Building new housing policies

The update process has had mixed results in San Mateo County. On one hand, the housing element updates will lead to more housing policy changes here than has been seen in a generation. As part of the update process, cities must analyze local housing needs and regulatory barriers to meeting those needs, then identify policy changes that will remove barriers and create incentives for more homes. This process has led cities across San Mateo County to commit to policy changes that will make housing easier to build while providing subsidies to promote affordability. 

Every city can point to meaningful policy changes that will move the needle on housing to some extent. A non-comprehensive selection of high-impact policy changes: Menlo Park will build affordable housing on eight city-owned parking lots; South San Francisco and San Carlos rezoned significantly, allowing 100 dwelling units per acre or more in some areas, due to housing element commitments; and Redwood City will amend its tenant protections ordinance to strengthen protections for its most vulnerable residents. 

Still, cities across San Mateo County struggled to achieve compliance by state deadlines. By the deadline Jan. 31, 2023, just one city in San Mateo County, Redwood City, had received state housing element certification. At that time, only four cities across the entire Bay Area had completed their update process. Those cities not certified by Jan. 31 risked third party lawsuits and loss of control over local zoning; those not certified by a secondary May 31 deadline lost access to state grants for housing and infrastructure. 

However, San Mateo County jurisdictions quickly fell behind the rest of the Bay Area. The May 31 deadline came and went with only one new certification, of Brisbane. For nearly six months, no new jurisdiction in San Mateo County received certification, even as that rate across the entire Bay Area surpassed 50%. Finally, near the end of the year, a number of communities earned certification, including South San Francisco, Burlingame, Colma, Hillsborough, Menlo Park and, most recently, the city of San Mateo. Still, the county’s certification rate remains substantially lower than that of the larger Bay Area, largely because of the particularly extreme housing shortage induced by local policies.

Even when city councils and staff strive to satisfy housing element requirements, their communities often make compliance impossible. More than 300 Atherton residents protested in person when their staff and council proposed minuscule zoning changes; in Portola Valley, residents sued the city and voted out councilmembers who supported meaningful but moderate changes. Planning staff across the Peninsula, caught between state requirements and resident pressure, have resigned, leaving many cities chronically short staffed. 

Peninsula cities need stronger tools to generate support and overcome community opposition, which kills moderate policy change even when state housing needs require it. Furthermore, opposition limits the willingness of cities to pursue necessary policy changes: Redwood City, the county’s leader on housing production, has embraced housing density downtown but faces more challenging politics for development in its single-family neighborhoods, even though 60% of its residential land is zoned single-family. 

State laws provide increasingly powerful tools by rebalancing local authority over land use, limiting the arbitrary veto points available to housing opponents. Unless communities on the Peninsula embrace their responsibility to promote housing at all affordability levels — low-income, market-rate and everything in between — the state Legislature will likely continue to rebalance local authority with regional needs. 

Fortunately, elected leaders and staff across San Mateo County increasingly recognize the housing crisis’ urgency, more and more often implementing stronger policies of their own volition. Belmont, Burlingame, South San Francisco and others initiated zoning updates with local prerogative, before the most recent housing element process began. Those rezones have resulted in thousands of new homes proposed already, helping those cities get a head start on housing goals. As cities move from housing element updates to implementation, they will have many opportunities to pursue policy change beyond the bare minimum required, enabling them to fully address the needs of their residents. 

Jeremy Levine is the policy manager for the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County.