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Second Unit Working Group

Updates & Accomplishments

July 25, 2019

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Why is RTP involved?

Nonprofit organization serving the Peninsula community since 1989, providing repairs for approximately 200 low-income households and community facilities each year

Vision: Safe homes and communities for everyone.

Mission: Repairing homes, revitalizing communities, and rebuilding lives.

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Responding to a community crisis: Code Enforcement & Displacement in East Palo Alto

2013-2014: EPA Secondary Unit Study Sessions & Ordinance

2016: Code Enforcement & Displacement as a community crisis

65+ Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) were red-tagged
Community White Paper
Community Benefits Partnership with Facebook

2017: Secondary Unit & Anti-Displacement Task Force formed by EPA City Council

2018: RTP created an ADU initiative / workgroup

East Palo Alto in particularly has been adversely affected by demand for affordable housing and an abundance of unsafe, informal and vulnerable ADUs. The community benefits partnership that was established with Facebook set aside $250,000 over two years to engage RTP in working with the community to develop some solutions to help address the red-tagged ADU issues in the community. Shortly afterwards, we were asked to participate in a task force formed by the EPA City Council. It was quickly evident that what was missing from the conversations that had taken place so far was a true understanding of real costs and the process for actually helping low-income homeowners in the community to legalize their units. With additional funding from CZI, Wells Fargo and Get Healthy San Mateo County, we agreed to pilot a project with four garage conversion units to capture the costs and process involved in legalizing them and fill this information gap for the community.

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1. Learn from legalizing 4 existing garage conversions

2. Provide education, tools, resources for making more informed decisions about ADU legalization or construction options

Funders

Secondary Unit Workgroup

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What options are we talking about?

Reasons:

Housing for Relatives

Rental Income

Downsizing / Flexible Space

Sound Investment

Community Benefit

Other

General Interest

Source: Home For All San Mateo County

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Accomplishments

Completed one garage conversion, another submitted for plan review, and another to be submitted by within the next month. Building on lessons learned from these experiences.

Monthly Meetings with City Staff and ADU Partners

Coordination with San Mateo County and other regional efforts to share information and resources

Joint funding proposals and letters of support

Website: https://tinyurl.com/RTP-ADU-Initiative

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Presentations & Workshops

10/19/2018 Housing Leadership Day Panel Discussion

2/26/2019 & 4/17/2019 Community Workshops

Making Sense of Garage Conversions & Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs): What to Consider When Building or Legalizing These Spaces

3/11/2019 Planning Commission Presentation

3/22/2019 Joint Presentation to Wells Fargo Community Relations & Foundation Staff on ADUs with Habitat Monterey Bay

6/1/2019 ADU Resource Fair at Community Church

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Derek Ouyang