Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City planners report 2025 saw highest approvals in 15 years; completions and affordable unit deliveries declined
Summary
City planning and housing staff told the Development Committee that 1,420 housing units were approved in 2025 — a 15‑year high — with 380 deed‑restricted affordable units approved; completions fell to 187 units in 2025 and completed affordable units declined from prior years.
City planning staff told the Development Committee that 1,420 housing units were approved in 2025, the highest total in 15 years, while housing completions dropped to 187 units.
Senior planner Zach Powell said 83% of approved units are expected to be rentals and that 380 units were deed‑restricted for affordability at or below 100% of area median income; 201 of those were identified as workforce housing. The largest approved projects highlighted in the presentation included the Tabata redevelopment at 165 Washington Avenue (proposed 325 rental units, 82 deed‑restricted affordable), Thompson's Point (about 255 market-rate units) and a project at 61 Preble Street (about 217 units). Powell said most approved units were multifamily new construction and nearly all approved units were within a quarter mile of fixed transit routes.
Heidi McCarthy, housing program manager, described federal and local funding activity: since 2000 the HOME program supported the creation of 2,250 units (2,024 affordable), the Josie Dusan Housing Trust Fund received about $185,803 in 2025 from donations and fee transfers, and roughly $2.56 million in trust-fund dollars were allocated to Lambert Woods North and South. McCarthy also reported five affordable housing tax increment financing districts were created in 2025 creating 266 new affordable TIF units.
Staff noted a contrast between approvals and completions: 2025 hit a 15‑year high for approvals but completions and completed affordable units both declined compared with 2023–24. Powell said ADU approvals reached a 15‑year high (40 ADUs), most tied to the Stroudwater Commons project, but overall completions — many of them off the Peninsula — fell sharply.
Committee members pressed staff for more detail on inclusionary zoning (IZ) monitoring and asked for a year-by-year breakdown of the 161 IZ units the city tracks. Staff said an inclusionary zoning study will be released soon and will provide more complete year-by-year data. They also reminded the committee that the city is updating its land use code to comply with state law changes (LD 1829) that address minimum lot sizes and affordable-housing density bonuses.
The report and the staff presentation will be used to inform future policy work and to support forthcoming technical studies and community outreach planned for the coming year.
