeless man named Joseph Valencia appealed for a new shelter in Martinez. “We’ve got homeless people out there, like myself, who can’t find shelter and we are stuck out in the cold, literally,” said Valencia. “I’ve tried to locate a homeless shelter and it’s true that there is a shelter in Concord – they’re full. Shelters in Richmond – they’re full. We need a shelter or location in Martinez where a homeless person can get warm, get a place to sleep where they don’t have to worry about being murdered, raped, robbed.more...