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6.C. - Page 18 of 29 <br />o iitt :/Icaiculator.seco:ldunitcentersmc.or <br />San Mateo County's Second Unit Calculator helps a homeowner get an estimate for what <br />a Second Unit project might cost, and calculates the amount it might yield as an <br />investment. It also allows a user to change assumptions such as location, unit size, type of <br />unit and much more. <br />o littvs:Ilsecondunitcentersnic.or(-Y/ <br />The County's website focuses on Second Unit development and, according to Grand Jury <br />interviews, will be further updated in the future. <br />Amnesty for Non -Permitted Second Units <br />The actual number of non -permitted Second Units in the County is unknown.27 However, <br />whatever this number might actually be, these units are important affordable housing as long as <br />they meet minimum health and safety codes. <br />The San Mateo County Planning and Building Department and nonprofits such as "Rebuilding <br />Together Peninsula'28 are focused on encouraging owners of non -permitted Second Units in the <br />unincorporated area of the County and East Palo Alto respectively to develop plans that would <br />make more of them safer and healthier and thereby permitted. <br />In January 2020, the County initiated a pilot program for homeowners who wished to consider <br />upgrading their non -permitted Second Units 29 If this pilot program is successful, it will be <br />expanded and marketed as a model that cities in the County could adopt. The program allows: <br />o existing Second Units to be brought up to code and become permitted; <br />o applicants to explore whether the amnesty program for non -permitted units might work <br />for them; <br />o a no -risk assurance which enables the homeowner to back out of the permitting process at <br />any time with no obligation on their end to bring their non -permitted unit up to health and <br />safety standards; <br />o a variety of enforcement suspensions included in the laws that took effect this past <br />January; and <br />o some previously non -permitted construction features (so some homeowners no longer <br />need amnesty.) <br />Rebuilding Together Peninsula is a non-profit organization that focuses on home repair. Eighty <br />five percent of its home repair projects are in San Mateo County, primarily garage -conversion <br />Second Units in East Palo Alto.30 31 Much of that work is focused on upgrading non -permitted <br />Second Units. Grand Jurors toured the Redwood City offices and learned that the nonprofit <br />27 Grand Jury interviews. <br />28 RebuildingTogetherPeninsula is a non-profit that is focused on working with other local agencies to upgrade non - <br />permitted second units in East Palo Alto. It has a focus on repairs of garage -conversions, not new construction. <br />lmp,::' sits. )M-ttylecnllt•elx:ilditigto e�peiiiiisula.ora/epa-adu-initiative/home <br />29 See the SMC Second Unit Amnesty Website: https://Riannir�-g.smc_oe ec <br />v.orglsond-unit-amnesty <br />30 Grand Jury interview. <br />31 Rebuilding Together the Peninsula EPA Garage Conversion/ADU Legalization Initiative, <br />https;llslE@5.�09iJle.c47117/rCbul ldtil�tb �CthC['�74!] 1 [] til � l:[. nr��lcp�_aCi a -i i1 itiati velhonle <br />2019-2020 San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury <br />143 <br />