County plans new focus on affordable housing County plans new focus on affordable housing (December 15, 2004)

San Mateo County wants to increase the clout and effectiveness of its efforts to encourage affordable housing by creating a separate Department of Housing, equal to other departments in county government.

Mark Church, president of the Board of Supervisors, and Vice President Rich Gordon are presenting the proposal for a Department of Housing to the rest of the board on Tuesday, December 14, at 9 a.m. in the Board Chambers at 400 County Center, corner of Hamilton Avenue and Bradford Street in Redwood City.

"Housing is a top priority," said Supervisor Church. "The county must be more aggressive and take more of a leadership role in the creation of workforce housing. A separate department solely focused on housing will enable us to achieve our housing objectives more readily and efficiently."

The proposed Department of Housing would include the present Housing Authority and Housing and Community Development. The Center for Homelessness would remain within the Human Services Agency. The new department would report directly to the county manager and the Board of Supervisors.

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