Four years after passing Measure Y — which capped most buildings in San Mateo to five stories — residents will vote on whether to amend the rule to allow for greater heights and densities in certain areas.
The effort originated largely from the Department of Housing and Community Development’s stricter oversight and increased requirements for cities’ housing goals, or Regional Housing Needs Allocation, in recent years. San Mateo must plan for a little over 7,000 new housing units for the 2023-31 RHNA cycle.
But to comply with the higher mandates during the 2023-31 cycle and beyond, many housing advocates, as well as the City Council, have said that it needs to build higher — and therefore amend Measure Y.
The new measure that will be brought before voters this November will allow higher height and density limits in 10 areas throughout the city, including areas near Caltrain stations and El Camino Real.
According to the ballot argument in favor of Measure T signed by Mayor Lisa Diaz Nash, among others, the move would provide more affordable housing for many of the city’s essential workers and vulnerable populations. The current building caps would also still apply to the majority of the city.
“The state has also required us to not only look through 2031, but since our General Plan goes to 2040, we have to show them how our General Plan and our land use map in it … can accommodate similar levels of growth through 2040,” Nash said. “We absolutely cannot make similar levels of growth through 2040 under measure Y.”
She added that even though the city needs to plan for 7,000 new homes, they must also plan for a buffer beyond that number of units, across all income levels, which further necessitates a height and density expansion.
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But a local group, San Mateans for Responsive Government, said the city can meet its RHNA goals under the current cap, saying the limit “supports a vibrant downtown and more housing by already concentrating its highest development opportunities close to transit and jobs near and around El Camino, Downtown [and] Caltrain,” according to the official ballot argument against Measure T.
Measure Y is set to sunset in 2030, and Michael Weinhauer, spokesperson for SMRG, said it doesn’t make sense to extensively plan much further in advance, especially given the flat or declining population growth in the area and uncertain economic conditions. He added the city needs more affordable housing, but not necessarily new market-rate housing.
“We don't particularly have a huge housing need overall here,” he said. “We have an affordable housing need, and that’s what we’re required to create. To say that just building more is going to create more affordable housing is not true. Luxury housing doesn’t trickle down.”
He added that the city should also push back harder on the state’s “arbitrary” mandates for a buffer.
If the measure does not pass, the city will need to revisit its housing element, recently certified by the state, which is a mandated blueprint of how it will achieve its RHNA goals. The election is Nov. 5.
As a homeowner and economically informed citizen that's an easy no. What I've seen is debt is hamstringing management to the point that they can't maintain common spaces due to high debt payments and interest rates that are based on rent rolls. High rent (like other forms of inflation) is created by the Fed printing tens of trillions of dollars. You cannot build your way out of that. It's time for local politicians to push back against the state's ill-informed housing policies.
San Mateo needs more homes for households at all income levels. Low-income households are suffering the most from our housing crisis. But we’ve all seen moderate-income (and even above-moderate income) households who are not eligible for regulated affordable housing pushed out of San Mateo due to lack of housing options.
I work in the affordable housing field. The more regulated affordable housing we can create, the better. But regulated affordable housing requires public subsidy and there will never be enough subsidy to meet the affordable housing need.
Historically, the majority of the country’s housing that was affordable to low-income households was not regulated or subsidized. Instead, a community’s older homes were more affordable than newer homes because those who could pay more for more-desirable newer housing would do so. But in communities like San Mateo, there is a chronic shortage of newer housing for those who want it. So those higher-income households end up in the older housing, driving up the cost of that older housing to what those households can afford.
San Mateo is so far behind on building homes that it will take many years of building new homes to get to a point where older housing becomes more affordable. But it can be done - just look at places like Seattle, Austin, and San Diego, where rents dropped significantly between 2023 and 2024 due to a surge in construction. Measure T will help San Mateo ensure we have a diverse housing stock for the diverse community we all value.
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As a homeowner and economically informed citizen that's an easy no. What I've seen is debt is hamstringing management to the point that they can't maintain common spaces due to high debt payments and interest rates that are based on rent rolls. High rent (like other forms of inflation) is created by the Fed printing tens of trillions of dollars. You cannot build your way out of that. It's time for local politicians to push back against the state's ill-informed housing policies.
San Mateo needs more homes for households at all income levels. Low-income households are suffering the most from our housing crisis. But we’ve all seen moderate-income (and even above-moderate income) households who are not eligible for regulated affordable housing pushed out of San Mateo due to lack of housing options.
I work in the affordable housing field. The more regulated affordable housing we can create, the better. But regulated affordable housing requires public subsidy and there will never be enough subsidy to meet the affordable housing need.
Historically, the majority of the country’s housing that was affordable to low-income households was not regulated or subsidized. Instead, a community’s older homes were more affordable than newer homes because those who could pay more for more-desirable newer housing would do so. But in communities like San Mateo, there is a chronic shortage of newer housing for those who want it. So those higher-income households end up in the older housing, driving up the cost of that older housing to what those households can afford.
San Mateo is so far behind on building homes that it will take many years of building new homes to get to a point where older housing becomes more affordable. But it can be done - just look at places like Seattle, Austin, and San Diego, where rents dropped significantly between 2023 and 2024 due to a surge in construction. Measure T will help San Mateo ensure we have a diverse housing stock for the diverse community we all value.
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Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
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