Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: John L. Maltbie, County Manager
Subject: Use of general Measure K Funds
RECOMMENDATION:
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Measure K: Adopt a resolution approving $78,700 in grants of Measure K funds to support city participation in the Home for All Community Engagement Pilot Project program for the following cities: $12,500 for Burlingame, $23,200 for Half Moon Bay, $23,000 for Portola Valley and $20,000 for Redwood City.
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BACKGROUND:
Since 2010, over 19 new jobs have been created for every housing new housing unit added in San Mateo County. To address this gap, Supervisors Don Horsley and Warren Slocum invited 54 community leaders to join the Closing the Jobs/Housing Gap Task Force in the fall of 2015. The Task Force adopted an action plan supporting development of all types of housing. A key component of the action plan is building community support for housing through a new, countywide initiative called Home for All.
Home for All created four work groups, including one focused on outreach and education, and this work group developed ideas for increasing the number of people involved in community housing discussions. To test city interest in working with Home for All on community engagement, Home for All contracted with Common Knowledge Plus (CKP), a consulting firm known for its community engagement and cultural competency expertise.
The CKP team interviewed over 50 city managers, city council members and local housing stakeholders about housing issues. The consultants found that most city managers and many local elected officials generally supported new housing, especially workforce and affordable housing. They also learned that city staff and elected officials wanted to know what other cities are doing about housing. The cities also said they’d like assistance with community engagement related to housing projects.
Based on the interviews, Home for All developed two related projects, a competitive grant program for cities interested in working on a specific community engagement project around housing and a Learning Network where the cities can share information about housing and learn about outreach strategies and techniques. Fifteen cities plus the County participated in the first Learning Network on August 24, 2017.
A request for proposals for the grant program was issued in early August and Home for All and CKP held follow-up meetings with eight interested cities. Six cities submitted proposals ranging from outreach for specific development project to a general discussion about the community need for additional housing.
The city proposals were evaluated by the Home for All and CKP teams against the following criteria: clarity and creativity of the pilot project, city commitment and support for the project and potential for peer learning. Based on these criteria, proposals from Burlingame, Half Moon Bay, Portola Valley and Redwood City were selected for funding.
DISCUSSION:
The Burlingame project will develop and implement a community engagement strategy for the Village at Burlingame, an affordable housing development proposed for the downtown area. The Measure K grant for Burlingame is $12,500. The Half Moon Bay project will focus on the Podesta Planned Unit Development proposal and the Half Moon Bay grant is for $23,200. The Portola Valley project will develop a community engagement strategy for the town’s Housing Strategic Plan with a town grant of $23,000. The Redwood City project will implement a community engagement process around developing city guidelines for housing impact fees with a city grant of $20,000.
In addition to the $78,700 in Measure K grants to the cities to cover costs related to the pilot projects, Home for All is amending the CKP contract to provide community engagement consulting, event support and other services to all the pilot project grantees. The CKP contract will also include funding for one strategy meeting and an engagement recommendation memo for Belmont and South San Francisco, the two cities that submitted proposals but are not recommended for funding at this time.
The Home for All community engagement pilot projects will run for 12 months. A mid-point update will be shared with your Board and the Learning Network. The projects will conclude with the drafting of a case study, which will also be shared with the Learning Network and your Board. Pilot project success will be measured by the extent of community participation in the outreach activities and through interviews with elected officials and city staff on changes in the community “climate” toward housing prior to and after the engagement process work.
The Home for All community engagement pilot program supports the County vision of a collaborative community by expanding community participation in housing decisions.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The FY 2017-19 recommended Measure K budget includes $300,000 for community engagement work, which is sufficient to cover all the pilot project grants and the CKP contract for technical support.