Tell the San Mateo City Council to Reject the Housing Element

San Mateo City Council

Over the past year, HAC has advocated for the City of San Mateo to draft and implement a credible plan for how the city will build 7,015 homes by 2031.

However, despite our best efforts, San Mateo’s Housing Element — the city’s eight-year housing plan — fails to provide a good-faith blueprint for how it will build enough housing to meet the needs of current and future San Mateo residents.

For example, during our site-by-site analysis, we identified several sites purportedly targeted by the city for new housing that are either illegal or infeasible to build new housing on. To put it simply, San Mateo won’t meet its housing goals if it doesn’t establish places to build new housing.  

Sign this petition to urge the San Mateo City Council to draft a new, credible Housing Element and resubmit the revised draft to the California Department of Housing and Community Development.



To: San Mateo City Council
From: [Your Name]

We have several concerns with the draft 2023-2031 Housing Element for the City of San Mateo, dated April 16, 2024.

Our primary concern is the site inventory, which includes several sites that are unlikely to be redeveloped into new housing.

Despite the Housing and Community Development (HCD) department’s indication of substantial compliance, we find the draft lacks rigorous site-specific evidence, as required by Government Code § 65583.2(g)(1) and (2). Many sites, including major shopping centers and commercial properties currently under long-term leases, show little to no potential for redevelopment by 2031. These include, but are not limited to, Bridgepointe Shopping Center, The Atrium, and Hillsdale Mall.

We urge the City Council to critically assess each site for realistic redevelopment potential and request detailed plans and financial feasibility studies from the City. Without such due diligence, San Mateo risks not fulfilling its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), particularly for lower-income housing.

The City’s Housing Element fails to meet the requirements set forth by state law. To that end, we recommend it not be adopted without further revision and evidence.