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<br />8A <br />Page 3 <br /> <br />Memorandum to the City Council <br />Housing Affordability <br />December 4, 2006 <br />From the Community Development Services Department <br />Based on a paper by Bruce Liedstrand <br /> <br />Housing Affordability - Problem Statement <br />In Redwood City, as on the rest of the Peninsula, the demand for housing has greatly <br />exceeded the supply, causing substantial increases in housing prices and a great <br />difficulty for lower and middle-income households to afford housing. It has been <br />estimated that in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are approximately 1.5 employed <br />workers per household, so for every 150 new jobs created, 100 new housing units are <br />needed. Unfortunately as the number of jobs in the region has grown, the number of <br />housing units has not kept pace, and many people, including teachers, public safety <br />workers, and other important employee groups, are priced out of the housing market. <br />Despite the regional economic setbacks of 2000-2001, the demand for housing has <br />continued to be strong and prices have continued to increase. See Table One on Page <br />7 for summary of Redwood City growth projections. <br /> <br />Staff Assumptions <br />. For many reasons, San Mateo County must become denser in developed urban <br />areas <br />. If given a choice, people will want to live close to where they work <br />. Supply of land is fixed <br />. Demand for housing will remain high <br />. Mortgage rates will remain in an acceptable range <br /> <br />Alternative Solutions and Tools for Consideration <br /> <br />1. Increase the Supply and Variety of Housing <br />Since one of the primary causes of high housing prices on the Peninsula is the lack <br />of adequate supply to meet the demand, one of the key ways to increase <br />affordability is to substantially increase the supply of housing. <br /> <br />Use Land More Efficiently <br />The Draft Downtown Precise Plan confronts this issue head-on, by removing density <br />limits on new residential development per se. As the peninsula is rapidly running out <br />of land for new housing, a key element in providing more affordable housing is <br />increasing the efficiency of the use of available land. Single-family neighborhoods <br />typically provide only 4 to 6 residential units per acre. Well designed, denser <br />housing can provide at least 40 to 60 residential units per acre, a ten times as <br />efficient use of available land. This new higher density housing can be located in <br />downtown with its connections to Caltrain and other public transportation. <br /> <br />Increase the diversity of housing types: <br />Residential options currently available in Redwood City are primarily limited to <br /> <br />Page 1 of 7 <br />