Housing – Page 4 – Palo Alto Matters – Community voices for sustainable solutions

New housing laws pose planning challenges for city

by paloaltomattersOctober 5, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / October 5, 2017

City had opposed SB 35, which creates ‘streamlined’ approval process for multi-family housing

The housing crunch may be an official Palo Alto priority, but City Hall wasn’t cheering last week when Gov. Jerry Brown signed 15 bills that aim to encourage residential development.

State Senate Bill 35, which was sponsored by Scott Weiner, D-San Francisco, is among the most significant components in a package of housing bills that the Legislature approved in late September and that Brown subsequently signed into law on Sept. 29. The bill creates a “streamlined” approval process for housing developers whose projects meet “objective” planning standards and include below-market-rate housing.

It is also the only housing bill that Palo Alto formally opposed.

Council: North Bayshore development must support schools

by paloaltomattersSeptember 28, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Mountain View Voice – by Kevin Forestieri / September 28, 2017

Proposed housing boom would require plans to house thousands of new students

Council members unanimously agreed to add language to the North Bayshore Precise Plan that would require the region’s two major landowners, Google and Sobrato, to submit a “local school district strategy” as part of any dense residential project, showing precisely how the developers would assist in building local, neighborhood-oriented schools in the area. The strategy is fairly broad, and could include land dedication, funding, transferring development rights or other “innovative strategies.”

Google demands more office space, threatens to block North Bayshore housing

by paloaltomattersSeptember 27, 2017September 27, 2017Leave a comment

The Mercury News – by Ethan Baron / September 27, 2017

MOUNTAIN VIEW — In a standoff with city officials, Google is demanding more office space for its futuristic new “Charleston East” campus and is threatening to block nearly 10,000 units of critically needed housing if it doesn’t get its way.

The company’s move could derail a plan — given preliminary approval by the Mountain View City Council early Wednesday morning and which Google says it still supports — for construction of 9,850 homes in the North Bayshore development anchored by Charleston East. The Mountain View search giant had earlier told the city it would work with partners to have 9,600 housing units built on its property, said Vice-Mayor Lenny Siegel.

Big changes coming to El Camino Real

by paloaltomattersSeptember 12, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Daily Post – Opinion by Editor, Dave Price / September 12, 2017

In Palo Alto, 2018 will be the year of El Camino Real.

City Councilwoman Lydia Kou recently rattled off a list of 11 projects that are in the works for the King’s Highway.

Most of these projects would result in more housing stacked up against the street, 50 feet tall (the city’s height limit). If Palo Alto isn’t careful, El Camino will become a canyon with a street on the bottom and 50-foot walls on either side.

Editorial: The shriveling office cap

by paloaltomattersSeptember 8, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by the Palo Alto Weekly editorial board / September 8, 2017

Council’s split over office cap will surely return as an election issue next year

The irony and hypocrisy of this is that the same majority that voted Tuesday to make more commercial development easier has been advocating repeatedly for more housing. If there is one documentable result of the current office-cap restrictions, it is that it has led to more housing projects where office development would have otherwise been likely.

It is not hard to imagine voters becoming cynical about candidates who say their focus is on increasing the supply of housing while voting to make new commercial development, the major driver in demand for housing, easier.

Palo Alto relaxes limit on office development

by paloaltomattersSeptember 6, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / September 6, 2017

Split council votes to give developers more flexibility, scraps ‘beauty contest’

After two years of sluggish commercial growth, the Palo Alto City Council moved Tuesday to loosen the city’s cap on office development so as to give builders more flexibility.

The City Council largely agreed that the city’s cap on office and research-and-development projects has been largely successful — for some, a little too much so. Adopted in October 2015, the cap applied to three prominent commercial areas — downtown, the California Avenue business district and along El Camino Real — and limited new development in these areas to 50,000 square feet per year.

El Camino plan offers hope to Palo Alto’s housing advocates

by paloaltomattersAugust 29, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Gennady Sheyner / August 29, 2017

City Council lauds development plan from Palo Alto Housing; considers rule changes to stimulate more housing

Palo Alto’s elected leaders found plenty to like on Monday in a new proposal to bring 61 units of desperately needed affordable housing to a transit-friendly site in the Ventura neighborhood.

There’s just one serious problem: it would violate the zoning code in more ways than they can count.

Should we worry about Airbnbs?

by paloaltomattersAugust 8, 2017September 27, 2017Leave a comment

A recent study of Airbnb impacts on the District of Columbia is prompting legislators to crack down on the use of housing stock for commercial “tourist” rentals.

The growth of the commercial STR [short-term rental] market has serious negative implications for housing affordability and quality of life for D.C. residents. While the District grapples with a serious housing affordability crisis, the widespread conversion of residential units into short-term rentals makes it even harder for families to find affordable places to live. Commercial short-term rental operations may be pushing steeper rent increases across the District. Moreover, regulators have not exercised enforcement of health, safety, zoning, and rental housing laws on short-term rentals.

Read the D.C. Study

San Francisco is also trying to manage the housing impacts of short-term rentals. In 2015 and 2016, San Francisco rolled out rules requiring that all short-term rental hosts register with the City. In addition, hosts may only rent out their permanent residence, an entire home may not be rented out for more than 90 days per year, and no one may rent out more than one unit. Despite those rules, the city found that 75 percent of short-term rental hosts continued to operate illegally. Under a recent legal settlement with San Francisco, two major short-term rental companies, Airbnb and Home-Away, will actively participate in monitoring and enforcing the registration requirement.

While of course Palo Alto is not D.C. or San Francisco, the D.C. study shines light on concerns shared by many Palo Alto residents and San Francisco’s experience provides insights into the feasibility of various controls. As we confront our own housing affordability crisis, shouldn’t Palo Alto be asking the same questions?

To what extent are short-term rentals impacting the availability of housing units for residential use?
Is the short-term rental market contributing to higher residential rents?
Will new in-law/granny units be used for housing or vacation rentals?
Are hosts renting out their primary residences or serving as property managers for multiple units?
What is the impact of a growing short-term rental market on Palo Alto’s quality of life?

A search of Airbnb’s website on July 22, 2017, showed 306, “entire-home” Airbnb listings in Palo Alto. The average price per night for an Airbnb home in Palo Alto:

Zero or more bedrooms = $276
One or more bedrooms = $306
Two or more bedrooms = $402
Three or more bedrooms the average price jumps to $600 per night.

Click here for Airbnb data for Palo Alto and East Palo Alto by analytics firm AIRDNA

Visit our Check the Facts page for more info to put Palo Alto’s challenges into context.

New housing money available

by paloaltomattersJuly 28, 2017December 19, 2017Leave a comment

The Daily Journal – by Samantha Weigel / July 28, 2017

$24M in new tax revenue open to developers of affordable units, largest amount in county’s history

San Mateo County is putting its money where its mouth is and, when it comes to voters’ frustration with the housing crisis, that translates to nearly $24 million.

This week, the county’s Department of Housing announced its largest round of annual funding for developers looking to build or preserve homes for those making low incomes, former foster youth or people with mental illness….

Read story

Planning commission unanimously recommends office-cap extension

by paloaltomattersJuly 27, 2017August 29, 2017Leave a comment

Palo Alto Weekly – by Elinor Aspegren and Shawna Chen / July 27, 2017

The Palo Alto Planning and Transportation Commission supported the city staff’s recommendation to extend the 50,000 square foot office-cap ordinance on Wednesday. Despite concerns about its long-term effects, all five commissioners present passed the motion with little debate….