|  | | ✨Get involved✨ ✧Independent Report finds that Ballot Measure would block affordable teacher and school staff housing at former Flood School site✧ |
|  | Last month (June 28), your Menlo Park City Council Members commissioned an independent, objective impact analysis of a November 2022 Menlo Park ballot measure.
That report was released last Friday and the findings are clear - the ballot measure would create big barriers for affordable housing in Menlo Park and block teacher and staff housing for the Ravenswood City School District. |
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| | If the ballot measure passes in November 2022, it will: - Block affordable housing for teachers and school staff at the vacant site of the former Flood School site owned by Ravenswood City School District.
- Lock in and exacerbate racial and economic segregation by blocking future homes in high opportunity neighborhoods which are predominantly upper income and white.
- Limit the city’s ability to plan for housing for people at a variety of income levels, in conflict with the city’s General Plan
- Put the city at risk of being sued by reducing our ability to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH), as required by law (CA 2018 Assembly Bill 686)
- Block Menlo Park Fire District from redeveloping their headquarters without a public vote.
- Block Menlo Park religious organizations from redeveloping their properties without a public vote.
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| | | Endorse the campaign! Join a growing list of individuals, organizations, and groups that support this effort. |
| | Campaign Manager Needed: A great opportunity for someone with field experience that wants to get more involved in local politics or housing. |
| | | ✧Working Together to End Homelessness Summit ✧ |
|  | After hosting a series of events in 2022 to discuss innovative approaches and best practices on helping the homeless transition from the street to permanent housing (which can be found here: smcendinghomelessness.org), The County of San Mateo and the Board of Supervisors are now hosting an in-person summit! Register now to discuss action steps and resources needed for our community to achieve zero functional homelessness: When: Friday, October 28, 2022, 8:00 am to 1:00 pm Where: Westin San Francisco Airport, 1 Old Bayshore Highway, Millbrae |
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| |  Housing Elements Review For the first time in more than three months, HLC does not have any new housing element letters to share! We’re still working on public comments for SSF and Belmont, which are due on August 5 and August 15, respectively. However, we have big news for the housing element world: On July 8, HCD sent a letter to Redwood City rejecting their draft housing element. RWC submitted their first draft back on April 12, 2022, months before any other jurisdiction in San Mateo County. In the first paragraph of its letter, HCD writes “HCD considered comments from [sic] Housing Leadership Council (HLC) of San Mateo County.” The letter HCD sent repeats many of the criticisms shared in a comment letter the Housing Leadership Council sent directly to the state regulator on June 23. For example: - HLC wrote “several programs use vague language like ‘study’ or ‘consider’ rather than making measurable commitments to change policy.” HCD wrote “programs must have specific commitment (beyond considering) to housing outcomes, discrete timing (e.g., at least annually)”--and then repeated the recommendation for 17 specific policies!
- HLC wrote “The city analyzes parking minimums, but does not fully describe the constraint they create to housing … The city can address this constraint by strengthening policy H-4.2 [related to parking minimums] with firmer commitments to make measurable changes on discrete timelines..” HCD wrote that the city’s programs “should reduce parking constraints for multifamily units within the City, as well as in the Downtown and Mixed-Use zones. In addition, the program should include specific timing for implementation.”
Across 13 pages, HCD requests changes or additions to nearly every section of Redwood City’s housing element. Despite the apparent harshness of HCD’s comments, Redwood City’s draft housing element is one of the better proposals HLC has seen so far in San Mateo County. This indicates that all cities—even those with a strong recent track record of promoting housing—will be expected to implement substantial new policies in order to comply with state law. What happens next for Redwood City? The city must revise its housing element in response to HCD’s recommendations, release an amended draft to the public for at least seven days, and then resubmit to HCD. Check out HLC’s timeline infographic for the housing element if you want an overview of the whole process. We look forward to continuing to work with Redwood City on planning for the community’s housing needs. Take note: HCD reads and responds to comments from the public. If you want to learn more about how you can effectively engage with HCD, set up a meeting with HLC’s policy manager, Jeremy Levine, at calendly.com/jlevine97. He is planning to meet with HCD reviewers for every jurisdiction in San Mateo County! |
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| | 📣Housing Leadership Day 2022📣
✧Call for Workshop Proposals✧ |
|  | We are seeking workshop proposals for our Housing Leadership Day. San Mateo County's annual premier affordable housing conference will take place in-person on Friday, October 21 at CZI Community Space in Redwood City! If you or your organization is interested, please fill out and submit a workshop proposal form by Wednesday, August 31 at 11:59 PM. |
| | | Questions? Interested in joining the planning committee?
Contact vle@hlcsmc.org |
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| | 🔔 Resources 🔔 San Mateo County Department of Housing:
✧Notice Of Funding Availability (Nofa)✧ |
| The County of San Mateo Department of Housing is pleased to announce the tenth round of its Affordable Housing Fund (AHF 10.0) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for approximately $27.5 Million in Measure K funds and Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funds. |
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| Five project types are eligible for funding under AHF 10.0: New Construction Multifamily Affordable Rental Housing projects, Multifamily Resyndication-Rehabilitation projects for existing deed-restricted multifamily affordable rental housing developments, Multifamily New Construction Affordable First-Time Homeownership projects, Preservation projects, and Supportive Housing Projects which are Multifamily New-Construction Affordable Rental Housing Projects or Multifamily Re-Syndication-Rehabilitation Projects that designate at least 20% of total project units as homeless households. Applications Due by 4:00 p.m. Friday, August 19, 2022 |
| | ✧Housing Readiness Report✧ |
|  | From our friends at Partnership for the Bay’s Future: The Housing Readiness Report is a tool that provides the data to track how impactful the housing crisis is to our most vulnerable communities as well as how ready our cities are to tackle the crisis. It includes data on racial diversity, rental housing burden, housing policies and processes towards planning for affordable housing. Get Trained Community members, housing advocates, organizers, policymakers and anyone else who is interested in the Housing Readiness Report is invited to attend a training session for the tool on Tuesday, August 23, 10:00 am. Register at bit.ly/HousingReadinessTraining. |
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| | HLC Updates! ✧Meet Kiana, our new Organizer!✧ |
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| Kiana joined the HLC team this week as our new Organizer! Prior to joining, Kiana was active in discussions around race equity and public safety in San Jose and participated on the Reimagining Community Safety Advisory Task Force. Outside of work, Kiana loves going on nature walks with her dogs and spending time at the nearest karaoke spot! Kiana is ready to take her advocacy to the next level with HLC!
Want to meet with Kiana? Schedule a meeting at https://calendly.com/meet-w-kiana |
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| ✧We are hiring an Operations Manager!✧ |
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| HLC is looking for an Operations Manager! This position would be a great fit for someone who is seeking dynamic responsibilities, ranging from fiscal management to event support. |
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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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