| | New Initiative: Bay Area Begins with Home! |
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| When it comes to building a future of housing justice in the Bay Area, change is possible. Together, we can create a Bay Area where everyone has a safe place to call home no matter what we look like, how much we earn, or where we lay our heads down to sleep. Begins with Home is a movement to inspire our communities to embrace housing justice and build support for solutions to make the Bay more livable and affordable for all of us. A thriving Bay Area begins with home. |
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| What can you do to get involved and show your support? - Post about it using #BeginswithHome and any of these graphics.
- Follow and engage with the campaign on social media! @BeginswithHome on TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook.
- Share the Begins with Home launch video on your social media channels.
Together, we can build a Bay Area where we value everyone’s humanity, where we treat everyone with justice and dignity, and where everyone belongs. |
| | |  | We're thrilled to share the fantastic news that YIGBY (SB4), a vital piece of legislation, has been signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom! This momentous achievement marks a significant step forward in promoting affordable housing! Celebrate with us by watching our video highlighting the passage of SB4 and extending our heartfelt thanks to all those who made it possible. [Watch Now] |
| | |  | Thank you so much to everyone who participated in this year's Housing Leadership Day! It was an incredible day where we truly "nailed" meeting the moment! This year, we were honored to welcome over 200 attendees, both in person and virtually. Additionally, our event featured eight captivating workshops that delved into essential topics such as BAHFA, Social Housing, and Farmworker Housing, to name just a few. We would also like to thank our remarkable keynote speaker, Tomiquia Moss of All Home. Her inspiring speech left a profound impression on everyone present. Adding to the joy of the event, we honored five exceptional individuals with the prestigious Housing Leader Award. Peggy Jensen, Betsy Zobell, Maurice Goodman, Angalina Cahalan, and Karen Camacho were recognized for their remarkable contributions to Affordable Housing. Last but not least, Lyrical Opposition brought the house down with their electrifying performance, leaving us all feeling truly inspired by their music. We're grateful to have had you as a part of this unforgettable event! |
| |  | Explore highlights from the conference! Don't forget to share these memorable moments on your social media and tag HLC. |
| | Thank you to our sponsors! |
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| | San Mateo General Plan More density = more affordability At a city council meeting on October 30, the San Mateo City Council revisited the newest draft of the community’s General Plan, a rezoning package covering much of the El Camino and Highway 101 corridors. Leading up to the meeting, San Mateo’s city council commissioned a survey of likely voters asking how tall the city should allow new housing to be near transit corridors and downtown. 72% of the respondents indicated support for 8 stories, 59% supported buildings up to 10 stories high. These survey results build upon findings by an earlier survey the city ran of all residents (as opposed to likely voters, who tend to be older, wealthier, and whiter than the population as a whole), which found 64% of all residents within the community support development downtown and near transit of up to 12 stories (see survey pdf page 16). Despite strong community support for denser homes, the city council debated whether to allow a maximum height of 8 or 10 stories in a handful of areas, an increase that would affect approximately 260 parcels out of more than 10,000 sites citywide. HLC maintains San Mateo should allow 10 stories to provide maximum flexibility for new affordable housing development. If you would like more information or to get involved in the effort contact Jeremy Levine jlevine@hlcsmc.org. |
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| | ✧Bay Area Housing Finance Authority - Regional Bond✧ Support Funding for Affordable Homes! |
| This is your opportunity to join an extremely broad, region-wide coalition to work in the community to ensure the success of the $10 billion nine-county Bay Area affordable housing bond! Getting affordable housing built isn’t a mystery, we know what we need to do to solve our housing shortage - which is funding, land, and the political will to get it done. The BAHFA bond provides our cities and counties a viable funding solution to help ensure that anyone who either lives, works, or who grew up here in the Bay Area, can! So many of our cities and counties in the Bay Area address their housing needs alone; usually with limited to no staff and financial resources. BAHFA brings our communities together by taking a more regional approach through coordination - providing access to funds and resources to help create a level playing field among all 101 cities and 9 counties in the Bay Area. For San Mateo County, the Bay Area affordable housing bond will generate $1 billion for the protection of at-risk renters and the creation and preservation of affordable homes, but it won’t happen without your support. Please pass this along AND sign on to support Affordable Housing funding HERE! Special thank you to all of the San Mateo leaders that have already supported! Noelia Corzo, San Mateo County Supervisor John Irish Goodwin, Vice Mayor, City of Colma Ruben Abrica, Councilmember, City of East Palo Alto Lisa Gauthier, Mayor, City of East Palo Alto Antonio Lopez, Vice Mayor, City of East Palo Alto Carlos Romero, Councilmember, City of East Palo Alto Sam Hindi, Councilmember, City of Foster City Stacy Jimenez, Councilmember, City of Foster City Deborah Penrose, Mayor, City of Half Moon Bay Harvey Rarback, Councilmember, City of Half Moon Bay Debbie Ruddock, Councilmember, City of Half Moon Bay Sophie Cole, Vice Mayor, City of Hillsborough Leslie Marden Ragsdale, Councilmember, City of Hillsborough Jen Wolosin, Mayor, City of Menlo Park Christine Boles, Councilmember, City of Pacifica Jeff Aalfs, Mayor, City of Portola Valley Adam Loraine, Councilmember, City of San Mateo Amourence Lee, Mayor, City of San Mateo Rich Hedges, Councilmember, City of San Mateo Andy Lie, Trustee, Jefferson Union High School District If you have any questions, please direct them to kchan@hlcsmc.org! |
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| Legalize Affordable Homes! |
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| As many of you may already know, city-owned land (especially in downtown Menlo Park) is one of the best available resources a jurisdiction has when it comes to building affordable homes. However, the law in Menlo Park doesn’t allow for this outside of Bellhaven - where viable sites are currently located. YOU can help legalize affordable homes in downtown Menlo Park by joining your fellow community members to legalize affordable homes!
