| San Mateo County Eviction Moratorium Update & Call to Action! |
| New research from our neighboring jurisdiction, Santa Clara County, shows that our whole region is an "eviction time bomb." People of color, households headed by women, and families with young children are at the greatest risk. On Tuesday, July 21, our San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to extend our eviction moratorium until August 31, 2020. We acknowledge that our current unemployment crisis and pandemic are complex and unprecedented problems. This is why we need a comprehensive, multi-prong approach to prevent mass evictions. The People’s Alliance of San Mateo County has prepared a petition to be presented to the Board of Supervisors. This petition sets forth three proposals to prevent the human injury associated with evictions. Will you sign the petition to ask for a comprehensive plan to prevent evictions? |
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| | Housing Leadership Day 2020 Rising Together |
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| Friday, October 30 -- Mark your calendars for our annual housing conference, Housing Leadership Day! Our 2020 theme Rising Together is a reminder of the collective power we have to reimagine and recreate the racially just and socially-equitable communities we deserve. We look forward to connecting and learning with you all! For any questions regarding this conference, please contact Kara at krivera@hlcsmc.org. |
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| Sponsor HLD! We would love to partner with you and bring our county a phenomenal and productive event! Click below to learn more about sponsor levels and benefits. Sponsorship Interest Form |
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2020 Housing Leadership Award San Mateo County is lucky to have many housing heroes -- from youth leaders to city staff -- who advance housing justice efforts in every part of their lives. Nominate someone for our 2020 Housing Leadership Award! DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 9 |
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| | | Update: Affordable homes vote at San Mateo Planning Commission! |
| On Tuesday, July 14, the San Mateo Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend approval of 225 affordable homes to City Council. This 100% affordable housing proposal will support 225 families with the greatest housing needs in San Mateo. Thank you to everyone who supported these homes by emailing, speaking at council or having a conversation with your community, throughout its lifetime. |
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The final step for these 100% affordable homes will be at the San Mateo City Council on Monday, August 17th! If you’d like to get a head start, here are the actions you can take for City Council: |
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| - Participate live during the meeting! Because of shelter-at-home orders, the Planning Commission will only be receiving digital feedback. For live public comments, or those after 4:00pm on 8/17/20, please see this link.
- Find the agenda for the meeting you wish to attend below, and click the link at the top of the agenda to be added to the meeting. All attendees are muted by default. Wait for the item # and title, to be presented by staff and then opened for public comment. To speak press the “Raise Your Hand” icon and you will be called on at the appropriate time.
- Write an email to the San Mateo Planning Commission: citycouncil@cityofsanmateo.org.
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- Call and leave a message (650) 522-7049
- Can’t make it to the live meeting but still want the City Council to hear your (literal) voice of support? Your voicemail will be sent to City Council!
- Connect with a community group or let your social circle know about an opportunity to support affordable homes! If you have any questions or want to share information with your friends and neighbors please let us know!
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| San Mateo is on its way to creating quality affordable homes. We’re in the homestretch! Be part of building our community. |
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| Update: Supervisors approve crucial step for affordable housing in Moss Beach |
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| Great News! The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to approve the rezoning changes to the Local Coastal Program (LCP) for MidPen's Cypress Point proposal in Moss Beach. This approval is major progress for 71 affordable homes in Moss Beach and for the Midcoast community. We want to thank everyone who wrote emails of support, showed up to the Board of Supervisors Meeting on July 21st and everyone who has supported these potential homes along its lifetime. |
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The next steps for these affordable homes will be the California Coastal Commission for environmental review and approval. We can’t wait to let you know of the upcoming dates. We will let you know of opportunities to support these homes, as soon as we have more information on how to participate. If you have any questions or would like to learn more please let Alex at amelendrez@hlcsmc.org know. |
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| If we continue to support these homes and share our housing stories to local leaders, we can create lasting change for our community members, thereby ensuring everyone who works, lives and grows up on the coast can have a suitable place to call home. If you have any questions, a story you would like to share, or just want to chit chat please contact: amelendrez@hlcsmc.org |
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| | Contact your Assemblymember Today! |
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| SB 899, which is headed to the Assembly, gives Californians an incredible opportunity to reimagine over 38,800 acres of underused church-owned land into new, affordable homes. Hundreds of faith leaders in California have already shown support for this bill, affirming the sentiment that "we live out our faith by providing food and shelter to those in need." Signatories include some of our own San Mateo County faith leaders: Pastor Paul Bains, Rev. Katie Goetz, Pastor Holly Hillman, Pres. John Tastor, Sister Joan Marie O’Donnell and Rabbi Corey Helfand.
