101 W. Santa Clara St., San Jose, CA 95113 | sjchamber.com | 408-291-5250 | [email protected]
January 21, 2026
City of San Jose City Council
200 E. Santa Clara St.
San José, CA 95113
RE: Items 8.2: Downtown Residential Incentive Program Expansion, 8.3: Multifamily Housing Incentive Program Extension, & 8.4: Amendments to the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.
Dear Mayor Mahan and Honorable Councilmembers,
On behalf of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, I write in strong support of staff’s proposed updates to the City’s housing policies intended to accelerate housing production, including extensions of the Downtown Residential Incentive Program and the Multifamily Housing Incentive Program, as well as amendments to the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.
Housing—particularly affordable and workforce housing—is the top concern of our members.
To sustain San Jose’s economic vitality, we must advance policies that meaningfully increase housing production. Meeting the state-mandated goal of 62,000 new homes by 2031 will require decisive action now.
San Jose’s competitiveness depends on its ability to house the workforce that powers our economy. Employers consistently cite housing costs and availability as major barriers to growth, talent recruitment, and long-term investment. Streamlining policies that make it easier, faster, and more cost-effective to build housing is essential to the city’s future.
For these reasons, the Chamber believes the following policy actions will make a measurable difference in supporting San Jose’s short- and long-term growth, vitality, and economic success:
Downtown Residential Incentive Program
The proposed updates appropriately refine the Inclusionary Housing requirements to better support workforce housing, streamline program implementation, and expand eligibility to include commercial-to-residential conversions for mid- and high-rise buildings within the Downtown Planned Growth Area, consistent with City criteria. These changes better align the program with current market conditions and improve long-term feasibility.
Multifamily Housing Incentive Program
The Chamber advocated for the creation of this program in 2024 and remains strongly supportive of its extension. The program has already enabled several multifamily developments to move forward and continues to hold meaningful potential to unlock additional housing production.
101 W. Santa Clara St., San Jose, CA 95113 | sjchamber.com | 408-291-5250 | [email protected]
January 21, 2026
City of San Jose City Council
200 E. Santa Clara St.
San José, CA 95113
RE: Items 8.2: Downtown Residential Incentive Program Expansion, 8.3: Multifamily Housing Incentive Program Extension, & 8.4: Amendments to the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.
Dear Mayor Mahan and Honorable Councilmembers,
On behalf of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, I write in strong support of staff’s proposed updates to the City’s housing policies intended to accelerate housing production, including extensions of the Downtown Residential Incentive Program and the Multifamily Housing Incentive Program, as well as amendments to the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.
Housing—particularly affordable and workforce housing—is the top concern of our members.
To sustain San Jose’s economic vitality, we must advance policies that meaningfully increase housing production. Meeting the state-mandated goal of 62,000 new homes by 2031 will require decisive action now.
San Jose’s competitiveness depends on its ability to house the workforce that powers our economy. Employers consistently cite housing costs and availability as major barriers to growth, talent recruitment, and long-term investment. Streamlining policies that make it easier, faster, and more cost-effective to build housing is essential to the city’s future.
For these reasons, the Chamber believes the following policy actions will make a measurable difference in supporting San Jose’s short- and long-term growth, vitality, and economic success:
Downtown Residential Incentive Program
The proposed updates appropriately refine the Inclusionary Housing requirements to better support workforce housing, streamline program implementation, and expand eligibility to include commercial-to-residential conversions for mid- and high-rise buildings within the Downtown Planned Growth Area, consistent with City criteria. These changes better align the program with current market conditions and improve long-term feasibility.
Multifamily Housing Incentive Program
The Chamber advocated for the creation of this program in 2024 and remains strongly supportive of its extension. The program has already enabled several multifamily developments to move forward and continues to hold meaningful potential to unlock additional housing production.
