San Jose City Hall, 801 North First Street, Room 500, San Jose, CA 95110 (408)277-5800

We Must Do More!
Mayor Ron Gonzales to Form Housing Production Team
to Create More Housing in San Jose

San José, CA -- 9/21/00: Saying that San Jose can do more to create housing to help meet the critical shortage of homes in the region, Mayor Ron Gonzales said he will name a special San Jose "Housing Production Team" to develop specific goals, recommendations, and actions to increase housing production in San Jose.

"San Jose has long been the leader for creating housing in the region," said Mayor Gonzales. "I know we can do more because we need to do more to ensure continuing economic prosperity and quality of life in our community."

To address this need, Mayor Gonzales will enlist a team of community leaders, housing developers, housing advocates, and environmental advocates to develop specific goals, recommendations, and actions to create more housing in San Jose.

The mayor will appoint the team within a week to bring specific recommendations back to the mayor and for City Council consideration by this December. Gonzales said he will challenge the team to consider all possibilities for new opportunities to increase the supply of housing in San Jose. The mayor will ask the Housing Production Team make its recommendations that include concrete goals for the production of new homes.

"It is essential that this team looks at the full spectrum of creative and innovative ideas to help people and families who need to find homes in our city," said Gonzales. "Specific suggestions could include more mixed-use projects, greater density or higher buildings, identifying and developing underused sites, and smart growth development that takes advantage of current and potential transit opportunities."

"As we identify new housing solutions and new housing opportunities, however, it is critically important that we focus these efforts within our established Urban Growth Boundary to protect our open space and hillsides and prevent costly sprawl." The lack of housing availability and limited affordability have reached critical levels in San Jose and Silicon Valley.

"Silicon Valley Projections," a report released by Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group and the Association of Bay Area Governments yesterday, underscores the need for greater regional efforts to increase the supply of both market-rate and affordable housing.

The City of San José has already made major commitments to increase housing. More than 4000 units of new housing are built each year in San Jose, and under the city’s General Plan, there is capacity for the development of 40,000 more homes.

With nearly 300,000 units of housing already, San Jose is largest provider of housing in the entire region. The city last year also committed to create 6000 units of affordable housing by 2004 using more than $240 million of redevelopment funds along with state and federal funds.

San Jose is the largest city in the nation to have established an "urban growth boundary," or greenline, that protects open space on the edges of the city while directing development to areas where urban services already exist or are planned. The city has also placed its greenline policies on the November ballot to ask voters to give them long-term protection.

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