A plan to densify housing in San Jose is sowing division and animosity in the South Bay. Supporters hail it as a fix for the South Bay’s crippling housing shortage. Opponents call it a threat to suburban, single-family neighborhoods. The plan, called Opportunity Housing, would allow developers to build up to four homes on a...
Santa Clara County permanent supportive housing project sees success
Santa Clara County may have just gotten one step closer to solving chronic homelessness. According to a recent study by the UCSF Benioff Housing and Homeless Initiative, permanent supportive housing has been successful in housing the county’s most impaired and desperate homeless individuals, including frequent users of emergency medical and psychiatric services and jails. Researchers...
Is Measure A’s loan program for first-time homebuyers working?
David Wulff and and Karina Gallardo Wulff were planning on leaving Santa Clara County if they couldn’t buy a house soon. The couple, who have two children, ages seven and five, had always lived in apartments. But they wanted more space and a yard, particularly for their kids to play in. The median sale price...
New tax data platform fuels Prop. 15 debate in South Bay
Proposition 15, one of the most highly-contested issues on the ballot, has given hope to those who believe it will eventually lead to changes in how residential property taxed. The measure, if approved, would require commercial and industrial properties to be taxed based on their market value rather than the price at which they were purchased....
Santa Clara County makes it easier to building housing for agricultural workers
Citing a severe shortage of housing for farmworkers, Santa Clara County has paved the way to build more units by relaxing zoning and streamlining the permitting process. There are about 400,000 to 800,000 migrant farmworkers living and working in California. But while some counties have an idea of how many workers live in and travel...
At new San Jose shelter, Newsom announces $200 million more for homeless housing
Governor Gavin Newsom announced $200 million in additional funding for Project Homekey, a program to house the homeless, and joined Mayor Sam Liccardo Oct. 23 on Bernal Road in San Jose to celebrate the opening of one of three new emergency interim housing centers. Homekey funding has made it possible for California cities to build...
Neighbors, planners at odds over future of Diridon Station, Google development
Neighborhood leaders argue San Jose planners continue to portray them unfairly as “anti-housing and anti-development” amid Diridon area redevelopment talks, ramping up the potential for conflict with developers down the line. All they want, say members of the Diridon Area Neighborhood Group (DANG), is for the city to pursue smart development and community engagement on...
Agrihood’s urban farm housing project poised for spring groundbreaking in Santa Clara
With the final funding in place, Agrihood’s urban farm housing project in Santa Clara can move forward after years of planning. Receiving a state grant of $50 million in tax-exempt bonds from the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee on Sept. 16 put the project on track for a March or April groundbreaking, officials said. Occupancy...
Google unveils portrait of massive downtown San Jose campus
San Jose revealed scads of new details about Google’s plans to build a sprawling downtown campus with 7.3 million square feet of office space and 4,000 housing units spread out over more than 80 acres with improvements to public amenities, including 10 parks and the trails that will eventually connect them all. San Jose Downtown...
Santa Clara County sets affordable housing requirement on new developments
Housing developers who want to build in unincorporated parts of Santa Clara County next year will, for the first time, have to set aside units for low-income residents or pay an in-lieu fee. The Board of Supervisors on Oct. 6 approved the requirement that low-income housing make up 16 percent of new developments containing three...