January 23, 2026
City of San Jose City Council
200 E. Santa Clara St.
San José, CA 95113
Subject: Support for Housing Incentive Programs (Items 8.2 and 8.3) and Inclusionary Housing Ordinance Updates (8.4)
Dear Mayor Mahan and Honorable Councilmembers,
SPUR writes in support of the proposed housing incentive programs, including the expansion of Downtown Residential Incentive Program and the Multifamily Housing Incentive Program extension. We believe that these actions will unlock stalled housing developments, support housing production in Downtown San José, and deliver naturally occurring affordability for middle-income households without deep subsidies, relieving displacement pressures elsewhere in the city.
We are particularly supportive of the expansion of the Downtown Residential Incentive Program because its focus on office-to-residential conversions aligns with SPUR’s Revitalizing San José’s Downtown: Five Strategies. By targeting conversion projects for mid- and high-rise buildings in the Downtown and phasing reductions to key development taxes, the program prioritizes housing that can realistically be delivered in the near term. Simultaneously, we encourage the City to identify complementary and reliable funding strategies for parks, notably Guadalupe River Park and St. James Park, so that housing production and investments in park amenities, maintenance, and public space can advance together.
In supporting the extension of the Multifamily Housing Incentive Program (MHIP), we recognize its demonstrated success over the past year. After a period in which no multifamily projects advanced to construction, MHIP has helped unlock multiple projects now under construction or actively pursuing permits, representing approximately 1,400 units.1 Together, the program’s combination of tax reductions, expanded eligibility, and a readiness-based prioritization could deliver even more housing projects. Although the potential loss of transportation revenue is not assumed in the 2026-2030 Adopted Traffic Capital Program, we want to emphasize the importance of identifying additional, sustainable transportation funding sources to continue supporting the critical link between housing and transportation in the Bay Area’s largest city. 1 City of San José, Staff Memorandum: Multifamily Housing Incentive Program Extension, Agenda Item 8.3. Staff analysis summarizes project status and unit counts.
San Jose Downtown Association
28 N. First Street, Suite 1000
San Jose, CA 95113
sjdowntown.com
408.279.1775
January 26, 2026
City Clerk
City of San Jose
200 E. Santa Clara Street
San Jose, CA 95113
Email: [email protected]
Re: Support for Agenda Items 8.2 and 8.3 — Downtown Residential Incentive Program Expansion and Multifamily Housing Incentive Program Phase I Extension
Dear Mayor Mahan and Members of the San Jose City Council:
On behalf of the San José Downtown Association (SJDA), I respectfully submit this letter in strong support of Item 8.2 (Downtown Residential Incentive Program Expansion to Include Commercial- to-Residential Conversion Projects) and Item 8.3 (Multifamily Housing Incentive Program Phase I Extension) on the January 27, 2026, City Council agenda.
Increasing Downtown’s residential population density is paramount to revitalizing San José’s urban core. A vibrant, 18- to 24-hour downtown strengthens the local economy and supports small businesses that continue to struggle amid lasting changes to the daytime economy following the pandemic. A stronger residential presence throughout the day and evening directly increases the pedestrian activity essential to the success of current and future retail, restaurants, cultural destinations, and local services.
Items 8.2 and 8.3 advance this goal by incentivizing housing production while supporting a broad mix of housing types – including affordable, workforce, market-rate, and luxury units – to ensure inclusive growth. By encouraging additional housing in our most walkable areas, these policies also maximize the use of existing public infrastructure, including transit, fire and safety services, and utilities, to support more sustainable growth at a lower per-capita cost.
The commercial office market has experienced fundamental structural shifts since 2020. Item 8.2 responds directly to these conditions by facilitating the conversion of underutilized office space into much-needed housing. Cities across the nation from New York, Cleveland, Detroit, and San Francisco have demonstrated that removing regulatory and financial barriers to commercial-to- residential conversions can accelerate housing production while reactivating downtowns. San Francisco’s recent implementation of SPUR’s office-to-residential conversion recommendations provides a relevant and successful example.
Furthermore, SJDA recommends removing all proposed timeline and unit cap restrictions from
8.2 and 8.3 to extend the effectiveness of these programs and increase likelihood that Downtown achieves its goal of 20,000 residents. There is no point at which Downtown San Jose will be “done,” and development of this magnitude requires long-term clarity and certainty.