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Palo Alto staff outline downtown housing options, shelter timeline and outreach services
Summary
Planning staff described options to increase downtown housing capacity, including taller buildings and incentives; city staff and nonprofit partners summarized outreach, rotating shelters, safe parking and a shelter opening in 2026.
City planning and housing staff told residents at a neighborhood outreach meeting on Aug. 27 that the city is studying a menu of options to accelerate housing downtown and described a range of services and shelter options for people experiencing homelessness.
Jonathan Lake, director of planning and development services, said the downtown housing plan flows from the council—s adopted housing element and will present options in the fall for council direction on levers such as increased height, higher floor area ratios, incentives for lot consolidation and other tools to encourage housing where parcel sizes and preservation constraints make redevelopment difficult.
Why it matters: downtown is high land‑value and has limited lot depth and many…
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