San Mateo County spends big on housing

Supervisors approved the distribution of more than $54 million to be split among developers behind 10 affordable housing proposals. Of the funds, $30 million will come from Measure K, a half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2016, $15 million from California Department of Housing and Community Development Housing for a Healthy California funds and $5 million from the County Mental Health Services Act Project-Based Housing program.

If completed, the developments will bring 759 units to the county. Daly City, South San Francisco and East Palo Alto will see two developments each receive funding while Belmont, San Carlos, Redwood City and unincorporated North Fair Oaks will see one each receive financing.

Barbara Deffenderfer, supervisor of Housing and Community Development with the Department of Housing, said a quarter of the funded units are new to the county pipeline and will likely return for additional funding in the future. Another four projects will be fully funded with the award.

DOH Director Ray Hodges said the department is monitoring other projects that may need support, estimating that between 1,000 to 1,500 units are waiting to receive funding at any given time.

“I’m glad to hear the pipeline is as robust as it is,” Supervisor Dave Pine said.

Hotel housing

Supervisors approved an additional $12.8 million purchase for a San Mateo hotel, the Stone Villa Inn at 2175 S. El Camino Real. The hotel is the fourth to be purchased by the county and adds 44 units to the collection of hotel rooms officials have transformed into transitional housing for the homeless or those near homelessness.

Daly City and San Mateo are the largest cities in the county. Despite that, a county-owned homeless shelter does not yet exist in San Mateo, Callagy said. He said staff is also looking into purchasing a hotel in the north county.

“We believe this is a key component to getting people immediately off the street,” Callagy said.

Though the county is fronting the money for the new site, Callagy said staff should soon learn whether state funding through Project Homekey will reimburse the purchase. The state program evolved from Project Roomkey, which was intended to get vulnerable residents off the street and into housing during the pandemic.

The county has used the opportunity to quickly house low-income seniors and others in more than 215 private bedrooms and suites. Callagy said $1.4 million will be spent on wraparound services at the inn and about $500,000 of county funds will be needed to maintain the site annually.

“We’re going to try to work within our envelope and that means trying to bring as much funding into this within the budget that we have right now rather than expanding the budget,” Callagy said.

Improving health conditions

While county officials aggressively push to fund housing initiatives, additional focus has also remained on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic which has infected more than 52,300 residents and claimed 622 lives locally since its start early 20 months ago.

After a recent fourth surge in cases caused by the more contagious delta variant, Chief of Health Louise Rogers continued her messaging that conditions are beginning to improve. State data show the county experiencing an average of only five new cases per day per 100,000 residents, down from the 5.6 cases reported last Thursday, Rogers noted.

“This narrowing of the positivity gap alongside the downward trend in positive is good to see,” she said, noting infection rates among the county’s most underserved communities have continued to fall closer to the overall rate.

The dip in infections has also led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to place the county in its moderate risk tier within its transmission tracking system last week, Rogers said. The milestone is included among a series of criteria regional health officers are monitoring to determine whether indoor mask mandates can be safely lifted.

The county will need to remain in the yellow tier for three consecutive weeks while hospitalizations remain low and vaccinations reach at least 80% of the overall population. Alternatively, the mandate could expire eight weeks after a COVID-19 vaccine receives emergency use authorization for children ages 5 to 11.

Currently, 22 residents are receiving hospital treatment for COVID-related illnesses across the county with five patients in the ICU. Rogers noted hospitalizations have stayed within a 10 to 20 patient range for the past few weeks.

Despite 90% of eligible residents ages 12 and older having received at least their first vaccine dose, the county is a ways away from reaching the 80% goal set by health officials, with an overall vaccination rate of 72.5%.

The figure fell from around 80% after County Health staff discovered a data discrepancy between the numbers being displayed on the county dashboard versus what the state was showing. Rogers assured supervisors that the error has since been corrected.

“I would love to promise it will never ever happen again, but I’m afraid I’ve been educated many times over how complicated all of this is,” Rogers said. “And I do know our team is doing the best they can to learn from each mistake and really to course correct.”

Rogers shared hope the county would surpass the vaccination goal once younger children become eligible for the Pfizer vaccine. Dr. Anand Chabra, section chief of mass vaccination, said officials anticipate that approval to come in November.

Once granted, county-sponsored vaccine clinics, including one at the San Mateo County Event Center, will be prepared to offer the doses. First, second and booster doses are currently being offered to those who are eligible. Chabra said the county will also have the capacity to offer Pfizer booster doses to people who initially received Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

Officials estimate about 67,000 residents remain unvaccinated, with rates lowest among Black, Latino and Pacific Islander communities.

“While we continue to support the administration of boosters and eventually the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine we will continue to remain focused on those residents who have not yet obtained a first dose of the vaccine,” Chabra said.

Visit the County Health website at smchealth.org/coronavirus for more information on vaccines and COVID-19 updates.

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106