Dec 21, 2007

Real progress on affordable housing

Editorial

Given the political difficulty of addressing regional housing needs, cities in San Mateo County deserve credit for coming together to help provide homes for people already working in their communities.

Providing adequate housing is the most responsible step toward curtailing lengthy Bay Area commutes and reducing the auto pollution that contributes to global warming.

Officials from all 20 cities in San Mateo County, along with a county representative, agreed on a plan to divvy up the housing allocation for the next seven years. The county and its cities were allocated 15,738 units to meet state housing targets, which is no small amount.

In the city of San Mateo, where growth concerns figured heavily in the recent council election, officials will be given 3,051 units. Redwood City residents also worry about growth impacts, yet that city received an allocation of 1,832 units.

In Santa Clara County, the regional approach has been more difficult to navigate because of concerns the smaller cities might be forced to absorb some of San Jose's housing needs.

The Association of Bay Area Governments has riled up Palo Alto officials and residents by assigning the city 3,505 housing units to meet state housing guidelines through 2014.

Although the association recently slashed the number to 2,860, the city council on Dec. 10 concluded the lower figure is still "unrealistic" and agreed to fire off a letter seeking a further reduction.

Palo Alto insists land costs are high and that it would have to pay as much as $245 million to $310 million in subsidies for affordable units under the housing allocation.

Palo Alto raises valid concerns about the number but, at the same time, it's hard not to contrast the city's actions with the cities in San Mateo County, which have adopted an entirely different, can-do approach. These cities face some of the same complaints from residents worried about the pitfalls of new growth, yet they formed a first-of-its-kind subregional group to tackle the problem.

We commend the cities of San Mateo County, which also could have balked but instead worked together to tackle the regional housing need. That is how the process is supposed to work.