What's at stake?
A Clovis City Council settlement agreement should make it easier for the city to see increased affordable and low-income housing.
A years-long legal battle over affordable housing policies in Clovis and a local homeless advocate ended this week after both sides struck a deal.
The Clovis City Council unanimously approved a settlement agreement with housing advocate Desiree Martinez on Tuesday. The legal battle, which started in 2019, centered around housing and zoning laws that a court ruled were discriminatory toward low-income residents and people of color.
The settlement is expected to be approved by a Fresno County Superior Court judge in the coming weeks.
Martinez is the founder of We Are Not Invisible, a non-profit organization providing support services for the unhoused. She expressed relief that the legal battle was over and said this could be the start of increased housing access to some of the city’s lower-income resident.
“I am excited to bring a lot more opportunities to low-income individuals, especially with people that might want to live in Clovis that are of color…and for minorities,” Martinez said. “That’s what I fight harder for, to make sure that people on minimum wage, and people on fixed income, have a right to live where they want to live.”
The settlement includes multiple ways to increase the city’s affordable housing stock, including rezoning land for almost 1,300 new affordable housing units, introducing a new local Housing Trust Fund dedicated to affordable housing — which will have at least $1.8 million in general fund money, an annual contribution of $100,000 and an initial contribution of $1 million — and the dedication of city-owned land toward the Trust Fund.
Clovis Mayor Lynne Ashbeck did not immediately respond for comment on this story. In a prepared statement on Tuesday, Ashbeck said city leaders “look forward” to implementing the agreement.
Patience Milrod, one of Martinez’s attorneys, said the deal could set a precedent for other areas in the central San Joaquin Valley.
“We’re beyond proud of this agreement—it’s revolutionary. And it’s historic,” Milrod said over email. “This settlement sets a new bar for local governments in the region who claim to be serious about housing families at all income levels.
“We will continue to work with Clovis’ lawyers and staff to make sure these programs become reality,” Milrod added.
As part of the deal, Martinez and her attorneys will periodically receive updates from the city regarding implementation progress.
Martinez recalls growing up in poverty and even spending some time being homeless herself. On why she started pursuing litigation against the city to begin with, she said she looks back on those times as a strong influence for her advocacy.
“It’s just the warrior in me. I’m a survivor,” Martinez said. “ I think that once you have experienced the trauma that you endure while being unhoused on the streets of Fresno… you’ll never forget that.”
Martinez said she’s felt pressured by some government officials to step away from advocacy, but she said it wouldn’t be right to stop now.
“I keep doing this because I don’t have anything to lose. I’ve had everything in my life taken from me,” Martinez said. “ They can’t scare me to stop advocating. Many times I felt that they’ve tried.”
How did we get here?
Clovis has more zoning for single-family units than it does for high-density affordable housing — particularly on the city’s north side.
In 2019, Martinez sued Clovis, accusing the city of violating local housing laws and maintaining discriminatory zoning guidelines.
In 2021, Fresno Superior Court Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan ruled that the city’s existing housing plan was not good enough and ordered officials to plan and zone for an additional 4,425 low-income homes in 120 days.
The court also validated Martinez’s discrimination claims, saying in the published opinion that Clovis “violated its duty to ‘administer its programs and activities relating to housing and community development in a manner to affirmatively further fair housing…’”
Clovis took a second loss in the case last year when an appeals court upheld Kapetan’s findings and rejected the city’s claims. Clovis leaders then tried to get the state Supreme Court to hear the case, but the high state court declined, further cementing the Fresno court ruling.
For more on this story, check out the detailed meeting notes from the Fresno Documenters here.
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