Redwood City and the rest of the Bay Area have a severe housing shortage, displacement, and affordability crisis. More well-designed and well-located homes must be built to alleviate our region’s housing problems.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest barriers to affordable housing is funding, and it is critical we come up with innovative solutions in order to build affordable new homes.

That’s why the Housing Action Coalition is proud to support the Redwood LIFE Evolve plan to transform an outdated office park over time into a premier life science campus that thoughtfully engages its surrounding community. Importantly, the project’s commitment of $85 million, well beyond the required amount for affordable housing in Redwood City, will make a considerable positive impact on the surrounding community and will open up hundreds of new homes that will bolster Redwood City’s affordable housing supply.

To get involved, send a letter to the Redwood City City Council to express your support for the Redwood LIFE Evolve plan by simply clicking on the “START WRITING” button. You can edit the form letter that will appear, or you can choose to send it as-is.

Some of the many benefits of the Redwood LIFE Evolve plan include:

1. Investment for Affordable New Homes

2. Open Space and Environmental Sustainability

3. Creating Childcare Access

Investment for affordable new homes: The biggest issue cities face when it comes to producing subsidized affordable housing is the lack of financial resources. Longfellow’s commitment of $85 million, well beyond the required amount for affordable housing in Redwood City, will make a considerable positive impact on the surrounding community. Longfellow has partnered with Eden Housing, a well-known affordable housing producer, to identify potential target projects to fund. Eden Housing estimates that approximately $10 million of Longfellow’s contribution could be leveraged to produce 100 affordable one- to three-bedroom units for extremely low and very low-income families. Based on these calculations, Longfellow’s proposed $85 million contribution could generate as many as 850 affordable units in Redwood City.

Environmental sustainability and open space: The Redwood LIFE Evolve project will transform acres of surface parking into parks with expansive green, publicly accessible open spaces, as well as make visual and scenic enhancements to the San Francisco Bay Trail. The Redwood LIFE Evolve project will update its outdated office park into a modern campus designed to meet LEED Gold Standards. It will also accelerate critical sustainability initiatives for Redwood City, including the City’s Climate Action Plan and resiliency goals. This includes transforming Redwood LIFE Evolve into a 100% electric life science campus and eliminating the use of natural gas on-site, drastically reducing carbon emissions.  

Creating childcare access: Beyond the housing shortage, we also have a significant childcare shortage. Infant and early childhood care have been shown to deliver tremendous benefits for communities, families, and children. However, according to a 2022 needs assessment conducted by the San Mateo County Child Care Partnership Council, Redwood City lacks the resources to fill 1,103 subsidized spaces for children 0 to 4 years old because of a lack of funding. Longfellow has committed to providing $2 million to BuildUp San Mateo to support their grant program, which directs resources to the most urgent childcare needs in Redwood City, such as subsidizing low-income infant child care and supporting teacher recruitment and retention.