SMC Supes Consider Ballot Measure For More Affordable Housing

REDWOOD CITY, CA — The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors is considering asking voters to change the process for how affordable housing is created in the county.

San Mateo County residents will have a second and likely final chance next week to comment and learn more about a potential ballot measure to allow the creation of more affordable housing in the county over an undetermined number of years.

The meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Aug. 7 in the board's chambers at 400 County Center, in Redwood City. A Zoom link for remote access will be available prior to the meeting.

The measure's language is still being crafted but would authorize the county to construct, develop, or acquire affordable housing in the amount of 1% of the total county housing stock each year, which would amount to about 2,900 units. Whether the percentage or raw number would be included in the ballot question was one of the unanswered questions during the board of supervisors' first meeting on the subject.

Several other details, such as whether there would be a sunset on the allowance and how to indicate that the measure would not raise taxes also remained undetermined.

The potential ballot measure came together on just days' notice in mid-July and was discussed at a special meeting of the Board of Supervisors on July 22. Supervisors David Canepa and Robert Mueller both questioned the haste with which the measure came to the Board's attention and noted that the cities in the county had not had a chance to take a position.

"This lack of communication is really hurting us," Canepa told County Executive Mike Callagy, who brought the measure to the Board.

South San Francisco City Manager Sharon Ranals said in a phone interview that the city would not have a chance to have its city attorney express a formal opinion on the matter before the board potentially takes action on Aug. 7.

She expressed optimism that the county would work with local leaders on projects as they were proposed but admitted that there were many unknowns.

"The devil's in the details," she said.

Redwood City Assistant City Manager Patrick Heisinge said in a statement that the city was reviewing the county's proposal.

A spokesperson for the city of San Mateo said the city did not have a position either way on the potential measure.

The measure, if placed on the ballot, would ask voters to authorize a county-wide bank of total affordable housing units to be built throughout the county, in both incorporated and unincorporated areas. The number of units allowed to be created would be set at 1% of the county's total housing stock.

The change seeks to essentially circumvent the state's requirement that all housing projects that get at least 50% of their funding from public sources, as many affordable housing developments do, be approved individually by voters in that jurisdiction.

The county is already embroiled in a lawsuit with the city of Millbrae after the county purchased a La Quinta Inn with the intention of turning it into affordable, supportive housing. If the measure is placed on the ballot and is approved, it could prevent such future pushback from cities as the county tries to satisfy its housing requirements set by the state that call for more than 25,000 new affordable units to be built by 2031.

Millbrae resident Laura Smith said during the Board's public comment period at the first meeting that residents felt like they deserved a vote on the La Quinta project, and that the proposed ballot measure would similarly strip local residents of their right to vote on such projects under Article 34 of the state constitution.

"We are given a constitutional right by the state, we're not given it by the county, and the county can't take it away by having other cities vote to take it away from us," Smith said.

Other commenters agreed with the proposed measure and urged the board to move forward with putting it on the November ballot.

Callagy, meanwhile, said Article 34 represented a "dark history" of constraining certain housing and said the measure would correct what he called a historic wrong.

There are more than 11,000 residents countywide on the waiting list for affordable housing vouchers, according to Callagy.

Story by Thomas Hughes, Bay City News.

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