Housing Manipulation: A Workshop That Worked

Regular Voice reader David Harris also contributes on occasion and has kindly provided this summary of a recent Housing Workshop held by the City.  David writes:

No matter where you stand on the issue of housing, affordable or otherwise, the city’s workshop on February 10 at the Lions Club was a well thought out and well attended effort to learn what residents are thinking and what their concerns are. Rather than a series of speakers addressing the audience, much of the meeting consisted of groups of residents huddled around tables exchanging ideas and sharing responses to questions posed by a facilitator.

“How does the housing climate affect you and the people you care about?” and “What are your hopes for the future of our community?” were a couple of the ice breakers that got conversations started.

Various housing options such as Accessory Dwelling Units (Granny units), multi-family units, live/work units and employee housing were presented, and pros/cons discussed at each table.  Residents were asked what their concerns were about each, and what other ideas they might have to create additional housing.

A few factoids that were shared and are available from the presentation on the city’s web site:

• San Mateo County has created about 79,000 jobs between 2010 and 2016, but only about 4,900 housing units.
• The median price of a home in San Mateo County has doubled and average rent of a two-bedroom apartment has increased 66% between 2011 and 2017.
• 30,000 people live in Burlingame. Nearly 39,000 people work here. Of those who work here, 38% earn less than $40,000 a year.
• Homeowners comprise 47% of the city’s population. Renters comprise 53%.

One can’t help but notice the imbalance between new jobs and new housing that seems to playing out each day as we watch a lot of commercial development (e.g. 300 Airport Blvd, north of Coyote Point) move forward lately and traffic congestion keeps growing.

After the meeting, one official told me that one of the reasons for the meeting’s format is that Burlingame has some big decisions coming up in the years ahead. It’s easy to know what residents are against, she said. But figuring out what they will support is a tougher challenge. Hopefully, this meeting helped provide some useful insights and perspective. Another, planned for April or May, is to focus on prioritizing options.

I appreciate David's recap of this workshop.  I am quite worried that some of the Big Decisions are being made without consideration to the quality of life in B'game.  This Monday night is a prime example of that with city parking Lots N and F on the slate for development of the "Village at Burlingame" affordable housing.  I have been hard pressed to find any current residents who think this is a good idea or that it will make a dent in the "affordability problem" with several thinking it will actually make things worse.  More than once I hear people ask "We can't afford a new, seismically safe Rec Center, but we can build affordable housing?".  Maybe we need a workshop on that trade-off.

Comments

[David]

One additional note on concerns shared at the workshop: Many residents with children and/or grandchildren worry how those kids will be able to afford to live in the community in which they grew up. A lot of people who are renting and some homeowners are not sure how long they’ll be able afford to live here. Many local businesses (not to mention schools and city government) struggle to find employees and pay them enough so that they don’t lose them to horrendous commutes and opportunities elsewhere.

[Becca]

Thank you David for the summary.

[hollyroller]

Holy Cow Joe,
Looks like another topic that no one cares about.
There sure are a lot of those on the BV these days.