San Mateo County buys property for affordable housing

“It’s something as a county we should be extraordinarily proud of,” Canepa said. “When you talk about housing, this couldn’t be, in terms of density, a more ideal site,” Canepa said. 

The building will be six to seven stories tall, and the design provides “significant space for supportive services,” Ray Hodges, director of the county’s Department of Housing, said. 

The development will include 71 income-restricted units, which will be designated for households earning between 20% and 50% of the county’s area median income. The average affordability level is approximately 33% of the average median income, according to a staff report. They will be studios or one-bedroom units. 

Of the units, 16 will be designated for people experiencing homelessness with high health needs who spend a lot of money at county health facilities, 11 will be designated for individuals experiencing homelessness with significant mental illness and 12 will be designated for former foster youth. 

“More than half of the homes created by the project are targeted to populations supported through county programs who, without deeply affordable housing and coordinated supportive services, experience significant barriers to housing stability,” according to the staff report. 

The property is owned by the proposed developers, Eastmoor Multifamily, but with the county’s purchase of the land, the site will be more competitive for tax credits and financing, Hodges said. 

The $4.4 million to be spent buying the property was already allocated as the county’s contribution toward construction of the development. No new funds will be spent, but now the county owns the property and will sign a lease agreement with developers for 55 years. 

At the expiration of the lease, the county will have long-term control of the land, unless it chooses to extend the ground lease, and affordability requirements, for another 44 years. The agreement could result in a dedicated 100% affordable housing site for 99 years in total. 

Daly City has also already committed more than $7.7 million in loans to the development. 

With the county’s purchase of the property, the development is slated to receive tax credit award in December, and can begin construction by June 2026.