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Council hears staff constraints, funding shortfall as Palo Alto advances housing strategies
Summary
City staff told the City Council March 17 that the housing element and large-area planning work have created high workload pressure in Planning & Development, leaving some housing-related objectives deferred. Council members pressed for a local revenue plan — including vacancy/"ghost" taxes or bond measures — to fund affordable housing.
PALO ALTO, Calif. — City planning staff and councilmembers traded questions and concerns about how to deliver a wide set of housing strategies while carrying out an intensive, state-mandated housing element program.
Director Jonathan Lait (Planning and Development Services) told the council that several large projects — including the downtown housing plan and San Antonio Road area plan — are “big initiatives that are going to require a lot of our time and resources,” and that some lower-priority objectives were deferred because staff capacity is focused on mandated housing-element work.
Why it matters: The council and staff agreed there is a large gap between Palo Alto’s affordable-housing goals and the dollars available to realize them. Council members said staff vacancies, competing…
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