As San Mateo clears the way for a bevy of projects that it needs to meet its state-mandated goal for new housing, groups representing landlords are fighting a proposal to expand renter protections in the city.
After voters approved Measure T last fall, allowing taller residential buildings near the Caltrain route and along El Camino Real and Highway 101, developers submitted eight housing projects encompassing nearly 3,200 new homes.
San Mateo city officials have now proposed expanding renter protections. The city aims to build at least 7,015 new homes by 2031, a target approved by its state-housing element plan.
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The proposed protections would augment California’s Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which bars no-cause evictions after 12 months. San Mateo is considering lowering that threshold to 11 months, along with creating an emergency rental assistance program and updating the city’s tenant relocation ordinance.
The proposed renter protections were met with opposition at a public hearing last week from groups representing apartment landlords, including the California Apartment Association and the San Mateo County Association of REALTORS, the San Francisco Business Times reported.
They argued that the new rules would raise costs for property owners and undercut the momentum for housing development after the passage of Measure T by deterring investment and delaying construction.
“Stop the attack on housing providers. They provide much-needed rental housing for your residents,” said Rhovy Lyn Antonio, senior VP of local public affairs with the California Apartment Association.
“We did a huge thing for the future of San Mateo to deliver [future] housing supply. Every step you take towards restrictions kills that,” said Mitch Speigle of the San Mateo County Association of REALTORS, the Business Times reported.
Don Peterson, a senior VP with Prometheus Real Estate, said the proposed protections would discourage development and reinvestment. Prometheus, which manages 400 rental units across the city, recently filed plans for a six-story apartment building on a former car dealership site north of downtown San Mateo.
The developer’s plans for the long-vacant, 1.2-acre infill site at 715 N. San Mateo Drive envisions 181 apartments, including 18 units set aside for affordable housing. Amenities will include a rooftop deck, a fitness center and a sky lounge.
Zachary Dahl, San Mateo’s community development director, countered that the proposed protections focus on landlords who aren’t treating their tenants fairly. “You put these safeguards in place to help ensure that a tenant won’t be losing their home for an unfair reason,” Dahl said at the meeting.
In February, San Mateo-based Bohannon Companies and Denver-based Northwood Investors unveiled plans to redevelop the 71-year-old Hillsdale Shopping Center into a retail village with 1,350 homes.
The project plans to demolish about three-quarters of the 1.3 million-square-foot mall at 60 East 31st Avenue and replace it with a complex including nearly 2M square feet of offices, research labs, shops and restaurants, as well as parking for about 5,400 cars.
The mall redo, designed by HOK and Gehl Studio, would feature glass-sheathed offices and apartment buildings with oversized windows and balconies built around a public square. The mall’s North Block shops, which replaced a Sears store in 2016, will be preserved.
Other housing developments moving forward in San Mateo include a project at 678 Concar Drive that will build 869 units and projects at 1650 S. Amphlett and 1 East Fourth Avenue, which are planning 256 units and 236 units, respectively.
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