 Housing Elements Review As of 8/15, 4:59 p.m., the Housing Leadership Council has reviewed housing elements for more than half of San Mateo County! Our 11th housing element review letter went to Belmont. Belmont’s housing element has some of the strongest commitments to increase tenant protections HLC has yet seen. The city promises to “require tenant relocation payments for No Fault evictions for those with tenure less than one year” and “Establish Right to Return policy for tenants displaced from homes due to demolition or substantial remodels.” Those are big improvements over the protections currently afforded renters by state law. On the other hand, Belmont doesn’t have many new policies in place to promote building new homes. In the housing element draft released for public comment, Belmont planned to allow denser buildings that would have made new homes feasible in new places. However, the city removed plans to upzone in response to public resistance, but they did not make up the difference in lost capacity elsewhere. As a result, Belmont is planning for far fewer homes than needed. Belmont is not the only city that has backtracked on its housing element in response to negative public feedback: At the last moment, Portola Valley’s city council delayed the dedication of 2.48 acres of city land for affordable homes by at least 3 years. Atherton’s council stripped the city’s housing element of its (marginal) plans to allow multi-family homes in a new “townhome overlay zone.” Other cities look set to follow suit as they test how far they can stretch state law. Activists can continue to support cities and help them to plan for housing at all income levels. HLC’s policy manager, Jeremy Levine, has been meeting with staff, elected officials, and state agencies. Contact Jeremy at jlevine@hlcsmc.org or set up a meeting with him at calendly.com/jlevine97 if you would like to meet. |
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