Join us Friday at noon to learn more about what is working to address the needs of community members who are unhoused in San Jose. Emergency rental assistance, temporary interim housing, and permanent supportive housing each play a role in this response. As the City of San Jose looks to expand the use of “tiny homes” as a solution, we examine the challenges of short-term shelter, and why we can’t forget that we know what works – housing ends homelessness.

#MembershipMatters – Become a Member Today!

Become a member today to help us plan housing-rich, transit-oriented communities that are accessible to people of all incomes, backgrounds, and abilities.

RSVP today and take a deeper dive on affordable housing finance. 

What is affordable housing, what factors shape financing and project decisions, and ultimately what gets built? As advocates, we usually see only parts of the process as we push for great projects and support them as they come up for approval, but we can be even more effective if we understand the process that comes before and after project approval.  How we fund affordable housing has an impact on what gets proposed, where it is located, what it looks like, and how long it takes to get keys in doors. Empowered with a deeper understanding of this process, we can be more effective advocates.

This new series of events is designed to empower advocates with a deeper understanding of affordable housing issues to elevate the impact of our work. Click the link below and reserve your place for Tuesday, Sept. 27, at noon for an online discussion.

SV@Home and CoHo Present Happy Housers with The San Francisco Foundation and SJSU Institute of Metropolitan Studies

SV@Home and its Coalition of Housers (CoHo), with special co-hosts, the San Francisco Foundation and the San Jose State University Institute of Metropolitan Studies, invite you to join us for Happy Housers! Please join us on Wednesday, October 26 at 6 p.m. at Downtown San Jose’s San Pedro Market for an evening of connection and conversing with the Bay Area’s leading advocates for housing justice. Light sips and bites will be provided.

San Francisco Foundation’s mission is to mobilize resources and act as a catalyst for change to build strong communities, foster civic leadership, and promote philanthropy in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Institute for Metropolitan Studies at San Jose State is an interdisciplinary center for public-facing programming, research, and pedagogy on urban issues across geographic scales. 

Partner Spotlight

This week we’re introducing you to our funding partner, the Silicon Valley Venture Fund, more commonly known as SV2. This organization has a unique model of grant-making that focuses on investment in social impact; also making them special is the fact that SV2 continues to work with grantees to build bridges of collaboration within the nonprofit ecosystem. As a core mission support grantee, the resources SV2 has invested toward our work at SV@Home are working to strengthen our organizational capacity and increase our impact. Most recently, Regina Celestin Williams (Executive Director) and Sergio Lopez (Director of Development) met with SV2 staff, funders, and grantees at their Backyard Social, and SV@Home continues to engage with SV2 to leverage its resources for success. For more information on SV2, visit their website at SV2.org.

ICYMI: Replay Palo Alto City Council Candidates Housing Forum

Video replays are now available for the 2022 Palo Alto City Council Candidate Forum on Housing. The SV@Home Action Fund, Palo Alto Forward, and the Palo Alto Renters Association co-hosted the event.

During this forum, candidates answered questions about their plans to tackle the housing crisis before the Nov. 8 general election. All candidates participated: Alex Comsa, Brian Hamachek, Lisa Forssell, Ed Lauing, Julie Lythcott-Haims, Doria Summa, and Vicki Veenker.

Please click your language of preference below to see the video:

• English 
• Mandarin
• Spanish

SV@Home’s Policy Rundown, keeps you up-to-day of important housing policy actions throughout the Silicon Valley

Palo Alto Policy and Services Committee Explores Rental Survey

Last week, the Palo Alto Policy and Services Committee began looking at the details of a rental survey program. The rental survey is one of the tenant protections supported by the City Council in November 2021. This has been the highest priority for organized renters in Palo Alto, and SV@Home has been actively supporting this process with both technical support to the City, and with community advocacy. As Palo Alto implements the package of tenant protections, the data, tracking, and metrics provided by this registry will be important to determine the impact and efficacy of these programs.

SV@Home has been partnering with the City of Palo Alto since 2019 as a community partner in a city-initiated grant from the Partnership for the Bay’s Future (PBF). While the grant cycle ended last spring the partnership between the City, SV@Home, and the community has continued. SV@Home recently commissioned a policy memorandum on rental surveys that was included in the staff report to the City Council. 