Please contact kchan@hlcsmc.org if you’d like to help! |
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| |  Housing Elements Review |
| In the past month, several cities have submitted new draft housing elements to HCD! Some of these cities include: - Most notably, South San Francisco submitted a new housing element draft on October 23 that we think is likely to receive certification! The city’s housing element rezones for more than 2x its RHNA allocation, dedicates public land to affordable homes, commits to anti-displacement policies, and more.
- Belmont submitted a draft October 19, which includes important new policies but may also have unresolved issues. Most significantly, Belmont’s draft does not account for the city’s pending annexation of the unincorporated Harbor Industrial Area, which includes a trailer park that Belmont currently plans to rezone for biotech. HLC shared a comment letter with Belmont advising them how to best plan for new homes.
HLC has also written recent letters to Menlo Park (likely close to certification) and San Mateo (not close). San Mateo’s housing element has recently added additional policies that address important issues related to parking requirements, entitlement timelines, and other issues. Nonetheless, the housing element still does not adequately address important constraints to development, instead leaning on technical analysis that simply cannot compensate for the limited scope of policy changes.
Menlo Park, on the other hand, has distinguished itself with a number of strong policies to dedicate city-owned parking lots to affordable housing, strengthen tenant protections, rezone for denser homes, and more. The city released a new draft housing element on Friday, Oct. 27 with important new policies: Most significantly, Menlo Park has added a midcycle review policy by which the city will rezone further and change other policies in 2027 if it is not on track to meet its lower-income housing goals by then. (For the nerds, see pp. 326-327 of Menlo Park’s newest draft housing element, described in Program H1.H.) |
| | | ✧Kiku Crossing - Waitlist✧ |
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| | As many of you may already know, Kiku Crossing includes 225 affordable homes in downtown San Mateo - 22 homes are for formerly unhoused community members, 8 will be set aside for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and 57 homes will be open to public employees. TWO SEPARATE waitlists are now open: - The Housing Authority of the County of San Mateo has 80 homes available for members of the community who qualify for the Section 8 Project-Based Voucher Program; with 17 set-aside homes for applicants that qualify for supportive services preferences. Click here for more information on the homes and how to apply! The waitlist is open from November 1 through November 30, 2023. If you have any questions, please email csteam@smchousing.org or call 650-802-3352.
- MidPen Housing has its own, separate waitlist for community members who may not qualify for the homes above. Click here for more information on the homes and how to apply! The waitlist is open from October 30 through November 17, 2023 If you have any questions, please email kikucrossing@midpen-housing.org.
Please keep in mind that Community members who are interested in applying to both waitlists MUST apply separately. |
| Coro Northern California - Affordable Housing Leadership Network (AHLN) |
|  | Coro Northern California is currently recruiting affordable housing leaders for our inaugural Affordable Housing Leadership Network (AHLN)! AHLN brings together cross-sector Bay Area housing professionals working to address the housing crisis. AHLN is tailored to housing professionals who are already either decision-makers in their organizations or rising leaders with the capacity to influence decision-makers, including service providers, advocates, policymakers, affordable housing developers, and more. AHLN Fellows will learn and practice leadership tools to supplement their technical skills and develop a cross-sector network. Applications are due December 1st, 2023. If you have any questions, please reach out to Angel, Recruitment and Revenue Manager, at alau@coronorcal.org. |
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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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