County challenge: Adding to housing supply County challenge: Adding to housing supply (August 10, 2005)

** That's the goal of the county's first housing director.

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

Among the communities of San Mateo County, many are suburban and several have rural aspects -- along the coast and foothills -- but the term "urban" does not readily spring to mind.

However, if a goal of the county's new housing department comes to pass, the so-called transit corridor between Caltrain and U.S. 101 will become increasingly urban.

On August 22, former East Palo Alto mayor Duane Bay -- in a new role as director of housing -- will become the point man for increasing the county's supply of housing for people of lower and moderate incomes.

The board created this new $120,000-a-year position so that one person would be accountable for improving the situation, said county Board of Supervisors president Rich Gordon in a recent interview.

With the county's median price of a single-family home approaching $900,000, middle-income workers such as nurses, teachers and trades-people are finding it ever more difficult to live here.

"Housing is the single biggest problem we face," said Mr. Gordon. "How do we sustain a viable economy and a viable community without that class of workers?"

The biggest challenge -- for Mr. Bay and the supervisors -- will be explaining to people the direct relationship of affordable housing to a healthy society, said Mr. Gordon, adding: "One of the hallmarks of America and of democracy is a strong middle class. Those folks need a place to live. Bluntly, it's going to mean higher density."

One societal impact of middle-class workers living at a distance is already apparent. The Sheriff's Office retains a house in Redwood City to provide sleeping quarters for four or five deputies at a time because so many of them live in the Central Valley, said Mr. Gordon. How many deputies would be available if a major earthquake disabled a bridge or two, he asked.

The county owns little land suitable for housing, and has no authority to compel cities and towns to build it. The state ordered every municipality to plan more affordable housing, but has not required them to act on the plans.

It will be Mr. Bay's task -- with what Mr. Gordon called "essential" financial assistance from the county's housing trust fund -- to persuade developers and municipal officials to build more lower-cost housing, including rental units, principally in the corridor between the Caltrain railroad tracks and U.S. 101, where public transit and commercial services are easily available.

The county's trust fund -- the Housing Endowment And Regional Trust, or HEART -- is a voluntary Joint Powers Authority composed of citizens and elected officials. The idea is to solicit funds from local towns with high land prices and land from communities interested in building high-density housing.

The fund, now at $5 million, was seeded in December with $2 million in county money and another $2 million in state matching funds. The supervisors are planning a private-sector fundraising campaign in the fall and will eventually look for merger possibilities with other housing trust funds in the state, said Mr. Gordon.

How will the supervisors measure Mr. Bay's progress? "More units built at all levels," said Mr. Gordon.

Mr. Bay -- a veteran on affordable housing issues -- will oversee a department of 78 employees and a budget of $81 million, of which 83 percent is targeted for families receiving federal housing assistance. The rest is available for affordable housing and tax credits for eligible first-time home buyers.
Optimum time to act?

In 2004, just 15 percent of San Mateo County households earned the minimum $154,538 needed to afford a median-priced home of $755,000, according to the county's annual quality-of-life report.

Citing the 2000 census, the report notes that among owner-occupied homes in East Palo Alto and the North Fair Oaks neighborhood, 36 percent and 22 percent were "overcrowded" and at least half the rental units were.

Mr. Bay called his new job "an interesting challenge." It could be a watershed period, similar to the 1970s, he said, when officials used zoning to make it difficult to build on coastlands, wetlands and in the foothills.

"That was a radical course adjustment (done because) the status quo was not sustainable," he said. "We would have ended up with less quality of life for everyone."

"Most people have come to understand that (the housing crisis) is a byproduct of a very constrained housing supply," he said. "Almost all communities have identified places where adding housing can enhance their towns."

"I feel like I have the honor to be asked to come in really at the cusp of this change in perspective. But then again, I'm noted for my optimism," he said.

The transition in a community between market-rate housing and affordable housing should be "seamless" with no cutting of corners, said Mr. Gordon. "Local jurisdictions need to demand affordable housing that is quality," he said. "That's important to maintain our community's character."

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