ZONE FOR HOMES: Planning for Future Needs through Housing Elements

We all want our communities to be vibrant and prosperous places. We want opportunities for our children and safe, sustainable choices for our elders, employees and ourselves. To realize this vision, we need to address our most pressing challenge:

The cost of renting or buying a home is too expensive in San Mateo County.

Too many people do not have the opportunity to buy or rent a home they can afford, and so our neighbors, co-workers and families cannot afford to live here. The Housing Element update process - one occurring right now in communities throughout San Mateo County - is an opportunity to resolve this problem.

By state law, every city and county in California must have a General Plan that serves as the guide to development and land use in that community. Every General Plan has several elements, or chapters. By law, the Housing Element of each jurisdiction's General Plan has to be updated every seven to eight years.

Housing Leadership Council brings together information and advocates to help local governments write Housing Elements that will meet San Mateo County's need for housing into the future.

Recommended Housing Element Strategies

HLC has developed a list ideas, strategies and principles for Housing Element updates, which cover some key policy areas. they include:

• Ensuring that all new development includes homes with a full range of affordability.
• Identifying new sources of funds to create more affordable neighborhoods.
• Creating more effective zoning plans and regulations
• Encouraging better use of our limited space for development

You can download a full list of recommended principles, or see our expanded recommendations, which cover more specific policy areas.

Background

Why are Housing Elements important? HLC partner organization Sustainable San Mateo County produced "Important Questions for the Future of Our Community, which explores ways in which our need for more home choices is connected to our social, economic and environmental sustainability. You can also see our flier on housing element, which his great for sharing with others unfamiliar with these issues.

Learn

From the California Department of Housing and Community Development:

Housing Strategies to Strengthen Communities (Adobe PDF)

Housing Elements: Tool to Create Vibrant, Livable Communities (Adobe PDF)

Research

The cooperative website 21elements.com provides a comprehensive database of policies that are listed in the Housing Elements of San Mateo city and county governments. Specifically:

Local Housing Elements: Jurisdiction-Specific Reports

Existing Housing Need

Available Sites for Housing

Act

You can find upcoming meeting dates and locations at www.21elements.com under "Upcoming Meetings"

Want to get involved and advocate for more affordable homes in your community? Contact HLC staff at organize~at~hlcsmc.org and we'll help you get started! Or, Find your San Mateo County local government's website here.