The statewide InterRegional Partnership (IRP) planning grants were concluded on June 30, 2004. The Wine Country IRP has released its final report on jobs-housing imbalances in Mendocino, Lake, Napa, and Sonoma Counties. The report presents the case that, even though a jobs-housing imbalance crisis may not yet be apparent in the Wine Country, the symptoms have taken hold and may overwhelm us if nothing is done.

This three-year project conducted new, in-depth research on where the jobs and housing are located in the four-county area and projected costs through the year 2020. Northern Mendocino County and Lake County are among the few affordable areas to live in the entire region, providing much of the housing for workers who commute to jobs in Santa Rosa and Petaluma metro areas, Napa County, and Ukiah. Safety and maintenance issues have emerged as a result of increased traffic on our rural roads.

The project also involved an extensive stakeholder outreach effort. A diverse group of community leaders were interviewed, and a Leadership Team was formed of both public and private sectors representatives to get feedback and direction for the project. A conference was held for all stakeholders interested in the problems of jobs-housing separation.

The Wine Country IRP Leadership Team’s recommended actions for implementation have already started. These initial steps will focus on workforce housing through the Workforce Investment Boards, coordination of tourism among the four counties, coordination among the Regional Transportation Planning Agencies, and information sharing on MCOG’s website.

The program is unfunded at present; however we anticipate that State funds might eventually become available again to pick up where the program left off. Until then, we hope that others in the community will step up and make use of the information that was compiled under this IRP program.

Currently MCOG is working with the California Department of Transportation to initiate a followup project to gather more data on origins and destinations of travelers on Wine Country roads.

The IRP grants were made by the California Housing & Community Development Department. The Wine Country partnership consisted of Mendocino Council of Governments as lead agency, Lake County/City Area Planning Council, and the Association of Bay Area Governments. MCOG’s Deputy for Long Range Planning, Laurence Wright, P.E., now retired, acted as Program Manager.

The report is now available for viewing or downloading at this website and also by request on compact disc, which includes the full set of appendices. Contact Janet Orth at orthj@dow-associates.com to order a copy.