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Santa Clara County board reallocates PLHA funds to support rental housing and homeownership
Summary
The Board of Supervisors approved an amendment to the county's Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) consortium plan to shift about $2.25 million from homelessness programs into rental housing predevelopment and a state-required homeownership set-aside.
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on March 11 approved an amendment to the county's PLHA consortium plan that reallocates roughly $1.3 million toward rental housing development and about $950,000 to a state-mandated homeownership set-aside.
The amendment, presented by KJ Kaminski, acting director of the Office of Supportive Housing, and Natalie Monk, housing and community development division manager, moves funds within the consortium's roughly $5.2 million budget for the FY 2026'28 period. "Administration and our partner cities have identified predevelopment and development funding for new affordable and supportive housing projects as a key need," Kaminski said during the public hearing.
The measure was presented as a balance between near-term homelessness services and sustaining the affordable housing pipeline. Monk told the board that the county and consortium cities prioritized predevelopment and development funding because of the current competitive financing climate. Kaminski added that the recommended change does not affect currently funded homeless services: "The requested adjustment does not impact current programming," she said.
During public comment, a speaker urged the board not to reduce homelessness funding, saying local actions and policies are likely to increase unsheltered populations and that money for homelessness should be preserved. Supervisors discussed the trade-offs between short-term shelter and long-term affordable and supportive housing. Several supervisors emphasized that permanent supportive housing is a long-term solution and that temporary interventions without throughput can stagnate the system.
The board voted unanimously to approve the amendment. No additional conditions were attached in the motion.
Why it matters: the state Health and Safety Code requires that 20% of PLHA funds be spent on homeownership; the county's change reflects that legal requirement while directing more money toward predevelopment for affordable rental housing, which local officials said will help projects compete for financing.