Mountain View Eyes SB330 Replacement Requirements

Over the last few years, Mountain View has seen a significant number of rent-controlled apartment complexes demolished and replaced with new developments with much higher rents or sky-high purchase prices. This changed with the passage and implementation of SB330 – which has multiple parts impacting a wide range of local development processes and policies. One section of SB330 requires that protected units, or units that low-income tenants inhabited, must be replaced with either a re-controlled unit or deed-restricted, below-market-rate units affordable to lower-income households.

However, this does require the local government to decide how units are replaced – rent-stabilized v. rent-restricted – and it needs to be a relatively quick decision to have a standard in place. The City Council supported the staff-recommended requirement to replace the lost units with BMR units affordable to residents at 80% AMI or lower. SV@Home also spoke in support of the recommendation.

Before the passage of the State law, the City Council had already included developing a local displacement response strategy into their work plan for 2019. We expect this displacement strategy to return to the City Council as early as Spring of 2023. As part of this strategy, staff has been directed to bring forward their local replacement requirements to improve upon the foundation created by SB 330. SV@Home is proud to be part of the Partnership for the Bay Future Break Through Grant with the City and The Housing Trust of Silicon Valley, which will provide resources and assistance in facilitating public engagement, refining policy details, and supporting the implementation of this local policy.

City of Santa Clara to Update El Camino Real Specific Plan More Than a Year After Killing the Last One 

Last Tuesday, the Santa Clara City Council voted to update the El Camino Real Specific Plan draft that it had rejected last year. The action is a significant step towards salvaging the years-long effort to create a detailed plan to redevelop the central commercial corridor in Santa Clara. El Camino Real has been a critical part of growth plans throughout the region for decades. The stretch in Santa Clara has one of the highest rates of bus ridership in the county, and it feeds into the current Cal Train station and future Santa Clara BART station.

When the Council rejected the Draft Plan last year, it looked like it killed the vision of a walkable, bikeable, transit-rich, mixed-use corridor with higher-density activity areas and lower-density stretches in between. The proposal at that time was a dramatic downzoning of the entire corridor, limiting most of the corridor to two stories, with maximum heights of four stories at key intersections. It was only when local advocates pushed back that it became clear that this approach would support none of the benefits of planned redevelopment – new streets, bike lanes, open spaces, affordable housing, and sustainable economic activity – compelling the Council to reconsider. 

The update will not be as far-reaching as the original plan, but it offers an opportunity to ensure that the importance of the corridor for housing, transit, and economic vitality is not lost forever. Once adopted, the Santa Clara plan will join the recently adopted Sunnyvale, and Mountain View El Camino Real plans in promoting redevelopment with a commitment to affordable housing to current and future residents of these cities. SV@Home looks forward to continued work with local and regional partners on this new planning effort. The moral of this story is: Don’t give up, and support local leaders who are genuinely committed to thoughtful and sustainable growth.

San Jose Housing Department Holds Affordable Housing Siting Policy Community Meetings

The Affordable Housing Siting Policy will update how and in which neighborhoods San Jose’s affordable housing funding resources are invested. This is an important opportunity to reaffirm that we need more affordable housing everywhere around the City. Additionally, the policy commits to expanding affordable housing opportunities into parts of the City that have not historically seen much. SV@Home believes we need to expand choices and recognize that homes people can afford are an asset to every community. This policy will impact the future, and we need to make sure our voices and perspectives are heard as the policy is formalized.

There are two community meetings scheduled for next week:   

Thursday, September 29th, 6 PM

CLICK HERE for Zoom meeting registration  Meeting ID: 848 7400 3875

Friday, September 30th, 9 AM

CLICK HERE for Zoom meeting registration Meeting ID: 843 9386 2919 

Photo: Magnolias, a 66-unit affordable housing development coming to Morgan Hill.

Los Gatos, Milpitas and Gilroy Open Draft Housing Elements for Public Comment

The Town of Los Gatos and the Cities of Milpitas and Gilroy are accepting public comment for the initial drafts of their Housing Elements. This public comment period is only open for 30 days, so check out the Draft Housing Elements and learn how to provide feedback at SV@Home’s Housing Element Toolkit! Following the closure of the public comment period, cities will revise their Draft Housing Elements and send them to HCD for review and feedback.

• Los Gatos’ Draft Housing Element public comment period closes September 27th at 5:00 p.m. 
• Milpitas’ Draft Housing Element public comment period closes September 29th. 
• Gilroy’s Draft Housing Element public comment period closes October 12th.

