| |  | | Housing Leadership Council and peninsula faith leaders join the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH), YIMBY Action, and the California Conference of Carpenters to support a new bill introduced by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood) to allow faith institutions (such as churches, synagogues, and mosques) along with nonprofit colleges to build affordable housing on their property by-right, even if local zoning prevents this housing. SB 4, the Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act, re-zones the property and ensures neither CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) nor local political processes can be misused to stop these affordable housing projects. The legislation only applies to 100% affordable housing. Many faith and charitable institutions have excess property – for example, overly large parking lots – on which they can build affordable housing. Faith communities have, for a long time, partnered with nonprofit housing developers to build affordable housing on their land. However, current zoning laws in many cities prohibit the building of multifamily apartment buildings, or any housing at all, on this property. Moreover, getting this land rezoned and getting a project through the approval process can be difficult or impossible, and incredibly expensive – often due to CEQA lawsuits and appeals. It’s not unusual for it to take three to four years and millions of dollars to resolve a single lawsuit, while appeals regularly take six months to resolve. SB 4 ensures that churches, faith institutions, and nonprofit colleges will be able to build affordable housing on their land without having to go through an expensive and difficult rezoning and discretionary approval process. Rev. Penny Nixon, Co-director of the Peninsula Solidarity Cohort was joined by other peninsulafaith leaders at a press conference in San Francisco earlier this week. "Religious organizations can be leaders and create real opportunities to our housing challenges, but we need to eliminate barriers. We need to make it easier for faith communities to serve the community, and SB4 will go a long way to helping make that happen" said Rev. Nixon. |
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| | | |  | Join our partners at Menlo Together to celebrate a year of making the City of Menlo Park a more diverse, multi-generational and environmentally sustainable community TOMORROW, 12/17 from 2 - 4 pm. There will be a brief presentation about Menlo Together, including next steps in their efforts to increase housing opportunities for people of all incomes and abilities. The Neighborhood Pizza Guy and Cafe Zoe will provide refreshments. Kids are welcome! Event Details Saturday, December 17th at 2 PM Cafe Zoe (1929 Menalto Ave, Menlo Park) |
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| |  Housing Elements Review Many planning departments will work through the holidays as they hustle to complete their housing elements. Thus far, only Redwood City has submitted a second draft of its housing element to the state department of Housing and Community Development. The majority of cities are in various stages of updating their housing elements in response to their HCD review letters. Most cities plan to adopt their housing elements before the January 31 deadline regardless of whether HCD certifies their housing elements. Cities can adopt without HCD certification because of an obscure provision of state law that allows cities to make their own findings of legal compliance and adopt a housing element with or without approval from the state (gov code 65583(f)((2) for the wonks). By adopting their housing elements before the deadline, cities hope to limit the impact of penalties for housing element noncompliance, such as the Builder’s Remedy. This strategy has been described and justified in a number of staff reports. San Mateo staff write “HCD certification is not required for a housing element to be found substantially compliant with State law. State law provides that a local jurisdiction may adopt its own findings explaining why its housing element is substantially compliant with State law despite HCD’s findings” (see page 3 of the staff report). A Foster City staff report says “HCD approval is not required for a housing element to be in substantial compliance with State law; a jurisdiction may adopt its own findings regarding why the housing element is substantially compliant and may also choose to adopt the Housing Element before final HCD approval” (see page 8 of the staff report). However, cities that adopt their housing elements without HCD certification still risk third party lawsuits, which could lead to a judge declaring the city out of compliance. If a court finds a city out of compliance, then the city would likely be ordered to make substantial policy changes completely outside of their control–and would again become vulnerable to penalties such as the Builder’s Remedy. Furthermore, some legal penalties, such as loss of state grant funding, are contingent on HCD certification, not adoption, meaning cities will still suffer consequences if they ignore recommendations from the state. Meanwhile, Pacifica, Half Moon Bay, Burlingame, and Daly City have yet to release a draft housing element for public review. These jurisdictions will be unable to adopt their housing elements by the deadline, as cities legally cannot adopt their housing elements until they have released a draft for a 30-day public review period and allowed HCD 90 days to review the draft. That means these jurisdictions will be vulnerable to legal penalties like the Builder’s Remedy for at least 3 months in the best case scenario. Action items |
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| | End of Year Giving ✧Support Affordable Homes before the year ends!✧ |
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| This is Paul. He lives in Fair Oaks Commons, one of Alta Housing’s affordable homes in San Mateo County. Tonight, he will be going home to a safe and secure apartment he can afford because of your efforts. The only thing preventing new homes like this is the lack of political support from the community. Donate today to show your support. |
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| | Before the holiday season comes to an end, help HLC advocate for even more homes in San Mateo County this upcoming 2023. If you give before December 31st, your donation up to $2,000.00 will be matched by other generous HLC supporters. |
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| | | ✧2022 Housing Accomplishments✧ |
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|  | 2022 was a big housing year! Thank you for your continued support and hard work towards our affordable housing efforts in San Mateo County! Please find some of our biggest accomplishments of this year, which we were able to adapt thanks to you! - Campaigns
- Led the successful campaign to defeat Measure V, the NIMBY measure designed to block teacher housing in Menlo Park and a potential ballot measure strategy for no-growth activists statewide
- Policy
- Housing Element –Worked with all 21 jurisdictions in San Mateo County to support policies and programs that make building affordable homes possible, making changes to the root causes of the housing shortage
- Shifting the Housing Narrative
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| ✧Support HLC by Shopping Amazon Smile✧ |
|  | Make sure you add the Housing Leadership Council to your Amazon smile and support Affordable Housing while you shop at no extra cost! How to add on your web browser: •Go to smile.amazon.com •Press “get started” and search for the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County! •Select our organization and start shopping! ✨ Remember to start your shopping on smile.amazon.com so you can support housing while you shop this holiday season! |
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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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