Dear Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members, Chairs, Commissioners, members of the public, Staff, and fellow neighbors,
My name is Jenny Michel, from the Coleman Place Neighborhood Block. Thank you for allowing me to make comments on our consequential housing element and related zoning changes.
Narrative:
Having been born and raised here, my personal comments are centralized around defining our chronic homelessness issues and how to remedy them by way of our Housing Element.
Aside from being personally homeless as a teacher in my early 20’s here in Menlo Park, I was chronically molested and abused at home by my family and parents. In the early 80’s my parents offset the mortgage payment by letting my aunt move in and then subsequently, her husband, my uncle, who molested my almost daily starting in 1st grade, moved in. What I did not understand until a few years ago, is that in fact, I have struggled with suicidal tendencies for decades. (Yes, I’m under a doctors care.) It wasn’t until the recent voter initiative, Measure V, that I could tie it all together: my life safety has been at risk because of our housing crisis. As someone who protects life safety for a living, this has been a revelation.
If we prioritized housing production for all income levels, my relationship to myself would have been something other than disgust and horror. I believe that I would not have been chronically assaulted as a child if we zoned for smaller lots and generally kept up housing production over the decades. Sadly, my experiences are more of a standard than an exception. I will no longer placate your sensibilities because that approach failed me as a child and a young woman.
Suggestions to Achieve Housing Element Approval:
The State of California has declared that we are in a housing crisis, requiring all hands on deck. In order to effectively combat this complex issue, cities are mandated to analyze our land use and zoning practices to understand how we drive the crisis. The major mechanism the State is using to obtain this objective is to require us to implement fair housing.
What is Fair Housing - what this from Pacifica Housing For All. https://youtu.be/9tHIjAA6aS4
What is Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing - visit this site and specifically the overlay map. https://affh-data-resources-cahcd.hub.arcgis.com/.
The secret is you need market forces driving fair housing, which we lack. In this case, we must answer how we are generating market interest, market force, market accountability.
Our problems compound: 1) land value is high, 2) a fair housing project qualifies as such when the development is at least 40 units (typical threshold for subsidies and programs), and 3) our land is capped by both the Pacific Ocean and the Bay. Atherton and Palo Alto share our North and South borders. Both these municipalities are either challenged by fair housing or are outright against it! So to generate market force, we are tasked with a tall order because our sister cities are driving negative market forces among other issues.
Menlo Park General Plan Land use Element for public reference: https://menlopark.gov/files/sharedassets/public/community-development/documents/general-plan/land-use-element-adopted-20161129.pdf
Parking Requirements
In order to implement what works in other cities, a ten minute walkable neighborhood model is best. In order to achieve this in practice, we need to encourage us all to get out of the comfy planet killing car.
* For all development projects, remove all parking lot requirements save for 1 handicap stall per 1,000 SF, and 1 for loading per every 10,000 SF.
* Add required bike storage at a rate of ten (10) per 1,000 SF.
* Require the applicant to provide annual funds to the City for the shuttle services to drop off workers, this would be based on the size of the development.
* Require the applicant to share how they propose to decrease single vehicle use, even if they have no plan, so that information is known to the public, and Council can weigh what the applicant proposes versus the needs of the City.
* Require all owners, who are on title and pay property taxes, to provide an annual Transportation Demand Management (TDM) survey each year.
* Ask each household and landlord how many trips are taken each day for what purposes.
* I believe our trip counts are off and we underestimate the load we carry each day through the city.
* This information will be helpful to the Liaison for Fair Housing.
Minimum Lot Sizes
Our min lot sizes are THE primary driver for why fair housing cannot be built in the City. We’ve made it illegal.
* Personally, I encourage Staff and Council to eliminate all residential minimum lot sizes. Since that might be too much for the electorate,
* For all residential zones, reduce all lot minimums by HALF.
* Eliminate the set-backs both from the front and the back. Grant the owner full utilization of their parcel for a structure.
* If not set-back modification, amend zoning to include allowance for temp shelter use in the front yard. Grant the owner some benefit or notoriety by giving people a safe place to sleep at night.
* Grant the owner rights to use existing frontage to support our housing unstable folks. Like when the traffic is bad, have seating in your yard for people to sit and wait out the traffic. This would be included in the Gleamers program, neighbors providing a respite to workers by allowing them to relax in their front yard, etc.
Menlo Park Zoning Summary Sheet:
https://beta.menlopark.org/files/sharedassets/public/community-development/documents/zoning-summary-sheet-2020_202007011936521820.pdf
Budget - increase programs and staff
We are under-resourced when it comes to our fair housing infrastructure within the City Staff itself. We cannot burden our world class staff. We must tell them we love them by giving them ample support to meet our needs!
