Mayor Taylor, Vice-Mayor Combs, Council Members Nash, Carlton, Mueller, and Staff, Thank-you UC Berkeley and Y-PLAN for the study of baseline housing conditions in the tri- communities studied. The student partners are to be commended for driving this study that acknowledged their personal and residents’ lived experience. You are to be further commended on your inclusion of multiple recommendations throughout the study as well as summaries that are clear and fact-based. The information contained in this study provides concrete documentation of issues and direction that now can be addressed by the City of Menlo Park. The extent and complexity of critical housing issues are exposed in this study. The housing issues addressed in this report have been an expressed concern of the residents of the Belle Haven neighborhood since the Great Recession and exacerbated by the arrival of Facebook in 2011. This is significant due to the lack of identification of the effect of evictions, forecloses, absentee landlords, and real estate speculation in previous Housing Needs Analysis and Evaluation of Potential Displacement Impacts (2009, 2011 & 2016). This study should be agendized as soon as possible for public comment and extensive discussion as the data has a significant impact on zoning for the entire city and all housing policies. Rather than wait for the new Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) or any other study, we should be moving forward by expanding the data to include the entire City of Menlo Park. Specific areas that affect our entire city are evictions, foreclosures, absentee landlords, and real estate speculation. In the meantime, the following can begin almost immediately using the methodology outlined in the study: 1. Update evictions, forecloses, absentee landlords, and real estate 2018-2020, 2. Maintain a watchlist for evictions, forecloses, absentee landlords, and real estate and update annually, 3. Develop a Community Land Trust to buy forecloses to maintain a higher level of affordable housing stock, 4. Apply appropriate measures to protect housing in flood zone, and 5. Develop a program for home repair assistance for seniors with prevention of unintended consequences of home repair assistance for seniors would increase home values and attract more affluent residents. It is further recommended that our commissions be fully engaged to prevent the “silo effect” of studying issues and developing recommendations. This can be solved through a committee of Planning, Housing, Complete Streets, and Environmental Quality commission members working with the Council and Staff. Respectfully, Pamela D. Jones, resident Menlo Park The impossible dissipates when I becomes WE. Received on Tue Aug 11 2020 - 16:03:55 PDT
