Belmont approves $1 million loan for 65‑unit 678 Ralston Avenue affordable housing project, 3‑2

The Belmont City Council voted 3‑2 on May 27 to authorize a $1,000,000 city loan to support a 65‑unit, 100% affordable housing project at 678 Ralston Avenue near the Caltrain station. The loan would be structured as a residual receipts loan with a minimum 55‑year affordability term, staff said.

Toby Lieberman, Belmont’s housing and economic development manager, summarized the request on behalf of the developer, CRP Affordable Housing and Community Development. “The resolution would authorize the city manager to negotiate and enter into an affordable housing loan funding agreement with the developer … for a residual receipts loan for $1,000,000 for the 678 Ralston Avenue project,” Lieberman said.

CRP’s representative said the site, roughly 0.36 acres about 0.1 miles from Caltrain, is approved for a seven‑story building with 65 units over ground‑floor parking. Developer Ryan Andrews said the project would include a mix of unit sizes with more than half allocated to two‑ and three‑bedroom units to house families. “We purposely allocated a significant amount of our projects over half of 2 bedrooms and 3 bedroom units,” Andrews said.

Project financing presented to the council included more than $11 million in county funding already secured, including $4,000,000 for acquisition from a county program referenced in staff materials. The primary remaining financing source is the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program; CRP said the LIHTC application is still in process. Staff said any approved city funding would come from the city’s affordable housing contribution fund.

The council’s deliberations ranged from support for adding permanently affordable units near transit to concern over the building’s size and limited parking. Several council members said they supported affordable housing and noted the project would count toward Belmont’s RHNA (regional housing needs allocation) targets and the city’s affordable housing goals; others said they objected to the project’s height and the limited parking and criticized the process by which the developer pursued state streamlining before extensive community engagement.

Public comment at the hearing included speakers urging the council to support affordable housing as a regional priority and citing county data on needs among low‑income residents. One public commenter who identified herself with county service agencies read a list of top county needs and said projects near transit address several of those needs.

The final roll call recorded votes as presented at the meeting: Council member Jordan — yes; Council member Ladnerd — yes; Council member McCune — no; Vice Mayor Peng Manganaris — no; Mayor Bates — yes. City staff said the loan would be paid from the affordable housing fund, would be repaid from residual cash flow when available, and typically functions effectively as a deeply‑subsidized, long‑term loan for such projects.

Council motioned and the resolution passed 3‑2. Staff will return with the loan agreement for the city manager’s execution after negotiation.