Several new affordable housing developments throughout San Mateo County have started accepting applicants and conducting lotteries for prospective residents, highlighting the area’s continuously high demand for lower-cost accommodations.
Kiku Crossing, an affordable housing community comprising 225 units in downtown San Mateo, recently began accepting applications ahead of their 2024 completion date, and other developments such as the Village in Burlingame, are still accepting backup applicants for their below-market-rate units.
But while the developments will be a welcome reprieve for a lucky handful, many more qualified residents won’t see much change in the way of housing costs, as the county continues to face a perennial shortage in affordable housing supply.
As of last year, San Mateo had achieved 29% of its very low-income housing target but exceeded their above-moderate-income housing target by about 150%, as measured by the Regional Housing Needs Assessment, a state mandate that determines the number of new homes an area must approve to accommodate residents of all income levels. The trend is similar in many Bay Area cities, including Burlingame, which has met about 30% of its low-income housing allocation but exceeded 450% of its target for those with above-moderate incomes.
“Any jurisdiction would say the same, that it’s fairly easy to hit the unit allocations if you have a supportive general plan and city council, but it’s more difficult to hit the actual affordability targets and allocation,” Joseph Sanfilippo, Burlingame’s economic development and housing specialist, said. “Market conditions and the return needed to make a project pencil is harder to do without some intense tax credits for the lower income.”
The RHNA process is conducted every eight years, and with the current 2015-23 plan coming to a close, Sanfilippo hopes the upcoming cycle, ending in 2031, could see modest improvements.
“There are many, many state bills that make it easier for developers to fit affordable projects in. For example, if they’re including low-income units as part of a density bonus, or if they’re using an SB 35 allowance, it’s easier to hit the affordability targets because they can still include a lot of market-rate units, or at least higher affordability units, in there,” Sanfilippo said.
Density bonus laws allow developers to circumvent local jurisdictions’ height or density limits, provided they offer some amount of affordable housing units. For buildings consisting fully of affordable units, such as Kiku Crossing and the Village, Assembly Bill 1763 allows for an even higher density waiver.
But concerns remain, as many cities have already underperformed on their 2015-23 RHNA allocations, and the next eight-year cycle, or RHNA 6 cycle, sets even higher targets. Burlingame’s housing allocation was set to 863 units for the current cycle, but targets for the upcoming round hover around 3,500 units.
“I would say it’s going to be very similar in that it will be easy to hit our total allocation but harder to hit the deeper affordability allocations. … The RHNA 6 cycle is drastically higher than the previous allocation,” Sanfilippo said, noting the increase is not unique to Burlingame. “We’ll have more supportive policies and programs in this cycle to help hit some of those targets but because the allocations are so much larger, I think it’ll be a similar level of difficulty.”
Kiku Crossing applications are open until Nov. 17 for households earning between 30% to 80% of the area’s median income. The developments comprise a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments. Initial registration for the Village in Burlingame is closed, but backup applications are still open.
(3) comments
As the Area Median Income keeps increasing by double digits, and cities don't demand 20 percent of new units to be affordable to people making less than 50 percent, this just keeps getting worse. Also, as the AMI increases, so do rents in affordable units, every year, like clockwork. But most people below 50 percent don't get ncome increases that compensate for the rent and other cost of living increases. The hole keeps getting bigger and deeper. Congratulations, we've managed to build more units for tech workers, many of whom are eligible for those Above Moderate Income units. Kind of like subsidizing tech companies that helped to create the problem.
The hole only gets deeper because the low income adults keeping making bad and irresponsible personal decisions. If one is struggling then don't have children, if one is uneducated then don't have children, if one is unemployed then please, please, please don't have children and if one is single then don't have children...
And what do you think qualifies as low income? A single person making 104K in San Mateo County is categorized as low income. A senior dependent on a fixed income has no hope to stay unless they own a home.
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