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Menlo Park is making steady progress toward meeting its state-mandated housing goals, according to a newly released progress report. As of the end of 2025, Menlo Park had already permitted nearly 60% of the required higher-income units but had permitted a much smaller share of the requirements for more affordable units.Â
A housing element is a state-mandated plan that every California city must adopt to show how it will meet its share of regional housing needs. Under the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) system, local governments are assigned specific targets for how many new homes must be planned and permitted during an eight‑year cycle, and what portion of those units must be affordable to low‑ and moderate‑income households.
The current Menlo Park housing element cycle, which covers 2023-31, sets a goal of permitting 2,946 new units. More than half of those, about 56%, must be affordable to lower-income residents. Cities are not required to build the homes themselves but must zone enough land, streamline approvals and adopt policies to make housing development feasible.
With more than five years to go in this cycle, Menlo Park is well ahead on issuing permits for above-moderate income units, which is housing affordable to people who make more than 120% of the area’s median income (AMI). The city has issued permits for 763 above-moderate income units, about 59% of the requirement for the current cycle.
But when it comes to affordable housing, Menlo Park has approved a far smaller portion of its required units. For the lowest-income threshold, households that earn 0% to 50% of AMI, the city has permitted 18.5% of the 740 units it is required during the cycle.
This is not a new trend for Menlo Park: during the previous housing element cycle, Menlo Park permitted the development of over seven times the required number of above-moderate income units but only 15% of the required moderate income units. Menlo Park did fare better on very-low income housing, permitting 93% of what was required.
Area median income is set annually by family size for San Mateo County, which has the second-highest AMI in the state. In 2025, the state set the AMI for a family of four in San Mateo County at $186,600. The state average AMI for a family of four is $118,100.
The city must submit the 2025 housing progress report by April 1. While the state is not expected to take any action on this year’s report, the results of the 2026 progress report could trigger additional state penalties In June 2027, the state will determine whether or not Menlo Park will be subject to the Streamlined Ministerial Approval Process (SMAP) based on its completion of the requirements. If Menlo Park is subject to SMAP, some projects may be able to bypass discretionary processes like environmental review or public hearings. However, SMAP projects must still comply with city zoning and objective standards.
To meet the goals set by the state, Menlo Park officials promised to implement 69 programs to encourage the construction of housing and prevent displacement. One of the most controversial programs is a proposal to build at least 345 affordable housing units on several city-owned parking lots in downtown Menlo Park.
Only units that were permitted by the end of 2025 were included in the report, however several projects have not gotten permits but are in the works, according to city planner Tom Smith. Smith cited a proposed development at 80 Willow Road, the former headquarters of Sunset Magazine, and proposed townhomes at 68 Willow Road, in addition to applications received in 2026. Already in the first few months of 2026, the city has received several housing proposals that could make a significant dent in Menlo Park’s required units.
In January, Springline developer Presidio Bay Ventures proposed building 670 housing units, including 101 affordable units, at the former USGS campus on Middlefield Road. Another recent proposal seeks to build 199 apartments — including 20 for low income households and nine for very low income — at 155 Jefferson Drive.
Those two projects alone, if approved by the city, would produce over eight times the number of units approved in 2025.
In 2025, Menlo Park issued permits for a total of 102 new housing units and 42 units were completed and ready to be occupied. Of the units permitted, 38 were accessory dwelling units, 29 of which were completed.
While 2025 saw fewer permitted projects than 2024, it was more than the 65 units permitted in 2023, according to the staff report.
