Affordable housing in pipeline
Affordable housing in pipeline: San Mateo County approves $8.7 million in spending for range of developments
Seven affordable housing projects were approved for funding Tuesday that will create 365 new units and rehabilitate 38 others.
The units will be set aside for veterans, seniors, individuals with mental illness and extremely-low income households.
It’s the latest move by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors to use Measure A money to combat the housing crisis in partnership with nonprofit builders.
The board approved spending about $8.7 million on projects in South San Francisco, Colma, Redwood City, East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks, Moss Beach and North Fair Oaks.
About $2 million in federal Moving to Work funds were approved to be spent on the projects and another $1 million comes from Redwood City’s former redevelopment agency, according to the county’s Housing Authority.
The remainder of money, about $5.6 million, comes from Measure A, the half-cent sales tax approved in 2012.
The board has placed the sales tax on the November ballot for a 20-year extension and has pledged to apply much of it toward the creation of affordable housing in the future. It is called Measure K on the ballot.
In the past three years, the county has seen an increase of 40,000 new jobs but only 3,000 new homes, according to the Housing Leadership Council.
The average rent for a one-bedroom unit in the county is now $2,638, a 38.9 percent increase in four years, according to the Housing Authority.