Council hears housing wait list drop to 855 and Lease‑to‑Locals reports slowed leads after Measure T overturn

At the June 3 meeting the council received its quarterly housing dashboard: Lydia Suna (Development Services) reported the city’s weighted housing wait list had decreased from 939 to 855 applicants, with 403 on the one‑bedroom list, 236 for two‑bedrooms and 216 for three‑bedrooms. Suna said the Lease‑to‑Locals program has housed four people since February and staff approved two grants since February 1.

Chase Jambrin, general manager of Placemate (the Lease‑to‑Locals contractor), told council that new leads declined after Measure T was overturned in mid‑March but said changes to incentive levels implemented Feb. 1 created a pipeline: six properties were in final application review and another eight owners were actively seeking tenants and expected to submit in coming months. “We anticipate the remaining roughly $60,000 in incentive budget to be fully allocated sometime in July with those six properties,” Jambrin said.

Council members pressed staff on several follow‑up items: trend history for the wait list over prior quarters, the geographic residency breakdown (city residents vs. nearby counties), and the percentage of applicants who are local. Staff said about 95% of the wait list applicants are locals and that Placemate reports active ongoing communication with applicants; council asked that future reports include trend charts and a clearer breakdown (city residents, sphere‑of‑influence counties, and out‑of‑basin applicants).

What’s next: Councilors asked that quarterly housing updates be automatically pulled from the consent agenda into full presentations to increase public visibility. Staff agreed to return future quarterly reports as an agendized item and to include historical trend lines and geographic breakdowns.

Attribution: quoted material attributed to Lydia Suna (Development Services) and Chase Jambrin (Placemate) came from the council meeting record.