Why Is This Important?
A lack of affordable housing limits the ability of people to live in San Mateo County and employers to recruit qualified workers.  Individuals are left with the options of living in another county and facing long commutes, paying more than they can comfortably afford for housing, living in overcrowded conditions, or moving out of the area entirely.

What Is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where housing is available and affordable to all members of society and new housing is built to meet projected population and job growth.

How Are We Doing?
Housing costs

  • The California Association of Realtors estimated that in the third quarter of 2007, only 17 percent of households in San Mateo County could afford to purchase an entry-level home, compared with 24 percent of households in the state and over 60 percent nationally (an entry-level home is defined as one that is equal to 85 percent of the prevailing median price).
  • In 2007, the median sales price of a single-family home in San Mateo County was $918,000, a 2 percent increase from 2006 and a 68 percent increase from 1998.  At the national level, the median sales price of a single-family home dropped by 1 percent from 2006.
  • In 2007, the median sales price of a condominium was $570,000, an 82 percent increase from 1998.
  • With median sales prices of single-family homes over $2 million, Atherton, Hillsborough, and Woodside continued to be the most expensive places to purchase homes in the county.
  • In 2007, the household income necessary to purchase the median-priced single-family home in San Mateo County was nearly $196,000, more than twice the U.S. Housing and Urban Development median family income estimate for the San Francisco Metropolitan Area ($86,500).
  • In 2007, average rents in the county for one- and two-bedroom apartments were $1,506 and $1,723 per month respectively.  Even adjusting for inflation, these rents were 5 and 6 percent higher than in 2006.
  • Average rents were highest in Menlo Park for a one-bedroom apartment ($1,972 per month) and Millbrae for a two-bedroom apartment ($2,072 per month).

Data sources: San Mateo County Association of Realtors and the San Mateo
County Department of Housing

 

Data source: San Mateo County Association of Realtors

 

Data sources: San Mateo County Association of Realtors, San Mateo County
Department of Housing, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development

Housing production
A significant shortage of housing supply is the primary cause of the high housing costs in the county.  Barriers to housing development include limited undeveloped land, local regulatory barriers, and community opposition. 

Every five to seven years, local jurisdictions are allocated housing production targets based on the state’s Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) process.  Projections are based on anticipated job growth, anticipated population growth, and existing need. 

  • During the 1999-2006 RHNA period, local governments in the county issued building permits for only 63 percent of the housing target for the county. 
  • Local governments in the county issued housing building permits for 20 percent of the RHNA allocation for housing affordable to very low-income
    households and 52 percent for low-income households. 
  • Thanks in large part to the redevelopment of a former U.S. Navy site, San Bruno was the most successful jurisdiction in the county in meeting its RHNA allocation, with double the number of housing permits issued than its RHNA allocation for the 1999-2006 period.

 

Data source: Association of Bay Area Governments

In 2006-2007, a new Regional Housing Needs Allocation process took place.  San Mateo County’s regional share of household growth was estimated to be7 percent of the Bay Area’s growth and was accordingly allocated a target of nearly 16,000 units for the 2007-2014 period. 

During the RHNA process, all 21 jurisdictions in the county formed a subregion that will manage the distribution of the housing need allocation numbers among the cities and the county.  The formation of the subregion will allow jurisdictions to trade allocation figures in exchange for equivalent resources, in hopes that the overall housing need in the county will have a better chance of being met.

The next step in the RHNA process is for local jurisdictions to update the Housing Elements of their General Plans, which will outline how they expect
to meet their housing need in the future.

 

See appendix page 76, CLICK HERE. Researcher: Nishita Bakshi