Affordable housing is the top issue of concern in San Mateo County. In response to this concern, the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County called a meeting of 35 program directors chaired by Congresswoman Jackie Speier in March 2015. The meeting came about after a discussion between myself and Mark Moulton, Executive Director of the Housing Leadership Council, and was underwritten by Philanthropic Ventures Foundation.

The action agenda now is to find and access surplus land because there is a 100,000 unit housing deficit in San Mateo County. An example of new housing is the use of underutilized parking lots at community college campuses to build housing for teachers, which has been tried and has worked out well.

Congresswoman Jackie Speier in San Mateo County