Highlights

Lunchtime Forum: Housing Silicon Valley’s Education Sector Workforce

Last week, 70+ elected officials, educators and stakeholders heard from a distinguished panel moderated by Deborah McKoy, Executive Director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Cities and Schools.  The panelists, Barbara Christensen, Former Director of Community/Government Relations for the San Mateo County Community College District; Teresa O’Neill, Santa Clara City Councilmember and former Santa Clara Unified School District Trustee; and Chris Funk, Superintendent for the East Side Union High School District, shared the challenges they have faced, best practices, and examples of successful teacher housing developments.

Thanks go to all the speakers and participants for engaging in this important issue. We know we have follow up to do, so we will keep you informed about future opportunities to engage.

Announcing the SV@Home Career Board!

Did you know that SV@Home has a job board? If you are an SV@Home member, you can post jobs on our career page. Just email a link or PDF of the listing to mitch@siliconvalleyathome.org along with contact information and a deadline (if applicable). We will leave job postings up for 30 days or until the specified deadline.

If you are looking to work in housing, you can check out the job board at https://siliconvalleyathome.org/careers/

Now Is the Time to Join Together. Become a Member of SV@Home!

If you’ve been keeping up with our recent policy updates, you’ll know that there is a lot going on locally, statewide, and nationwide in housing right now. In a time where our country seems to be growing more divided, our joint efforts to fight for what is right is more important than ever before. That is why we want to ask you to consider joining or renewing your SV@Home membership. Being a member of SV@Home will provide you with many opportunities to use your voice and to learn, act, and engage in solutions to our housing crisis alongside a broad coalition of over 200 organizations and community members who are actively working to make a difference. If you believe that we need more affordable homes in the Silicon Valley, we ask that you stand with us and help strengthen our collective voice as we work together to make the Silicon Valley a place where everyone has access to a safe, stable, and affordable home.

New members and existing members who renew now will be considered active from now through the end of 2018. See more information on membership on our website: https://siliconvalleyathome.org/our-members/

SV@Home is excited that Sunlight Giving is supporting our work!  Thank you!

For any questions, contact gina@siliconvalleyathome.org

Policy Updates

State Housing Package Decision Nears

The end of the Legislative Session is but a week away so there is a flurry of activity in Sacramento as legislators work to pass bills by the September 15th deadline.  This includes the housing package agreed upon by the Governor and legislative leaders that includes both residential development streamlining and affordable housing funding bills.   We understand that the Governor will stand by his pledge that he won’t sign funding bills absent streamlining measures (most likely SB 35).

The two funding bills in the mix — SB 2 (the Permanent Source Bill) and SB 3 (a $4 billion housing bond)– both need to achieve a 2/3rds votes from the legislature, and that is proving to be a heavy lift.  SB 2 author, Senator Toni Atkins, is pulling out all the stops to get Assembly members on board, working on amendments that respond to concerns, including the desire that more of the funds flow directly to local governments.

The Palmer Fix bill (AB 1505), which would reiterate the authority of local governments to create inclusionary programs for rental housing, is still in the mix.  Amendments are being volleyed about, and our fingers are crossed that it is included in the final package.

It’s not too late for you to take action!  Send a message today!

San Jose City Council approves “tiny homes” pilot project for homeless housing

On August 29th, after hours of testimony from a crowd of over 250 supporters and opponents, the San Jose City Council approved a Community Bridge Housing pilot program to allow for three “tiny home” villages to house a portion of San Jose’s more than 4,000 homeless residents. This “tiny homes” or micro-unit concept was considered due to AB 2176, a bill introduced by former Assemblymember Nora Campos, which allows San Jose to bypass State guidelines to zone and build tiny home structures amid a shelter crisis for a five year period.

The Council also directed staff to come back in 60 days to revisit a list of sites in all 10 council districts and to develop a detailed community outreach plan. Sites for “tiny home” villages are required to be at least a half an acre or be inside a 10,000 square foot building to house 25 residents, with access to transit and utilities. The pilot program will sunset in January, 2022.

SV@Home will be monitoring progress and will alert members to upcoming meetings.   We thank the City Council for taking this bold action to respond to the immediate homeless crisis while working on long-term permanent housing solutions.

SV@Home Events

Happy Housers with State Senator Jim Beall on September 22nd!

Friday, September 22nd from 5:30-7:00pm
Piazza Piccola Italia
350 W Julian St, San Jose
RSVP

Our next Happy Housers will feature special guest Senator Jim Beall, one of the greatest allies of affordable housing in the CA legislature. This year, Senator Beall  authored SB 3, a $4 billion housing bond that will be placed on the November 2018 ballot if passed by the Legislature this session. Please RSVP here to join Senator Beall and SV@Home staff for drinks, conversation, and networking with fellow housers on the 22nd!

Save the Date: SV@Home Member Holiday Party

Wednesday, December 13th from 5:30-8:00 PM
Silicon Valley Capital Club
50 West San Fernando, San Jose
RSVP

Join us for our annual holiday party on Wednesday, December 13th at the Silicon Valley Capital Club!  This is a great opportunity to meet and mingle with others determined to make housing affordable throughout Silicon Valley.

