Technicalities of the Siting Policy

5 min readMar 15, 2022

The Siting Policy is designed to equitably allocated affordable housing in resource-rich neighborhoods throughout all of San Jose. The current implementation plan may raise some concerns for Downtown San Jose which already has substantial affordable housing; types include: supportive, rent controlled, rooming houses, shared low cost living (sorority/fraternities), shelters, temporary transitional housing, tiny-homes, HomeKey Motels, and group home housing. Downtown has embraced a very commendable wide-variety of unique housing solutions not seen in other parts of San Jose; and affordable housing is critical. Unfortunately the definition of Affordable Housing is not clear and does not define the wide variety of types and resources/services required by each type to be successful. The concerns with the previous draft center around a complete list of Affordable Housing types, an equitable distribution, and the allocation of ongoing resources necessary to make any type of Affordable Housing truly successful.

It is possible with the Siting Policy, Urban Villages in the General Plan, Transit Corridors, access to services and our need for more Affordable Housing, that downtown will indeed continue to be allocated more Affordable Housing. Allocating resources/funding appropriately as defined by type of Affordable Housing, whereas some types necessitate more resources than others, will be important; but most importantly, the new draft needs our thoughtful input on Monday’s draft presentation.

A small volunteer group of determined downtown residents has been regularly meeting for over a year to put their ideas forward to the council and housing department regarding the current Siting Policy. (many thanks to this group for their efforts!)
I’ve tried to do a quick summary of potential issues as well as a slightly more detailed version. Additionally, charts and references are listed for your review. (the charts are not mine and used with permission)

QUICK SUMMARY of issues based on downtown resident feedback:

#1. The new draft needs to specifically define and acknowledge the various types of Affordable Housing that Downtown San Jose already fully supports. Ongoing costs differ between types. Lumping all types under the umbrella of “Affordable” is insufficient data for comprehensive decisions.

#2. The new draft needs to take a bigger picture of all affordable housing (amount & type) and the concentrations in all of greater Downtown, rather than just by small census block.

#3. The new draft needs to consider the higher volume of services required to assist supportive housing residents and provide those services such (mental health, police/fire, code enforcement, onsite management) in a way that supports the supportive housing residents needs so they have successful housing. (see chart on increased needs for 911 responses).

More (much more) detailed information below.

Three concerns raised by residents are:

#1. The Siting Policy does not differentiate between affordable and supportive housing.

Affordable housing = housing only: Families, adults, seniors

Supportive housing = housing plus critical services: Mental Health, Addiction, Disability(Developmental and/or Physical Limitations)

Without this differentiation inaccurately formed decisions can be made. For example, desirable senior housing could be placed in ‘high resource areas’ of San José, while areas defined as having ‘lower resources’, like downtown, could have a higher concentration of supportive housing which could place a higher demand for services. And perhaps each would get the same amount of funding but the demands from supportive housing would be much higher. If more emphasis was given to the amount of supportive housing that downtown already carries, then the affordable housing building requirements could decrease, and the focus could be placed in other areas of San José or in the alternative downtown could be given more resources and funding to carry the additional service requirements.

The current numbers for affordable housing in downtown are misleading and do not include: group homes, temporary transitional housing, rent controlled units, rooming houses, shared housing of sororities/fraternities, tiny homes, ProjectHomeKey Motels, and shelters. As a result, downtown does not get full credit for the amazing variety of affordable housing downtown already provides. Full credit is critcal when allocation is based on what types of housing already exist in each district.

All types of affordable housing, regardless of whether it is City, County, or privately owned/operated, need to be broken out to have a complete picture of downtown’s extensive housing options as compared to other areas of San José. Only then can we make correctly informed decisions that have true and meaningful impact in downtown and follow through with the intention of the Siting Policy to appropriately allocate housing thought the city. This will also lead to better decisions for our transit corridors and the needs of the community.

I know this part gets technical but bear with me …

#2. The “saturation data points” in the Siting Policy are also of concern. The saturation levels determine how much more affordable housing a community can/should handle. Saturation is determined by census block, not by district. The City believes each census block can have a 50% saturation despite the fact that a majority of San Jose’s census blocks have zero affordable or supportive housing. On pg.1 of the downloadable Memorandum (Siting Policy), Recommendation (a)(3) of the currently proposed Siting Policy, it states:

“Limit funding in high-impacted census block groups where 50 percent or more of existing homes are deed-restricted and the block group contains 200 or more units. “Note it says “Limit funding”, so therefore exceptions can still be made.

When looking at a map that plots the location of affordable housing throughout the City, you can see how much more affordable housing is in downtown already compared to the rest of San José. (Note the map is a snapshot as of Sept. 2019 so the concentration is even greater today).

The City has its own affordable rental housing map but as mentioned earlier, it is not comprehensive because the City does not track County and privately owned/operated affordable housing sites to obtain a comprehensive picture (i.e. Salvation Army’s Emanual House is not included); it is unclear when the map was last updated. The purpose of the Siting Policy should be implemented based on a complete database.

#3. The final concern is the Siting Policy does not acknowledge the impact of affordable and supportive housing on the immediate surrounding communities. Since the Siting Policy does not differentiate between affordable and supportive, the impact is ignored and therefore proper services cannot be allocated to those areas which need them the most. Take a look at the chart comparing the number of 911 calls to supportive housing.

If downtown continues to maintain the majority of affordable housing for the whole city of San Jose as well as receive even more affordable and supportive housing, then we must receive commensurate financial support and city services for both the community at large as well as the individuals residing in affordable housing.

Please take a careful look at the charts attached below and the video of the Housing Department Director explaining the purpose of the Siting Policy and implementation.