* Increase City Staff for a Fair Housing Liaison Manager and Assistant Manager, who collaborates, coordinates, and manages resources, training, and outreach to the State of California, San Mateo County, the local non-profits, local landlords and business owners, as well as residents. As the scope of the work increases, allow for a third person to be added to the team. Compensation should be in the range of $130k/annually and $90k/annually respectively.
* The primary Liaison Manager would be able to help alleviate the load on current Staff who is burdened with the current City load.
* City must both maintain compliance and retain our stellar staff! As we add to their burden, we must broaden their support in the day to day work.
* Change the requirements for employment with the City of Menlo Park to a high school diploma. Those of us without a degree are unable to work for the City.
* Gleaners Program - add a new program that the City manages for Gleaning. Some residents have an abundance of say permissions or lemons, the City Gleaner would coordinate transferring these precious life saving resources to those of us who need it.
* Public Outreach for Fair Housing - add another position to Staff who literally manages outreach for fair housing to the City. This person would literally have conversations all day long with our various stakeholders and report that information to the Liaison, City Manager, and City Attorney. This person would have direct visibility into why DivcoWest does not want their vast portfolio in District 5 to be eliminated from the Housing Element. We can include that information to the State and the County.
* Ownership would need to declare on the record WHY say one thing but do the opposite.
* Without direct visibility, we cannot be effective in our strategy.
* Include a person on staff who manages all agriculture production in the City. The focus would be to increase food production on each parcel of land and track it. Track the production, the yield, the distribution, the consumption, the growth practices, etc.
* Currently we spray our fruiting trees to stop and spray to kill off the pollinators. Change the use for all owners to pay penalties for pesticides that cause cancer, like roundup. (Round-up is used in about 98% of all assets I’ve encountered in 20 years of real estate.)
* I know of only one company that has worked to eliminate its use at its campuses, but is met with hard pushback, mainly by landscapers ironically.
* Increase budget to include annual assistance for residents at risk of displacement to $300k/annually.
HOA - Homeowner Associations
Segregation continues through our exclusionary practices which are enforced by HOA’s.
* Have the Liaison create a list of all HOA’s (Title companies can help farm this data for us) and obtain all current board member contact information.
* What are they doing to implement furthering fair housing in their associations? How many provide housing to min wage workers? How many place those units on the market? How many fill those vacancies through private off-market connections? How is the City tracking this behavior both on and off the market?
* Require that each HOA in the City submits and annual report, similar to a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Survey, on how the association has or is planning to amend their by-laws to meet our fair housing obligations.
* Is the HOA providing housing to their min wage workers? Do they have a resident who provides daycare services and the HOA promotes them etc.?
* Is the HOA allocating land for food services, car cleaning services, oil changes, dry cleaning, tutoring, etc.?
* Instead of having the residents go out, have the HOA facilitate services to be brought to residents. Those people could be other residents. This would tie under the Gleaners program idea.
* Provide the HOA with a summary of our housing crisis and how Menlo is helping to relieve it. Ask the HOA to give at least five (5) concrete and simple things it is doing to provide outreach, education, and avenues, like allowing owners to pitch a tent for local homeless to sleep at night at least three (3) times a week for the winter and rainy months. Or provide a night where the owners participate in a sleepout, to experience what it is like to be homeless, this happens monthly, or on a quarterly basis.
* Our associations have traditionally driven segregation and exclusion. Require each association, similar to our requirement to analyze ourselves through this housing element, provide their written analysis of how they have driven segregation and how they are modifying their by-laws to include use that furthers fair housing.
* Failure to comply or provide in depth analysis and modifications would not be paid in the form of a fine. Failure to comply would result in a referral to the State of California to DISSOLVE the association. Hard stop.
Real Estate Brokerages - residential, commercial, retail, medical
As a fiduciary agent, I can affirm that as an industry we have NOT been affirmatively furthering fair housing, which goes against State Mandate.
* Require that brokerages, or any broker who represents a buyer, seller, and/or tenant, owner, who when their client signs the Agency Agreement and Disclosure, that the client is then to sign a disclosure detailing the California Housing Crisis and how Menlo Park is combating this failure.
* Require that the broker submit a semi-annual report certifying that all clients signed the disclosure and that the managing broker signs a statement confirming that they engaged their agents to answer all questions.
* Further, the brokerage would be encouraged to share their experience, whether the disclosure is shifting the conversation, what level of pushback they are receiving, how new problems are arising, how they are dealing with those, and overall, what recommendations they would have for Council to improve the programs.
