San Mateo County's Board of Supervisors approved $24.3 million for six affordable housing projects on Tuesday, Aug. 25, funding 459 new units across the county.
The money comes from the county's Affordable Housing Fund (AHF), backed primarily by Measure K, a half-cent countywide sales tax paid by all county residents, including those in the City of San Mateo. The resolution authorized up to $24,347,311 total, according to the county meeting agenda: $24.2 million in Measure K funds and $100,000 in county impact fees.
The units will serve seniors, farmworkers, families, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, unhoused residents and public employees.
Who gets housed
The six funded projects, as detailed in the AHF 14.0 staff report:
- Rise City Apartments, Redwood City — $9,389,000 for 94 units (Sand Hill Property Company). The project also recently received $8 million from the City of Redwood City.
- 555 Kelly Ave., Half Moon Bay — $6,575,000 for 40 units serving senior farmworkers (Mercy Housing).
- 1051 Mission Affordable, South San Francisco — $3,545,414 for 158 units (Related CA).
- 626 Walnut St., San Carlos — $3,000,000 for 95 units, with 24 reserved for county and city employees (MidPen Housing).
- 3051 Edison Way, North Fair Oaks — $1,537,897 for 70 units, including 20 for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (Novin Development).
- Habitat Ladera, Portola Valley — $300,000 for two single-family homes for first-time homeowners on Ladera Community Church's property (Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco).
How the fund multiplies
According to the staff report, every Measure K dollar invested in the AHF leverages $16.60 from private, local, state and federal sources. Raymond Hodges, director of the San Mateo County Department of Housing, explained the fund's role at the Aug. 25 meeting.
"We're usually one of [the first], if not the first, source into the project, so they'll probably need four or five other pieces of financing to get all the money together," Hodges said, as reported by The Almanac.
This is the fund's 14th round since the Board created it in 2013. Over that span, the AHF has committed $368.8 million toward 72 projects totaling 5,122 units, according to a county dashboard. Of those, 3,100 are completed and occupied, 790 are under construction and 1,190 are in pre-development.
Demand outpaces dollars
The county received 10 applications this round requesting a combined $70.3 million. Staff recommended six. The gap is real: $34.6 million in qualifying requests went unfunded.
Three developments that met threshold requirements but received no award included a 146-unit project in Daly City, a 63-unit project in Belmont and an 8-unit project in Menlo Park.
In the 2024–2025 Measure K audit, the AHF was budgeted over $77 million but spent only $10 million, largely because projects were still in pre-development. Hodges said developers use the early commitment to compete for additional financing elsewhere.
The next round of AHF funding has not been announced.
