David vs. Goliath: California community fights billionaire’s attack on affordable housing

EUREKA, Calif.—A reactionary billionaire is facing broad opposition to his effort to derail a city plan to build affordable housing in Eureka’s picturesque Old Town.

Rob Arkley, a real estate magnate in the town of Eureka – the largest city in Humboldt County on the far north coast of the state with a population of 27,000 – has a long history of promoting reactionary causes.

A number of years ago, Arkley promoted a story that other locales in California were sending people experiencing homelessness to Humboldt County, which supposedly had promised to give out money to these new residents. Needless to say, the tale had no basis in reality.

Arkley’s latest brainchild against poor and working-class people is Measure F on the Nov. 5 Eureka ballot, an initiative measure deceitfully labeled “Housing for All.”

Measure F takes aim at the city’s plan for building new affordable housing, a plan required by state law for which the city has already secured $45 million in grants. The plan aims to build the housing in Eureka’s Old Town, a prime retail area, and includes a transit hub and a number of other important amenities.

Eureka’s downtown has a plethora of parking lots, which, the city discovered in a study, far exceed the parking needed even at the busiest times. So, the city selected parts of two little used parking lots as the site for new affordable housing. The idea was to provide not only housing for Eureka residents but also customers for downtown retail – a win-win situation. Many downtown businesspeople, therefore, welcomed the plan.

A few, however, despite the study’s findings, complained about the loss of parking spots. Arkley took advantage of their dissatisfaction to craft Measure F, which would block the building of housing in Old Town by requiring that any housing built there would have to have an onsite parking space for each resident – a requirement that would make building housing financially and logistically impossible.

In a false nod to the need for affordable housing, Measure F would require the rezoning of an abandoned middle school site for high density housing. The city, however, does not own that site and so can hardly build housing on it.

In other words, Measure F aims to block affordable housing – all under the label “Housing for All.”

Arkley has spent $1.5 million to promote Measure F with a series of flyers sent to every voter in Eureka, billboards and lawn signs, and even television spots. But his campaign has roused broad opposition that has peppered the city with lawn signs of its own and built a broad coalition that includes the Humboldt and Del Norte Central Labor Council, AFSCME Local 1684, United Food and Commercial Workers, the Humboldt County Democratic Committee, and the Humboldt County Progressive Democrats.

This is a David-and-Goliath struggle, with the opposition having to counter Arkley’s millions with a campaign budget of only $10,000. But it’s relying on an army of activists canvassing neighborhoods, planting lawn signs, and tabling at farmers’ markets and other community events.

No on F campaign spokesperson Solomon Everta, the owner of Eureka Books in Old Town, describes the campaign’s priorities: “It’s important to talk to neighbors, that’s what will make the difference.”