Title
Report regarding the feasibility of affordable housing development on surplus South San Francisco School District sites.
Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the School District Liaison Standing Committee ("Committee") receive a presentation regarding the feasibility of affordable housing development on surplus South San Francisco School District sites for public employees.
Body
BACKGROUND
Currently, the median income in San Mateo County for a single person household is $82,900 and for family of four is $118,400. Accordingly a median individual household can comfortably afford no more than $2,000 a month in rent, and a family of four is limited to about $2,900 a month in rent. By comparison, the median rent for a market one-bedroom apartment in San Mateo County is roughly $2,600 per month and $4,300 for a three-bedroom apartment. Households earning below the median income - including many public employees - are even further limited in their housing options.
Given these housing constraints, construction of affordable housing has become increasingly important to ensure those who occupy critical professions in our cities - teachers, public safety, community services - can live in close proximity to the communities they serve. Recently, the Governor signed into law several bills that make construction of affordable housing for teachers and school district employees more streamlined. Assembly Bill 1157 (Mullin) allows school boards to bypass the surplus property process if the property is to be used for teacher or school district employee housing. Additionally, Senate Bill 1413 (Leno) allows districts permission to set aside housing for its employees and to use state and federal low income housing tax credits (a critical source of funding for affordable housing projects). Combined, this new legislation opens the door for school districts to actively pursue the utilization of their surplus lands for affordable housing projects.
DISCUSSION
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