The undersigned write in support of applying Planned Home Zoning (PHZ) to the proposed Wellesley housing project. Palo Alto, and the region as a whole, suffers as a result of a housing shortage that forces our neighbors into super-commutes, overcrowded and unstable living conditions, and homelessness. We appreciate the Council's previous action to address our city's stagnant housing production by allowing flexibility for projects that provide a significant amount of affordable housing and do not exacerbate our jobs-housing imbalance. We encourage the council to use PHZ to allow for missing middle homes to be constructed instead of large single-family homes that will be accessible only to wealthy people.

The proposal for Wellesley would not only help to alleviate our jobs-housing imbalance, but would provide an opportunity for lower-income residents to access a highly walkable neighborhood near transit, hospitals, Stanford University, and high-quality services. Small apartments at the low-end of the market are highly desirable and meet the housing needs of more diverse residents, as evidenced by the significant loss to the community when the beloved President Hotel was converted from residential to commercial use and its residents evicted. While many community members lamented the loss of "affordable housing," the President Hotel residences were not "affordable" in the legal sense in that they were neither subsidized nor income-restricted--they were simply at the low end of the market. The proposed project would both provide new, modest homes at the low end of the market as well as income-restricted, subsidized homes for low-income people.

Given Palo Alto's poor performance in meeting our mandated housing production floor (RHNA) for low- and moderate-incomes, we emphatically urge the council to seize this rare opportunity to create more affordable housing. Furthermore, we urge the council to make this opportunity less rare. Missing middle housing options like duplexes, triplexes, cottage courts, and courtyard apartments already exist in many neighborhoods, but are illegal to construct today. The vast majority of land in the city is zoned exclusively for single-detached houses. Most construction sites in town are creating only very expensive housing, tearing down smaller single-family homes to create bigger single-family homes. While a 3,000 square foot, multi-million dollar home may meet the needs of some households, it leaves many more out entirely. Research from the Terner Center and Othering and Belonging Institute suggests that restrictive zoning practices perpetuate racial and economic segregation. If we want a more inclusive community, we need more accessible housing options and more diverse housing types.

Thank you for your consideration of this important proposal and for considering the impact of exclusionary zoning on the Palo Alto community and the broader region.