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The San Mateo Board of Supervisors will consider purchasing a $2 million property in North Fair Oaks to house youth transitioning out of foster care.
Some residents of the neighborhood are up in arms.
The property in question is located at 3335 Spring St. in North Fair Oaks, the unincorporated district adjacent to Redwood City. The six-bed, four-bath house would host no more than six residents in the first six months. The plan is to eventually expand occupancy to 12, according to the county Interim Director of Strategic Communications Effie Milionis Verducci.
The potential purchase was prompted by the shutdown of StarVista — the San Mateo nonprofit that’s offered wellness services to at-risk community members for over 55 years, including a transitional living program for unhoused youth. The organization ceased operations Aug. 1 due to “ongoing financial challenges,” according to a press release on its website in mid-July.
When the county learned StarVista’s housing program for up to 10 youth would bolt up, “it moved quickly to secure a new property,” Verducci told this news organization. The former property was at 639 Douglas Ave., which is a three-minute drive from 3335 Spring St.
The purchase of the property was initially on the board’s consent agenda for its Aug. 26 meeting, until a tidal wave of opposition by community members prompted Supervisor Lisa Gauthier to request the board save the item for discussion at its next board meeting on Sep. 9.
“I would like to have some additional conversations with these individuals,” Gauthier said of the public commenters, who voiced concerns about the lack of details related to the project.
Opponents at the meeting included Alisa Martinez, who asked the board, “If these people are coming from the foster care cycle, why are they 18-24 year olds?” She also wanted to know “what is the vetting process for those individuals who are 19 to 24?”
One woman expressed concern that property values “will be going down” if the county proceeds with this project.
Concerns ran the gamut from the number of people who’d be housed in this single-family-zoned home, to how they’d be chosen, to the fiscal impact of the purchase (between the use of taxpayer dollars and loss of tax revenue, seeing as the government-owned home could be tax exempt.)
Opponents wonder if purchasing a place less expensive than $2 million, which already exists in a mixed-use zone, might make more sense for the project.
Verducci explained that the property was chosen for its proximity to its former Douglas Avenue shelter, the Sequoia Union High School District, and access to public transit, as well as its layout that’s good for workshops and one-on-one sessions.
Also, because the board hasn’t yet chosen an operator, and the previous one for the Douglas Avenue house, StarVista, just shut down for financial reasons, residents worry that they can’t vet the security and financial liability of what would be the incoming operator.
Supervisor Gauthier, who’s championing this proposal, told this news organization in the days to follow the Aug. 26 meeting that she understands that the neighbors of 3335 Spring St. “have concerns,” but that she believes “it’s so important that San Mateo County support our youth aging out of the foster care system.”
“These are young adults who could be your child, your cousin, your friend,” Gauthier wrote, “many of whom have had a challenging start to life.”
The county plans to select one through a “competitive process,” per its rules and regulations, which will involve “careful” screening for qualifications, experience, track record, and proposed service plan. Young adults in need of stable housing and supportive services, Verducci said, would be referred through the county’s Coordinated Entry System, which prioritizes those with “the greatest needs.”
Per San Mateo’s Planning Department standards, the Office of Community Affairs notified neighbors within 300 feet of the property of the proposal by inviting them to a community meeting on Aug. 19 at Taft Elementary School, according to Verducci.
However, one commenter at the Board of Supervisors meeting, Teresita Perez, said she lives “less than 20 feet” from the house and that “many” people on her street didn’t get the memo.
Disgruntled by what he considered to be limited notice and lack of details associated with the project, long-time North Fair Oaks community member Alfonso Avila, 33, created a petition on Aug. 20, one day after the community meeting at Taft, to rally neighbors to oppose the progression of the project. The petition has garnered over 120 signatures, which caught him by surprise, as he said he expected no more than 30.
“It seems to me that [the board was] trying to just push this through with minimal people knowing about it,” Avila said. “The petition was just to put the brakes on [the project] to ensure the community is more informed about what’s going on.”
He attributes many of the petition signatures to activism from neighbors in other parts of the county, who worry that “if zoning laws can change” in North Fair Oaks, “what’s to stop it from coming” to their areas too?
The program’s mission is for participants to transition into permanent housing, such as reuniting with family, shared housing with peers, or moving into their own apartments, with short-term rental assistance from the County, as Verducci explained.
The aim is for residents to stay at 3335 Spring St. for about six months, though some will be able to move out more quickly, and others will be able to stay longer “to get everything in place for their next step,” the county’s interim director of strategic communications added. The service provider “will be working” to balance shorter stays with more successful outcomes.
Supervisors are scheduled to vote on the purchase Sept. 9.
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I do not live in your area, but I had to, in good conscience, not speak to this article and the comp,aints from the community. Just what is it that you expect of kids who age out of Foster Care? They are just finishing high school and may have been able to have a part time job, but certainly not have an income or savings to support having to pay full scale rent, have medical insurance, buy food, pay PG&E, buy furniture, and the list goes on. Would you rather have the homeless on the streets? Why is it that rather than thinking that these youth will mean trouble, property value will go down, and whatever other negative reactions you can think of? Would anyone there consider being a mentor for some of these youth? Are there other things that you can offer to these youth that will include them in your community, can you help some of them find jobs? Do you use derstand that these youth may not have a family who loves them and helps them to love themselves and believe in themselves.
I am flabbergasted that you seem to have no heart for the predicament that these youth are in. It appears as if you are only concerned about yourselves and whatever it is that you value. You are literally attacking people that you know nothing about! Put yourself in their shoes and imagine how you would feel.
Open your hearts, educate yourselves on what Foster Care is, and try reaching out. It is easier that putting down and blocking what could be the only leg up that these youth will have. Is it so difficult to be welcoming and inclusive?
PLEASE OPEN YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS, SPEND YOUR TIME AND ENERGY MEETING YOUR NEW NEIGHBORS, WHEN THEY ARRIVE. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE BEST FRIENDS, JUST RESPECT THEM AND THEY WILL RESPECT YOU.
Chris L.