* Should the client not sign the disclosure, that needs to be reported to the City, San Mateo County, and State of California.
* The liability for failure shifts to the owner themselves and the burden removed from our shoulders.
* Require all brokerages provide mandatory training on furthering fair housing, understanding housing laws, and how that impacts their sales plan. Again, require the brokerage to submit a report showing that they have complied with our outreach programs.
* Require the brokerages to work with the Liaison for Fair Housing to provide deliverables.
Zoning and Land Use
Use our mild climate to our advantage by providing for our own needs in a variety of creative ways.
* Encourage residents to meet their own needs by granting owners to have up to ten (10) chickens without a permit, with a condition to work with the Gleaners Program to provide surplus to neighbors in need.
* When approving projects with a housing component, include in the use permit authorization for 1) day care services to be provided by a resident who lives in the complex (making the burden to fill this community need the developers)
* Encourage fruiting trees and vegetables that can be harvested versus standard landscaping. If the applicant chooses not to grow food, mandate landscaping include ZERO turf and limit ornamental grasses.
* Modify pest control management - this is complicated but basically we need to bring bugs, pets, the circle of life back. Ask owners to join the City in promoting biodiversity and using a humane approach to pest management. Have the landscaping promote micro-climate habitats. Grant owners who create livable habitats more notoriety!
* Create a challenge to landscape architects who provide the most agriculturally vibrant project be awarded notoriety! Similar to our TOBY Awards in BOMA, we could have a residential awards program. Who has the most creative use for the front yard, who uses the least amount of energy, or no gas, or no water - right? Let residents inform the categories and who gets awarded - make it fun to be sustainable. Make it fun to be yourself, with your interests all the while protecting the planet and one another - what is better than that civically, right?
Non-profit Stakeholders to Furthering Residents Stability
City to increase collaboration with the various stakeholders serving our residents to meet our Housing Element Requirements.
* Protection from Displacement: How are we developing inclusive housing for all income levels? Demonstrate commitment to all our housing needs. Reach out and coordinate services for residents with
* David Carducchi with Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County https://www.legalaidsmc.org/
* Preservation of affordable existing housing: especially low income, which is min wage, or a fraction of the median income for San Mateo County. Reach out and coordinate services for residents with
* Kate Comfort Harr with HIP Housing https://hiphousing.org/
* Production of housing at all levels: mainly allowing for all income levels to live in our neighborhoods.
* Serena Ip with Midpen Housing https://www.midpen-housing.org/
* Wraparound services for residents: after providing housing for a resident interested, give them the resources for long term stabilization
* Aubrey Merriman with LiveMoves https://www.lifemoves.org/
Segregation and Integration
* Analysis needs meat: Current median sales price in Menlo Park is $2.2M. In order to carry that financial load, the buyer must cover at least $400K/Annually.
* Who earns that level of income? High level tech, c-suite executives can cover that obligation, but then that excludes the majority of society and labor force including directors.
* Most importantly, young families cannot live or stay here, so our schools are seeing a decrease in admissions.
* Having an older affluent electorate is not able to provide itself its own needs. You need a variety of ages and skill levels to round out the needs of residents.
* We use the disparities of our direct neighbors to our financial advantage, East Menlo, EPA, and Fair Oaks. By outlawing fair housing, we mandate that our workforce live outside our city limits and then have the audacity to complain about single use vehicle traffic safety. We drive climate instability by outsourcing our needs from other places.
* Let’s amend our approach to governance by meeting our own needs wherever we can.
* Who has access to resources, education, and housing usually experiences the same through their life. Similarly, those of us with the ability to have agency, meet our own needs, and live within our means, drive climate stability!
* City needs to increase translation services for all committee and council meetings. Captioning to be implemented for the same.
* All notices need to be listed in several languages.
