Redwood City – Board of Supervisors President Don Horsley today announced 11 projects will receive a total of $54 million to create more affordable housing across San Mateo County.
The award – $54,361,963 – is a County record for investing in housing. A total of 1,069 affordable housing units will be created or renovated with these funds.
“San Mateo County is making good on our commitment to providing affordable housing options for families and individuals struggling to find an affordable roof over their head, for those with disabilities, for our seniors – truly for all of us,” Horsley said.
Funding sources include more than $23 million from the Measure K, the countywide, voter-approved half-cent sales tax that provides local funds for local needs.
“When we asked voters to approve Measure K in 2016, we specifically called out the need to provide affordable homes. We are making good on that pledge,” Horsley said.
Grants were awarded on a competitive basis through the County’s Affordable Housing Fund. This is the County’s 10th round of grants since the fund was established in 2013.
Funding is being issued from the following sources:
The Affordable Housing Fund, under the direction of the Board of Supervisors, gives priority to projects that provide units for households that are homeless and households with extremely low incomes (30 percent of the Area Median Income; for example, $55,900 annually for a family of four).
Of the 1,069 homes being supported across the 11 awarded projects, 279 homes are specifically for unhoused individuals and families. A total of 196 are for households with extremely low incomes.
“If we are going to thrive as a region and thrive as a community that cares, we absolutely must ensure that working families and the most vulnerable among us have safe, clean and affordable housing,” Horsley said. “We cannot have a community of haves and have nots. That is not sustainable and it is not morally defensible.”
Since the inception of the Affordable Housing Fund, the County has supported the building, preservation and rehabilitation of more than 4,500 affordable homes.
The following table lists projects awarded grants in this latest round of funding: