AgdaPkt 2002-06-03 - Laserfiche WebLink

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REPORT To the Honorable Mayor and City Council From the City Manager June 3, 2002 Subject _ Housing and Traffic Demand Impacts of Non-Residential Development Recommendation City Council to determine whether to authorize a Housing Alternatives Study as outlined in this report. Background In recent years as the industry that we know as Silicon Valley has grown and prospered, we have been experiencing a side-effect of that growth and prosperity: A housing shortage leading to high housing prices and substantial traffic congestion. Although the recent downturn in the local economy has eased the housing and traffic pressures somewhat, as the economy strengthens in the coming months and years, housing prices and traffic congestion are again likely to increase. The fundamental reason for this problem is the relationship between jobs and housing: Workers need to be able to go home to sleep at night. In the San Francisco Bay area there are on average 1.84 employed workers in each household. Thus, forever 1,840 jobs there need to be 1,000 residential units to accommodate the workers. If the needed housing isn't provided close to the jobs, the resulting shortage causes high housing prices and some workers are forced into long commutes to find homes in other areas. This housing shortage particularly impacts lower income workers who are needed in the local economy but who can't find local housing they can afford. The long-term solution is to increase the supply of housing and bring the jobs/housing ratio more nearly into balance. In reviewing Kaiser Hospital's proposed master plan, staff saw an opportunity to begin to address the problem. Kaiser is proposing to approximately triple the square footage of building space on their site and there are portions of the site along Main Street (as shown in the attached site plan) that are good sites for higher density housing. Staff suggested to Kaiser that accommodating some residential units on site for Kaiser employees would help Kaiser attract and retain employees in the coming years as well as doing its fair share of providing housing and minimizing traffic. Kaiser expressed strong opposition to the staff suggestion and the issue has been deferred until after the Environmental Impact Report (EIR).