SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) -- San Jose’s housing crisis has turned into one of the worst in the country — with rents recording the second-highest rates nationwide.
That's according to a recent report that outlines just how much housing the city has been able to build over the last few years as the need for more affordable housing continues to grow.
According to an update from the city’s “Housing Crisis Workplan,” 3,348 housing units have been built dating back to 2018, with 506 of those units built as affordable units.
Still, that number falls short of the city’s goal to complete 25,000 housing units -- 10,000 of them affordable by 2023.
The plan was initially brought forward by Mayor Sam Liccardo in 2017, outlining various initiatives aimed to address the city’s housing crisis.
“We’re in a region of the country where it is very expensive to build housing, the cost of construction, the cost of materials, the cost of labor, all of that makes it very very expensive,” said Councilmember Raul Peralez.
“And the number one cost driver: land.”
On Tuesday, city leaders went over a list of 43 priorities created by the housing department that aims to address the city’s housing crisis -- which includes continuing to implement urban villages, amending the city’s zone ordinance that will allow for 100% affordable housing, and more.
“We have a lot of entitlements for housing but we’re not hitting our goals on people actually constructing on what they’re entitled to construct,” said Peralez.
“So entitlements are a good indicator of what we may have but some people sit on entitlements for a development for years, sometimes even decades, and that doesn’t benefit anyone because they’re not actually building those units,” Peralez added.
“And unfortunately it ties up land that we would like to have development on.”
In contrast, market-rate housing didn’t do as well last year compared to affordable housing with a majority of the 717 market-rate building permits approved were accessory dwelling units (ADU).
Despite COVID-19, the city managed to approve 1,702 affordable units for development including 663 affordable units that have already received building permits.
“We’re certainly not building enough, we’re also not entitling enough and we need to be able to help developers move through the process more quickly,” said Peralez.
“But we also need to be able to incentivize for development to actually lift up off the ground and to get some of these affordable units built.”
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