The purpose of the Redevelopment Agency is to revitalize physically and economically disadvantaged areas of the City, provide affordable housing and home ownership opportunities, build needed capital improvements and implement other programs and activities consistent with federal, state and local laws. Redevelopment activities have created thousands of new jobs; provided millions of dollars to construct and rehabilitate vital civic improvements.

Redevelopment activities are good for cities and counties in California because they are among the most important financing tools available to local governments. It is not surprising that there are hundreds of redevelopment project areas in California. Redevelopment can provide extra funding for public improvements, economically critical private sector projects and affordable housing that otherwise would not be available. These are the kinds of projects that make the difference between a city’s decline and its continued economic viability.

As redevelopment programs improve areas in decline, this, in turn, benefits all of Santa Rosa. For example, the Grace Brothers site was once a large brewery that over time, became an abandoned eyesore in the center of town; because of redevelopment, it is now the modern Vineyard Creek Hotel and Conference Center. Other Redevelopment programs aim to improve physical and economic conditions and reduce crime in neighborhoods, through the construction of police substations and graffiti removal programs. Also, low interest Rehabilitation Loans are available citywide to qualifying residential property owners for rehabilitation projects.

Redevelopment helps increase property values by giving the City tools to reverse trends of physical and economic decline that are evident in certain areas. Redevelopment may serve as a catalyst to stimulate needed private investment in certain targeted locations, in these cases, the Agency may offer various forms of Private Development Assistance. Without redevelopment, most areas in decline would continue to do so at an increasingly rapid pace.

The good news for property owners is that they get the benefits of redevelopment without any new taxes or modification to the way that property taxes are assessed. The Redevelopment Agency has no taxing authority. Agency activities are funded by a portion of the increment of new property tax revenues that already accrue to the district from year to year.