Thank you Jeremy Levine for your fact-based letter to the editor on why you should vote YES on Measure T for a Sensible San Mateo - because facts matter!
This Letter to the Editor is reposted from the San Mateo Daily Journal.
Editor,
In the story, “Measure T would expand height, density caps in San Mateo,” the San Mateo Daily Journal quotes a longtime housing opponent saying “We don’t particularly have a huge housing need overall here ... We have an affordable housing need.”
In reality, opposition to housing of all types has made housing unaffordable. San Mateo’s housing element indicates home prices increased 115.6% from 2010 to 2020; they are even higher today. Over the same time period, the housing element indicates median rents rose from $1,400 to almost $2,400. According to Zillow, median rents are now $3,500.
In San Mateo, Measure Y and its prior iterations have been a huge barrier to meeting the housing needs of all residents. Measure T proposes incremental but meaningful improvements to San Mateo’s height and density limits, giving the city’s duly elected officials greater authority to decide what policies best meet the needs of their constituents.
By changing the restrictions on housing in some areas, Measure T would make many more housing developments possible, both affordable and market-rate. Kiku Crossing, an eight-story 100% affordable housing development, would not have been legal to build without state laws creating special exemptions. Local rules should enable housing to meet community needs without state intervention.
Limitations on housing in San Mateo, both affordable and market-rate, have harmed all residents, forcing children to live far away from their parents, shrinking the supply of workers for small businesses, pushing teachers and other essential workers out of the community. Support Measure T to strengthen the community.
Jeremy Levine
San Mateo
The letter writer is the policy manager for the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County.
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