Focus on affordable housing in San Mateo County

The county has allocated millions of dollars annually to support efforts to bring more affordable units online with anywhere between $5 million and $30 million distributed each year since 2012. Those funds have largely come from Measure K dollars, a half-cent sales tax, with state and federal funding backing efforts in the last two years. The county’s $242 million have helped bring in $2.2 billion from outside sources. 

Those dollars have gone toward about 4,500 units of affordable housing, Rose Cade, deputy director of the county’s Department of Housing, said. About 2,500 of those units have been completed with the remaining still in the pipeline. 

And applications for more funding are still rolling in. About $30 million of funding is currently available from the county’s affordable housing fund, currently in its 11th cycle. Nearly $90 million has been requested from developers looking to build in Redwood City, Half Moon Bay, Menlo Park, South San Francisco, Belmont, Daly City, Moss Beach and North Fair Oaks. Grant recipients will be announced this winter. 

“As with every year, we’re very much oversubscribed. Also, similar to every other year, the projects are all over the county, which is great,” Cade said, noting developers regularly say the county is a great place to develop because of the support offered by county officials. 

But as jurisdictions face increasing pressure by the state to build more housing, especially affordable homes, accessing the funding and tax credits needed to build has grown more competitive, requiring the county to step in to fill gaps, Hodges said. 

While developers search for financing opportunities, Hodges said the county has also been seeking grants through the state’s Homekey Program. The county has received about $145 million through the program, funding hotel purchases and the creation of a new navigation center. 

Officials most recently submitted a Homekey funding application for the purchase of the La Quinta Inn in Millbrae to turn the hotel into permanent housing. Half Moon Bay was also recently awarded $5 million through the Joe Serna Jr. Housing Grant program to build for-sale farmworker housing. 

Maintaining functional zero

Bringing more units online is vital for helping the county reach and maintain its goal of functional zero, meaning homelessness would become rare, temporary and never chronic, Hodges said. The units will also help jurisdictions reach their housing development goals set by the state. The county is expected to help facilitate the creation of 2,883 homes in unincorporated areas over the next eight years, a substantial increase from previous housing element cycles. 

“We know that in order to maintain functional zero, we need to have in place supportive housing for people in interim housing and shelters to move out to, making space available for new homeless folks.

“That’s a high priority for us,” Hodges said. 

Helping people, particularly the county’s most vulnerable, remain in their homes is also a top priority, Hodges and Cade said. Most of the county’s housing vouchers go to people earning at or below 30% the regional median income. Many housing sites also cater specifically to seniors and veterans who often live on limited fixed incomes. And other wraparound services are being offered at many affordable housing sites. 

A county loan program meant to help farmers build or renovate worker housing has been slow to take off; however, Hodges said the department has received about six applications this year. That news comes after a mass shooting took place at two Half Moon Bay mushroom farms earlier this year, displacing many and revealing the deplorable conditions in which workers lived. 

The county has also provided grant funding to nonprofits serving the farmworker community, like Pescadero’s Puente that has led a program creating draft leases for residents who are often offered housing without one. 

“It’s always been a belief of mine that when you focus on supporting folks most vulnerable, then everybody wins. ... I’m so happy that that is work that is being done and I think there’s also many other vulnerable groups in our community that could have some help in that area as well,” Supervisor Noelia Corzo said.

Affordable housing bond measure

The study session came after supervisors heard an update from the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority regarding a potential $10 billion to $20 billion bond measure the public agency is pursuing to fund affordable housing. 

If the bond measure were to pass, jurisdictions would receive about 80% of the funds collected with the remaining going toward regional programming. San Mateo County’s share would be about $1 billion if a $10 billion bond is approved or $2.1 billion if the $20 billion bond is approved. 

More than 50% of the money would need to be spent on producing more housing, with another 15% going toward preserving affordable housing, 15% for tenant protections like legal services, rental and relocation assistance, tenant education and gathering displacement data, and another 28% for a flexible city and county fund. 

The measure is expected to go before voters in late 2024. Between now and then, BAHFA staff will be developing business and expenditure plans, conducting public information sessions and polling the public. 

“This is going to be a big focus for us over the next 12 to 18 months looking at the local process that’s necessary to move this ahead,” Hodges said about the county’s support for the measure.