Interested in other housing elements? Most cities in Santa Clara County have already produced Draft Housing Elements, revised them to incorporate public comments received during the 30-day public comment period, and submitted them to HCD. For these cities, advocates should contact the assigned housing element reviewer with concerns and comments, including copies of comments already submitted to the city, if issues of concern were not addressed adequately in the Draft. Check your city’s status and find out how to comment at SV@Home’s Housing Element Toolkit. 

After 90 days of review, HCD will send each city a letter with necessary changes or steps to bring the Housing Element into compliance with state law. We will see this feedback near the end of September when Mountain View will become the first jurisdiction in Santa Clara County to receive a Housing  Element Review Letter. Stay tuned, and be sure to check SV@Home’s Housing Element Toolkit for updates on what’s happening in your city.

SV@Home continues to monitor and engage with the three remaining jurisdictions that have not yet released a Draft: Cupertino, Palo Alto, and Santa Clara County for unincorporated county land.

Sunnyvale Continues Tenant Protection Meetings Monday

The City of Sunnyvale is exploring two tenant protection policies and will hold the second of three public meetings on Sept. 26.

Tenant relocation assistance and right-to-lease are two of the policies scheduled for these meetings. Relocation assistance would be given when a tenant receives a no-fault eviction, such as unit renovation, an owner moving into the unit, or removal of the team from the market. Tenant relocation assistance is essential to helping residents remain in their communities when evicted through no fault of their own.

A right-to-lease ordinance requires landlords to offer tenants a minimum one-year lease, creating greater stability and predictability for both parties. SV@Home examined Palo Alto’s Right-to-Lease policy and determined that the reach was limited and impacts were difficult to assess. However, several individual policies addressing small pieces of the need can act complementary to one another to create conditions with real impact. When you connect these policies to the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (AB 1482), which provides anti-gouging and eviction protections, that impact dramatically increases.

Read the proposed ordinance here.

Planning Commission

When: Monday, Sept. 26, 7 p.m.

Join on Zoom

Call-in: 833-548-0276 | Meeting ID: 918 2739 0357

City Council

When: Tuesday, Oct. 11, 7 p.m.

Join on Zoom

Call-in: 833-548-0276 | Meeting ID: 961 1158 0540

Gilroy City Council Candidate Forum Sept 30

Next Friday evening, September 30th, the SV@Home Action Fund will co-host an in-person candidate forum with all six candidates for the Gilroy City Council. Hosted by the Neon Exchange, this event will cover housing and other critical topics for Gilroy.

SEPTEMBER 30th, 6 PM,

The Neon Exchange, 7365 Monterey Street, Gilroy

Live Spanish interpretation will be available, and light snacks will be offered. All are welcome, but please be advised that seating is limited. We hope to see you there!

National Low Income Housing Coalition, National Alliance to End Homelessness, and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Housing First Series

Join National Low Income Housing Coalition, National Alliance to End Homelessness, and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities for a 4-part series on homelessness and Housing First.

Homelessness is a crisis in many communities – one that demands urgent action. To end homelessness once and for all, federal, state, and local governments must invest in proven solutions at the scale necessary to address the problem. The Housing First model is one of the best strategies for ending homelessness.

SEPTEMBER 28, 11:30AM, ONLINE EVENT

SCANPH Presents: Property and Supportive Services Working Hand-in-Hand

Join us on September 29th for an in-depth training session covering successful partnerships between Supportive Services and Property Management. Property managers, developers, and service providers often struggle in self-made (often unintentional) silos. This training session will explore ways to increase efficiency and impact to retain our most vulnerable in housing.

SEPTEMBER 29, 10:00AM, ONLINE EVENT

Greenbelt Alliance Presents: Hidden Heroes of the Greenbelt

A virtual benefit that honors the bold leaders in local government working to ensure greater climate resilience for the Bay Area. Join us for the second edition of our virtual annual benefit, Hidden Heroes of the Greenbelt, on  Sept. 29. We need to raise $270,000 to support our mission. You can donate today here to avoid fees, or add a donation to your ticket when you RSVP on Eventbrite .

SEPTEMBER 29, 12:00PM, ONLINE EVENT

Register to Vote Today — 2022 General Election on November 8

Now’s the time to make sure you and your friends and family are registered to vote! It’s easy to do online at the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters’ website here.

Register or re-register at the same website. Turned 18? Moved? Have you changed your name? Want to change your party affiliation? Became a citizen? Not sure when you last registered, and just want to double-check everything is up to date. Follow the same link.

The outcomes of local elections will determine how our county and cities tackle housing affordability, and your vote could be the deciding one in a close race. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Register today.

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