[https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2flh5.googleusercontent.com%2fBNiC0KDtmd1UAtKM27Qkz7cQLlaGCNjsesPxrSkyvIyoFhu2iAcTxgYKJTziHyTcUoeLHQBBEV_E0usi_u5KF5OBFnCDh6646MXqNZtjMFaUMBI3BgRqQgIWWpkqj53NhlldvUAi1V1hrCSsHcnZNaYsTVrHuUs6BQO1n5pBc4vVn59WVUx48BXZKR3kHQ&c=E,1,aSXhZHVIsc8_wtBsulzNSjYL3W3-XTGzGhX2oUGnN5iMuVgpOZtJBGXI7ZDKy37jK6Ftjax2ai5tpDd2u5g2z2lFj3CX0j1IHBFkie1VFpg,&typo=1][https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2flh3.googleusercontent.com%2f5ilkCE8ygmpk4M4akenppNF7o5NsXrnE4DL8srWFZ53iAHx1WDykzw50lXOAYzUen-m61bxbADiN_NS7tJ1D1jUStxOf6ZLhUmNeBUAqdRA1LeYJP7A4Tsn8UDAp2U2PJCoEg-PBmvtLJU9yXkMBVRANnUU9tTEaqP6wug6gSCLw-nlMRJoY3ujc5TzWqA&c=E,1,ZR7A8BuT1r35uqjGBWQH9KQwdqB5ZLvTb9uaiAzAVlCWIqpaTlkwdlsjv6_rfoAVSuz2hamkEaeLltEAINnbI_b7iEKUIJ_240wtYMnPkFYgMX8cptvtRGsX&typo=1]
* Implement a new citywide program, similar to Sunnyvale, to create local art on the electrical transformers. Each neighborhood can create their own art! Make it fun, maybe they make a united scene or maybe each person gets to write a word or have a square to paint, etc. Bring the neighbors together in ways that we need!
* Similarly, have a City program for STEM programs, like the neighborhood libraries, where students and residents install ideas to conserve or reuse precious resources. Make it cool to be a nerd in your front yard! Show off how cool you are by reusing water, capturing water, using plant materials to generate methane to heat our home, etc.
* At Laurel Elementary, we have a Buddies program where kids from Upper campus visit their buddy at Lower and vise versa. Let’s do that here with our neighbors. You can sleep in our living room on the floor in our apartment to see how we live and what life is like for us, while we visit you and see how you live. Most of us have way more in common than we realize! I treasure meeting my neighbors and am proud to be training for my CERT. Biologically, we are social animals and want to care for one another. Let’s foster that!
Housing Programs
As a recovering homeless teacher, we need to amend our assumptions about out housing unstable residents.
* Provide immediate access to housing with no housing readiness conditions, such as substance abuse assistance, as a part of all our programs. This is tied to the Housing First prioritizing which has a proven track record to reduce costs overall and stabilize neighbors and workers.
* Participants communicate what works for them, granting them agency, dignity, and esteem. People are ready for their own place, trust in peoples readiness. What is it that we are asking of us to demonstrate to be allowed to have access to housing?
* The mental health conditions improve with housing, I know personally. You cant not house us for the very reasons we need housing to begin with. Promise responsiveness and not problem free tenancy. We have to support and not punish those of us being displaced.
Existing Multi-Family
Most of our housing stock is 60-20 years old, with a compounded lack of ongoing investment by way of repairs and maintenance, our housing stock is in poor shape and likely to fail. City needs to address this fact.
* Mandate that landlords cannot evict tenants at will. Cap landlord’s ability to renovate and flip the units at market rate. The highest and best use of the asset is no longer to generate the highest yield, it is to preserve existing housing supply for our fragile residents.
* Landlords should be keeping up with annual repairs and maintenance keeping up with their investment. Do not allow landlords to decide, like a business plan or strategy, not to keep up with maintenance or not remediate known environmental hazards. If there is water damage, the landlord will remediate the damage, not paint over it.
* Our current underwritten practice is to under invest in multi-family. The yield needs to be met, not keep the project water tight or insulated.
* It is very rare to find an owner or investor who wants this type of management. Usually the intention is to sell the asset with windfall profits, to take from the market what it will bear.
* This practice leads to residents experiencing health hazards without knowledgeability. Landlord is off the hook and does not account for this exposure.
* City can change this dynamic by just asking each complex to provide a document saying how they manage their asset. What known hazards exist? What inspections have been done and what are the findings? Landlord provides these reports to various other agencies, why not to the City?
In closing, I leave with a story recently shared about an invisible person I can relate to.
https://invisiblepeople.tv/mental-health-illness-and-abuse-leaves-woman-homeless-without-familial-support/
I love our City and my neighbors so much. Please won’t you stay my neighbor and allow for a few more with me? Consider the words of Former Redwood City Mayor on Taming Tensions.
https://www.smdailyjournal.com/opinion/guest_perspectives/taming-tensions/article_fa400e52-7b6d-11ed-9da9-c319c87b4ee4.html
Thank you for your consideration,
Jenny Michel from the Coleman Place Block, a chronic assault survivor and native of Menlo Park.
--
Jen Michel
DRE #01900228
Cell: 650.400.8299
E-mail: restorativeeco@gmail.com
