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Health & Fitness

DID YOU KNOW That There Are Some Ready Housing Solutions to Our Local Housing Crisis?

Locally we have at least three cities --Mountain View, Cupertino and Menlo Park -- that have approved massive expansions to local company ca

As the Census Bureau statistics detail in the United States there is one birth every eight seconds, a death every thirteen seconds and a net immigrant every forty seconds for an overall population growth rate of one person every thirteen seconds. In the SF Bay Area we not only have the overall population growth pressure but a roaring local economy that is importing workers at a faster and faster rate. In addition, today newer homes are a thousand square feet larger than in 1973 and the living space per person has doubled since then. Essentially the square footage of inside living space per person has increased from 506.6 to 980.7 square feet using the median size home, and from 551.5 to 1,054.7 square feet using the average size home. In percentage terms, that’s a 93.6% increase using the median home size and a 91.2% increase using the average home size. (http://www.aei-ideas.org/2014/02/todays-new-homes-are-1000-square-feet-larger-than-in-1973-and-the-living-space-per-person-has-doubled-over-last-40-years/)

Locally we have at least three cities --Mountain View, Cupertino and Menlo Park -- that have approved massive expansions to local company campuses as well as additional office buildings but have not approved the corresponding necessary living space. Just taking the example of Mountain View, back in April the Mountain View Voice documented that all this new office development will bring 42,000 new workers to that city without anywhere near that additional number of housing units (http://www.mv-voice.com/news/2014/04/11/city-poised-for-unprecedented-office-growth.)

Redwood City is one of the few local cities to have some more residential projects coming online. However the planned additional new residential units in the area barely move the barometer on the completely lopsided job to housing ratio in the greater peninsula area. Which brings me to the existing housing stock. Last week Redwood City held a second brainstorming session on what they call Accessory Dwelling Unit’s (ADU’s) such as a secondary unit, in-law unit, granny flat or backyard cottage on a property that has a single-family residence. It is usually a complete unit with its own kitchen and bathroom facilities. The reason for the brainstorming session is to craft a new ADU ordinance for approval.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend but I do believe that that any new ordinance should not in any way have any kind of sizing requirement or parking requirement. Thirty years ago I lived in Paris sharing an apartment that was probably less than 100 square feet with another person. Yes, it had a small bathroom and an even tinier kitchenette but it worked for both of its residents. In Paris of course we both used the metro so parking was a non-issue but even on the San Francisco Peninsula more and more people are using bicycles, buses or trains. New ordinances should be crafted in such a way as to allow individuals to self-select into different types of accommodations based on their own wants and needs.

Last week I did get a chance to visit the Redwood City City Clerk’s office where they had the flyer shown above from HIP Housing. Home Sharing as the flyer notes is a living arrangement in which two or more unrelated people share a home or apartment. The reasons the flyer recommends home sharing include saving money, adding security, increasing independence, reducing financial worry and providing mutual assistance. But there are a lot more reasons to encourage this type of sub-letting including helping others in the community find a place to live. In fact today we have not only the non-profit HIP Housing program; but Craigslist and the much maligned Airbnb offering all kinds of home sharing options.

Find out what's happening in Redwood City-Woodsidewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The bottom line is that quickly approving a less restrictive, more realist ADU ordinance and actively promoting the full range of home sharing solutions are really the only available interim if not partial long-term solutions to the escalating local housing crisis.

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