Now is the moment for us to come together to show our lawmakers how important housing is to our region. Let's protect our state's future, and help the Bay Area create more inclusive communities. Get in contact with your Assemblymember today! |
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| | Help Us Overturn Exclusionary Zoning! |
| San Mateo is currently laboring under a thirty-year-old ballot box planning policy that is about to expire. Measure P has not been updated to account for emerging challenges of climate change, a housing crisis that is one of the worst in the nation or the sudden stress that online commerce has placed on brick and mortar retail districts. Rather than update the measure to address San Mateo’s current challenges or to reflect public input, the measure’s most ardent supporters gathered signatures to put the 30 year old policy back on the ballot for November, before the general plan process could entertain a broader public dialog about the future of San Mateo. Measure P imposes a single one size fits all height and density rule of 55 feet and 50 dwelling units per acre on every zone in town, including not just the residential neighborhoods, but the three transit oriented districts of the downtown and other commercial districts. It also casts in stone an out of date inclusionary policy and has frustrated efforts of affordable housing advocates to get more homes at deeper levels of affordability. The inclusionary policy rigidly specifies 10% at 80% of AMI in every building with no accommodations for deeper levels of affordability or flexibility to support collaboration between for profit and non profit developers. The height limit seriously impacts the efficiency of wood frame over concrete podium construction used for mixed use buildings. This makes midrise buildings in transit oriented walkable mixed use commercial centers more expensive. Measure P then superimposes an artificially low unit count on these expensive buildings that effectively pushes developers to design larger and more expensive individual homes. The result makes new homes in the most promising redevelopment areas difficult to build and unaffordable. It undermines the environmental goal of focusing more housing in transit oriented and walkable mixed use neighborhood centers, and makes San Mateo a more exclusive place. Pure affordable housing projects are exempt from the height and density limits, but that can’t make up for the destructive impact of Measure P in suppressing the larger privately financed housing production market and for skewing production that does occur towards the more exclusive end of the spectrum. This moment of racial reckoning is an opportune time for affordable housing and environmental groups to join hands in confronting exclusionary zoning and promoting a more sustainable path for economic development. The City of San Mateo offers an opportunity to showcase this strategy. We are working to recruit a broad spectrum of affordable housing voices and would love to add yours to the list. |
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| | | A reminder that the Census does NOT ask about citizenship/immigration status, and cannot share individual census responses with anyone else, including other government agencies such as ICE. Everyone counts in the census, so make sure to fill yours out before it's too late! Your participation in this effort is vital so that our communities are accurately represented and receive the resources they deserve. |
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| | Endorsed: Prop 15 (Schools and Communities First) |
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| We are proud to endorse Prop 15: Schools & Communities First on the November 3rd ballot in California! Prop 15 will reclaim $12 billion every year for schools and local governments to resource critical services like public health, essential workers, affordable housing, infrastructure and more. Prop 15 ensures corporations pay their fair share towards California's recovery, and levels the playing field for all businesses. It also supports our small businesses by providing a tax break by eliminating up to $500k in the personal property tax. We endorse Prop 15 because the need to fund affordable housing, provide greater resources to low income communities, and improve educational outcomes is critical to ensuring future generations have a quality, affordable place to call home. We encourage our allies to join us, and a growing list of endorsers and grassroots leaders in supporting Prop 15. For more information please check out: https://www.yes15.org/ |
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| | | Waiting List for Montara (Bay Meadows) Opened until July 31! Montara, located at 2775 S. Delaware Street, San Mateo, CA is a new housing development currently under construction for low-income households. Construction is expected to complete in late summer 2020. The Housing Authority of the County of San Mateo is accepting online applications for the project’s 34 Section 8 Project-Based Voucher (PBV) units between 07/01/2020 and 07/31/2020. The PBV units consist of 13 one-bedroom units, 11 two-bedroom units, and 10 three-bedroom units. Interested parties may register online at www.mysmchousing.com during the opening period. *Applicants who already have an account with www.mysmchousing.com may use the same account and log in information to apply online for the Montara waiting list. |
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| Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County
2905 S El Camino Real | San Mateo, California 94403
650-242-1764 | info@hlcsmc.org |
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