San Mateo County Once Again Found to Be the Least Affordable County in the United States

The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) has released its 2012 Out of Reach report and San Mateo County was listed as the most expensive county in which to rent.

NLIHC's Out of Reach website

NLIHC's Out of Reach fact sheet

Year End Thoughts for 2011 from Mark Moulton

In 1989 a group of East Palo Alto clergy, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church congregation members and the County of San Mateo joined to do the impossible: build ownership housing as Habitat for Humanity in San Mateo County. Families were sometimes so skeptical that they would not sign up to be candidates to buy a home. Five years later, we built and sold three bedroom condominiums for about $100,000 that were built with donated funds and volunteer labor.

Today at Housing Leadership Council we are prepared to organize for another miracle in our community. We have families who work here and whose children grew up here who can afford about $800 - $1800 per month for their housing costs. The gap between what families can pay and what is available, especially after the 2008 destruction of jobs, home values and plans for the future, has grown. What little rental housing is available here costs more because of high demand, while ownership housing has kept much of its value while remaining out of reach to our young families and to many seniors when they retire.

At HLC, we're committed to the health of the four generation family. Housing Leadership Council participates in regional planning that creates local success. We support Main Streets that work, public transportation that works, open space that stays open and development of our transit corridor. We promote building of homes that our own families can afford to live in, for the people who work here to be able to live here. When the economy turns around, we urge the community to be organized for success, which includes providing for housing people who take new jobs here rather than ex-urbing them with punishing commutes.

We can figure out how to support the members of our community by providing housing that uses the infrastructure we have and improves upon it. We can also listen to our own neighbors to elicit how to build where growth is planned, needed and welcome. We can listen to the customers in our community and build what they need for a price they can afford. We can deliver inclusive communities to our four-generation families and keep them together.

Have a Happy and Healthy Holiday.

Sincerely,

Mark

Get Involved! HLC's Community Builders Program

You can make a huge difference by getting involved in your community's process to update its housing plans and meet the need for homes at all affordability levels. We are working with members of YOUR community to enable them to effectively engage with local government and express their desire for healthy, sustainable communities that everyone can afford to live in. HLC’s Community Builders Program is fostering community-based leadership that is informed and educated about today’s housing issues.

Learn More About Empowering Your Community:

Check out the HLC Community Builders Program page.