Written by Bruce Barton
State officials assured residents at a Los Altos forum last week that new housing goals imposed on the city, though daunting, could be met.
Colin Cross, a land-use representative with the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), suggested the city could meet its targets – 1,959 new units by 2031, 789 for very-low and low-income residents – through strategies ranging from encouraging construction of accessory dwelling units to building more high-density housing in areas such as the El Camino Real corridor.
The state officials’ talk was the centerpiece of a Feb. 22 virtual forum, “Understanding RHNA,” hosted by the Los Altos Affordable Housing Alliance and a host of other local nonprofit organizations that support affordable housing.
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Eric He/Town Crier
The city of Los Altos plans to partner with Santa Clara County to redevelop a property currently owned by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District into a 90-unit affordable housing project.
An all-affordable housing project in Los Altos, the first in the city’s history, is projected to break ground by the end of next year.
At a community meeting Jan. 27, officials from the city and Santa Clara County presented a brief overview of the proposed development – which could contain as many as 90 new units – and took questions from the public.
The project, located at 330 Distel Circle, will be a joint undertaking by the city and county because the county is purchasing the property from the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District using funds from Measure A, a 2016 ballot initiative that provided $950 million for the county to partner with cities on affordable housing projects.
Los Altos council talks RHNA data, disagrees on housing report Written by Eric He
In a debate that could signify a divide in the Los Altos City Council’s approach to housing, the council last week was split on whether to invite representatives from a group that penned a report suggesting state-mandated housing allocation figures in response to the affordable housing crisis are based on faulty data to a future council meeting – sparking an exchange between the mayor and vice mayor.
Toward the end of the Jan. 26 council meeting, Vice Mayor Anita Enander asked Mayor Neysa Fligor if they could bring in someone from the Palo Alto-based Embarcadero Institute to discuss the institute’s report, which accuses the state of using incorrect data from vacancy rates and also “double counting,” leading to legislation that exaggerated the number of housing units required in the Bay Area and other regions across the state.