Note: This event is for SV@Home members only, so make sure to become a member before you RSVP. If you are not sure whether or not you are a member, please email gina@siliconvalleyathome.org.

Not a member yet? Sign up now to become a 2017 member and attend the rest of our 2016 events, including the holiday party, for free! Click here for more information on becoming an SV@Home member and click here  for the membership form.

We hope to see you on December 13th! You can RSVP on the eventbrite page.

Partner Events

NPH Fall Conference: Standing Together

October 6, 2017, 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Hilton San Francisco Union Square
Hosted by Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California

From NPH: “Our theme for this year – “Standing Together” – reflects our commitment to standing with our members, partners, and allies and the broader community to create an equitable, sustainable, and vibrant region and state through creating and preserving affordable homes. Our Conference will provide you with the tools, knowledge, and networks to do just that.”

See the full details on NPH’s website.

Upcoming Public Meetings

Check our website’s Events Calendar for more details about each of these meetings and other upcoming events!

Los Altos City Council to consider amendments to CT Zone Ordinance

Tuesday, September 12th at 7 PM
Los Altos City Hall
1 N. San Antonio Road

The Los Altos City Council will consider recommendations from the Planning and Transportation Commission to adopt changes to the Commercial Thoroughfare Zone District ordinance, which would affect the City’s commercial thoroughfare zone along El Camino Real. The proposed changes are intended to bring the City in compliance with State Density Bonus Law by clarifying height limit and setback requirements for new developments.

In addition to amending its CT zoning district ordinance, SV@Home urges the Council to address broaden the City’s suite of affordable housing tools by:

• Revising the existing inclusionary ordinance to address lower-income housing needs and to allow alternative compliance to its on-site inclusionary requirement.

• Prioritizing affordable housing development on City-owned land.

• Allowing denser, mixed-income and mixed use developments along key transportation corridors like El Camino Real.

Join us in urging the Council to support affordable housing in Los Altos by speaking up on September 12th or by sending an email to Mayor Prochnow and the Los Altos City Council.

• Mayor Mary Prochnow, ​mprochnow@losaltosca.gov

• Mayor Pro-Tem Jean Mordo, jmordo@losaltosca.gov

• Councilmember Jeannie Bruins, jbruins@losaltosca.gov

• Councilmember Lynette Lee Eng, lleeeng@losaltosca.gov

• Councilmember Jan Pepper, jpepper@losaltosca.gov

Mountain View: Affordable Housing Strategy and Framework Study Session

Tuesday, September 12th, 6:30pm
Mountain View City Hall
500 Castro Street, Mountain View

The City of Mountain View will be hosting a study session about citywide affordable housing policies on Tuesday, September 12th. The agenda and staff report for the study session will be available soon. SV@Home is in the process of preparing a comment letter with suggested policies for the City to consider. Email Josh Barousse at josh@siliconvalleyathome.org for more details.

City of Santa Clara: Study Session on San Jose Urban Villages

Tuesday, September 12th , 5:00pm
City of Santa Clara City Hall
1500 Warburton Avenue, Santa Clara

The City of Santa Clara will be conducting a study session on San Jose’s Urban Village Planning Process. The study session will provide an opportunity to discuss topics raised by the “United Communities for Sensible Development” – a group that petitioned the Council for this study session – including “Signature Projects”, “Protected Intersections” and the environmental review process conducted by the City of San Jose prior to adoption of Urban Village Plans for the Stevens Creek, Winchester, and Santana Row/Valley Fair Urban Villages.

The study session format includes a time for public testimony.  Questions or comments may be made at the study session and/or submitted to the City in advance of the study session at planning@santaclaraca.gov.

SV@Home will monitor this issue and will share highlights from the discussion via our next newsletter.

CASA Officially Launches!

Wednesday, September 27th
9:30 AM – 12:00 PM (Technical Committee)
12:30 PM – 2:30 PM (Steering Committee)
Bay Area Metro Center
375 Beale Street – Suite 800, San Francisco

Bringing together 46 leaders from across the Bay Area, CASA aims to build an actionable political consensus around housing production and preservation. Check out a previous blog post for more details about how and why CASA came to be.

Over the next 15 months, CASA’s Steering Committee and Technical Committee will be meeting to develop a package of actions to comprehensively address the Bay Area’s housing needs. In addition to being co-chaired by SV@Home’s Leslye Corsiglia, Silicon Valley’s public, private, and nonprofit sectors are well-represented on CASA.

Fully addressing the Bay Area housing crisis will require local action across all 101 cities and 9 counties. Your ideas are needed. We will be calling on all our South Bay allies to voice their needs, concerns, and ideas over the next 15 months.

Stay tuned for announcements on South Bay specific events and opportunities to weigh in via SV@Home’s website, newsletters, and social media feeds. Email Pilar Lorenzana at pilar@siliconvalleyathome.org for any questions or to share your ideas!