Attachment 2
Affordable Housing Preservation Challenges and Goals
Currently, the City of East Palo Alto faces several challenges to housing affordability:
1. Large Single-Family Housing Stock, High Sales Prices, and Few Ownership Opportunities
The housing stock of East Palo Alto in 2020 was made up of 58.2% single family homes,
3.4% multifamily homes with 2 to 4 units, 36.6% multifamily homes with 5 or more units, and 1.9% mobile homes (see Figure 1). While segregation, redlining, and predatory lending have been legally prohibited, the impacts of race-based policy are still evident in East Palo Alto. East Palo Alto single-family homes on average cost $400,000 less than single family homes countywide (see Figure 2).1 Between 2012 and 2021, median single family home prices rose from $285,000 to $1,030,000 in East Palo Alto.2 An average East Palo Alto household with a median household income of $96,349 cannot afford present-day home prices.3 Indeed, East Palo Alto has a large renter population, with 26.4% or 1,555 of detached single-family home units and 81.8% or 216 of attached single-family homes being renter-occupied, and 94% of multi-family housing (2+ units) being renter-occupied (see Figure 3).
Figure 1: Housing Type Trends
Source: Figure 19: Housing Type Trends, Housing Needs Data Report: East Palo Alto, ABAG/MTC Staff and Baird+Driskell Community Planning, April 20, 2021; California Department of Finance, E-5 series. 1 According to Redfin, in January 2023, the median sales price in East Palo Alto was $1,000,000, compared to the median sales price of $1,485,000 countywide. 2 David Rosen and Associates report, January 18, 2022.
3 2017-2021 American Communities Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, available at:
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/eastpaloaltocitycalifornia.
Figure 2: Home Values by Geography
Source: Figure 24: Zillow Home Value Index, Housing Needs Data Report: East Palo Alto, ABAG/MTC Staff and Baird+Driskell Community Planning, April 20, 2021; Zillow.
Figure 3: Housing Tenure by Housing Type
Source: Figure 17: Housing Tenure by Housing Type, Housing Needs Data Report: East Palo Alto, ABAG/MTC Staff and Baird+Driskell Community Planning, April 20, 2021; U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Data (2015-2019), Table B25032.
2. High Rents Relative to Incomes
55.6% of the 4,648 renter households are cost burdened by rental housing paying over 30% of income (with 29.4% of renter households paying over half their income for rent) which is detrimental to well-being of community members and reduces the ability to save for home purchase. As shown in Figure 4 below, rates of cost burdened and severely cost burdened households are particularly high among lower income groups.
For example, almost 80 percent of extremely low-income renter households in East Palo Alto have a high housing cost burden.
Figure 4: East Palo Alto Cost-Burdened Households by Tenure, 2013-2017 Note: HUD-defined income categories are based on the HUD Area Median Family Income (HAMFI) Sources: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2013-2017 Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) data; BAE, 2021.
3. Aging Properties
Large portions of the City’s housing stock is aging. In East Palo Alto, the largest proportion of the housing stock was built 1940 to 1959, with 3,262 units constructed during this period (see Figure 5). Since 2010, 1.5% of the current housing stock was built, which is 128 units. Aging housing stock impacts habitability conditions, energy efficiency, and weather resiliency.
Figure 5: Housing Units by Year Structure Built
Source: Figure 20: Housing Units by Year Structure Built, Housing Needs Data Report: East Palo Alto, ABAG/MTC Staff and Baird+Driskell Community Planning, April 20, 2021; U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Data (2015-2019(, Table B25034.
4. Complaints of Substandard Housing
Between 2016 and 2022, the City had substandard housing code enforcement cases open at ten different locations, nine of which were in single-family home neighborhoods and one of which was in a multi-family home neighborhood. The cases included: sheds housing people, unsafe electrical and gas, junk and debris, dilapidated housing, and other items that were deemed “substandard housing.” Between 2015 and 2022, the City had substandard housing petitions/complaints at 36 different locations, the majority of which were located west of U.S. Highway 101, where a majority of rent stabilized units remain. Rent Stabilization Program petitions/complaints also came from buildings along Bay Road, where a bigger portion of large multi-family apartments are located, and in smaller 2-4-unit buildings located in single-family home neighborhoods on the East side of Highway 101. These petitions/complaints filed were primarily for habitability or maintenance problems, as well as service reductions.
Notwithstanding the foregoing challenges, affordable housing preservation can help address housing affordability, housing quality, and other factors that may contribute to displacement.