Fall 2019 Lunchtime Forum Series: What does it take to build housing?

We know that housing is unaffordable, with a six-figure income required to afford an average rental apartment in Santa Clara County and a more than $250,000 per year income required to purchase a median-priced home. In 2018, our Lunchtime Forum series dove into the cost of building housing, including the component costs of market-rate and affordable development, the impact of various local government policies on housing prices, and creative solutions and policies. This year, we will take on another key component of the housing production process.

What determines where, when, and how housing actually gets built? Our 2019 Lunchtime Forum series will explore this question. The first session aims to uncover where housing gets built, an in-depth discussion of Housing Elements and General Plan process. Next comes the when- when do the entitlement and specific plan processes prolong development timelines and how can we make this process work better? We then move to discussions of the how: how can single family zoning be transformed to encourage more missing middle housing development? Lastly, the physical how: a deep dive into labor costs, access to labor, and how this impacts whether housing construction is feasible.