San Mateo County Awards $54M In Housing Grants

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — San Mateo County officials on Monday announced a record investment in housing.

The county’s Board of Supervisors is awarding over $54 million in grants that will be used to address the affordability crisis.

The funds will be used for the creation or renovation of 1,069 affording housing units.

Board of Supervisors President Don Horsley announced the move Monday.

“San Mateo County is making good on our commitment to providing affordable housing options for families and individuals struggling to find an affordable roof over their head, for those with disabilities, for our seniors – truly for all of us,” Horsley said in a statement.

Funding sources include more than $23 million from the Measure K, the countywide, voter-approved half-cent sales tax that provides local funds for local needs.

“When we asked voters to approve Measure K in 2016, we specifically called out the need to provide affordable homes. We are making good on that pledge,” Horsley said.

Grants were awarded on a competitive basis through the County’s Affordable Housing Fund. This is the County’s 10th round of grants since the fund was established in 2013.

Funding is being issued from the following sources:

• $22,229,991: Measure K
• $864,000: Measure K proceeds specifically to support development of homes for young adults aging out of foster care
• $25,336,972: federal American Rescue Plan Act
• $931,000: California Department of Housing and Community Development Permanent Local Housing Allocation funds
• $5,000,000: County Mental Health Services Act Housing program funds which specifically funds homes for persons with mental illnesses receiving services from the County Health

The Affordable Housing Fund, under the direction of the Board of Supervisors, prioritizes projects that provide units for households that are homeless and households with extremely low incomes (30 percent of the Area Median Income; for example, $55,900 annually for a family of four).

Of the 1,069 homes being supported across the 11 awarded projects, 279 homes are specifically for unhoused individuals and families. A total of 196 are for households with extremely low incomes.

“If we are going to thrive as a region and thrive as a community that cares, we absolutely must ensure that working families and the most vulnerable among us have safe, clean and affordable housing,” Horsley said. “We cannot have a community of haves and have nots. That is not sustainable and it is not morally defensible.”

Since the inception of the Affordable Housing Fund, the County has supported the building, preservation and rehabilitation of more than 4,500 affordable homes.