East Palo Alto City Council joined a San Mateo County-wide effort to study its affordable housing practices and potentially update its regulations relating to provision of below-market-rate units at a council meeting Tuesday evening.
Eleven cities so far have joined the County’s Grand Nexus study to help local jurisdictions align on best affordable housing practices while saving money and staff time, East Palo Alto Housing Project Manager Yahira Morales said on Tuesday.
“The goal is also to make housing development feasible in the city while meeting the city’s affordable housing needs,” Morales said.
East Palo Alto is dedicating $85,000 to the study, which is set to be completed in November 2026. Cities will engage in public hearings on the results through April 2027 and East Palo Alto staff anticipate the city could update its Inclusionary Housing Ordinance in six months following the completion of the research.
The study comes on the heels of council demands to reevaluate its Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, a city priority that Vice Mayor Mark Dinan specifically expressed interest in when creating the list in April.
Created in 2019, the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance requires developers to allocate a certain percentage of its units for more affordable housing or pay an in-lieu fee that will directly contribute to housing aid in the city.
Under the city’s existing law, a new housing development must allocate 20% of its on-site rentals to affordable housing, including residents who make 35%, 50% and 60% of the average median income. If the units are for sale, 20% of them must cater to median to moderate income levels.
Dinan believes the goals of the ordinance and study are good, he said on Tuesday, but may be outdated and limit development in a county that has “some of the worst cities in the United States for housing production.”
“I would have liked to have had a robust debate about whether we should even have an inclusionary housing ordinance, given its lack of performance the last six years, before we spend money on doing a nexus study,” said Dinan, who hopes to nix the ordinance sooner.
Council member Carlos Romero disagreed and said Dinan’s statements were not “based in facts.” He pointed to local studies that have time and time again proved the need for affordable housing.
“We’re not here to discuss an overturning of the inclusionary ordinance,” Romero said. “I know that Mr. Dinan has tried, on many occasions, in various places, to try to do so. We’re here to discuss this particular contract.”
Past studies show affordable housing laws are not the main driver behind a local lack of construction, Romero said.
The city’s debate over inclusionary housing grew heated in September, when council members Webster Lincoln, Dinan and Mayor Martha Barragan voted to allow major developer Sand Hill Properties to avoid paying in-lieu fees. The decision, which turned to personal insults, shook the council and has led the mayor to install speaking limits across the dais.
But on Tuesday, council members unanimously expressed interest in the study and hoped it could be expedited.
“The sooner that people have the information, the sooner they can act,” Council member Ruben Abrica said. “And there’s definitely a need for more housing of all levels.”
