16 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JANUARY 15-21, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com A NEW ENERGY IS COALESCING AROUND CONSTRUCTING HOUSING THAT MORE PEOPLE CAN ACTUALLY AFFORD. By Pam Marino Mission A When it comes to constructing new housing in Monterey County, the answer for decades has been “no”—not always directly but for reasons like not enough money, not enough water, too many state regulations, high developer fees and onerous permitting processes. The result is that not enough units have been built over the years to meet demand and prices have risen ever higher, leaving too many people struggling under the weight of expensive housing. Born out of what has become an increasingly frustrating situation is a growing group of people who no longer want to take no for an answer. Instead of focusing on what can’t be done, they’re asking what can be done to build market-rate affordable housing, for those renters and potential buyers in what’s called the “missing middle,” people who make too much for government-subsidized housing but not enough for market-rate. That missing middle became the focus of separate housing forums held in November in Salinas and on the Monterey Peninsula, where hopeful stakeholders—including developers, business leaders, elected officials, planners and representatives from nonprofit agencies—focused on how to move forward on building infill, workforce and affordable-by-design housing. Advocates say the conditions to build such housing have improved in recent years, thanks to new state laws allowing for more subdivisions of lots, lessening of parking requirements, streamlining approvals, supporting construction of more accessory dwelling units and more. They believe they can leverage those laws into action. In one example of efforts to bring more housing to the county, nonprofit Regenerative California is betting on tapping into an estimated $159 billion in local private wealth that organizers say could be unlocked to build 3,000 homes in Monterey County within five years, including employer-sponsored and infill housing. (That number is still far less than the state’s estimate of more than 20,000 units needed at all income levels.) Whether they can reach that goal is yet to be seen, but they’re going to try. Starting this month dozens of volunteers are launching a 90-day sprint to gather the information and resources needed for the effort—the pilot project is backed in part by a $100,000 grant from Monterey County Peter Kasavan, an architect who founded Salinas Planning and Research Corporation, reviews plans for a project. DANIEL DREIFUSS
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