The East Palo Alto City Council voted on Tuesday to spend approximately $1.1 million of Measure JJ tax funds annually to provide direct rental assistance, foreclosure prevention and legal housing support for city residents.
Following years-long debates on how exactly to spend the funds, the council voted 4-1, with Council member Webster Lincoln abstaining, to grant the money to local housing and legal nonprofits that will provide anti-displacement support beginning in January 2026.
East Palo Alto residents overwhelmingly voted in favor of Measure JJ, which would re-allocate the city’s 2.5% parcel tax to direct housing support instead of general government work, in November 2024. The tax is predicted to generate approximately $1.6 million in the fiscal year, according to city documents.
Council members approved on Tuesday a one-year pilot program with the East Palo Alto Community Alliance and Neighborhood Development Organization and three-year contracts with Community Legal Services of East Palo Alto, Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, Samaritan House and WeHOPE.
The East Palo Alto Community Alliance and Neighborhood Development Organization, known as EPACANDO, aims to spend approximately $148,500 to help save one home from foreclosure.
Community Legal Services of East Palo Alto, called CLSEPA, and local nonprofits Samaritan House and WeHOPE each plan to distribute about $204,010 in rental assistance annually, according to city documents.
In addition, CLSEPA and Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County are set to spend approximately $350,000 annually to provide legal services like eviction defense, record expungement and advice.
Rising evictions across San Mateo County are mostly attributed to non-payment of rent but in many cases landlords unlawfully raise rents, push out tenants on false claims and provide uninhabitable housing, David Carducci, lawyer with the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, said at the meeting.
“East Palo Alto residents are particularly vulnerable to all of this,” Carducci said.
According to a new Stanford Study, 2.8% of local renters faced possible eviction during the period between November 2023 to 2024, accounting for 11% of San Mateo County’s eviction filings.
Under Measure JJ, the city must use at least 30% of funds for rental assistance, up to 20% on administrative overhead costs and the remaining half on general anti-displacement services.
Instead, the council approved on Tuesday using 40% to 45% of the funds, dipping into the general bucket, for rental assistance on the recommendation of Council member Carlos Romero and Vice Mayor Mark Dinan.
“I enthusiastically support that, because if we’re paying these taxes and the money sitting in the bank, we should be spending it and rent relief is something that both landlords and tenants would be in agreement about,” Dinan said.
City staff originally pitched four-year contracts and a one-year pilot, but council compromised on shorter agreements because some members were wary of how the funds were being spent.
Lincoln in particular was concerned that the city was spending more tax dollars than in previous years and called the nonprofit selection process too “rushed.” He raised a motion to table the discussion but it failed.
“I’m just not prepared to go into an extended contract for a long period, you know, without getting some sort of feedback or evaluation on the performance of this program,” he said.
City staff clarified that East Palo Alto is spending more of the total parcel tax revenue because it is now allocated for more specific usage.
“We’re talking about stabilizing lives,” Romero said in defense of spending the funds. “And if we cannot understand the humanity of doing that and why that is as important, if not more important, than this notion of creating wealth through real estate, then we have to search our souls.”
Under the approved plan, city staff will provide incremental updates and presentations after the contracts begin and when they end. The council will then determine whether or not to extend contracts and whether it should use further funds.
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