CITY OF SAN MATEO
CITY OF SAN MATEO
Agenda Report
City Hall
330 W. 20th Avenue
San Mateo CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org
Agenda Number: 7 Section Name: CONSENT CALENDAR Account Number: 10-3133 File ID: 26-11330 TO: City Council
FROM: Alex Khojikian, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Community Development Department
MEETING DATE: July 20, 2026
SUBJECT:
Emergency Rental Assistance Program — Approval
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve an agreement with Samaritan House to continue administration of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program in the amount of $220,000 for Fiscal Year 2026-27 and approve updated Program Guidelines; authorize the City Manager to execute the agreement in substantially the form presented.
BACKGROUND:
On July 28, 2025, the City Council approved an Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to address growing eviction rates in San Mateo. In a 2025 study on eviction rates conducted by the Mills Legal Center at Stanford, non-payment of rent was the most common cause for evictions in San Mateo County. Samaritan House was selected as the administrator of the program because of their role as a Core Service Agency in the County of San Mateo and their experience administrating rental assistance programs.
The ERAP was funded with $168,000 in Housing Successor Funds for the contract term of August 1, 2025 to July 31, 2026.
The program’s budget allocated $150,000 for assistance payments and $18,000 for administrative expenses. Each approved household can receive up to $4,000 in assistance within the contract term. Financial assistance may cover rent, security deposits, and utility payments.
The need for emergency rental assistance programs is still prevalent among low-income tenants in San Mateo. This program has successfully prevented 66 low-income households from being evicted, with $128,407 of the funds disbursed by the third quarter of the 2025-26 program year. According to Samaritan House reporting, the most common reasons for households applying for assistance are loss of employment and illness. It is anticipated that by the end of the agreement term, July 31, 2026, all 2025-26 ERAP funds will have been expended.
Samaritan House has consistently leveraged ERAP funds with other funding sources to maximize the number of households served and maintain the program throughout the year. Of the $232,400 in total funds that were provided to San Mateo residents in the form of emergency rental assistance in the third quarter of this program year (February 1, 2026, to April 30, 2026), approximately 31% of that, or $71,948, was from the City’s ERAP funding. However, this still fell short of the total amount requested during this period by 20% as San Mateo residents requested a total of $290,235 from Samaritan House for rental assistance in this period.
Due to the increasing need for financial assistance, and in alignment with earlier City Council direction, staff recommends increasing the ERAP budget to $220,000, with an annual goal to serve at least 60 households, and to continue with Samaritan House as the ERAP Program Administrator. The 2026-27 ERAP Agreement (Attachment 1) includes the updated term, annual goal for households served, and budget. The ERAP utilizes the San Mateo County Income Limits (as published
CITY OF SAN MATEO
by the California Department of Housing and Community Development) to identify the 60% area median income (AMI) thresholds as part of the eligibility requirements. Since these limits are updated annually, this Agreement includes the updated (2026) income limits. The Emergency Rental Assistance Program Guidelines (Attachment 2) were originally approved by City Council on June 28, 2025, when the program was established. Staff recommends updating the Program Guidelines (Attachment 2) to reflect the 2026-27 program budget and 2026 income limits to remain consistent with the ERAP Agreement (Attachment 1).
BUDGET IMPACT:
The Housing Successor Fund, also known as the Low and Moderate Income Asset Fund (F255), is again proposed as the funding source for the ERAP budget, with an amount of $220,000. Fund 255 has a current fund balance of $5,448,000 and saw annual revenue of approximately $454,000 in FY 2025-26. With funding from Fund 255, the program will not have an impact on the City’s General Fund. Funding for the ERAP was included in City’s adopted 2026-28 Operating Budget, so a separate budget appropriation is not necessary.
Health and Safety Code Section 34176.1(a)(2)(A) allows up to $500,000 of Housing Successor Funds per fiscal year, plus any percentage change in the cost of living, for homeless prevention and rapid rehousing services for individuals and families who are homeless or would be homeless but for this assistance. These funds may be used for short-term or medium-term rental assistance, contributions toward the construction of local or regional homeless shelters, housing relocation and stabilization services including housing search, mediation, or outreach to property owners, credit repair, security or utility deposits, utility payments, rental assistance for a final month at a location, moving cost assistance, and case management, or other appropriate activities for homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing of persons who have become homeless.
Emergency Rental Assistance Program Budget for 2026-27
Line Item Housing Successor Funds (F255)
Administration $20,000
Rental Assistance $200,000
Total: $220,000
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
This agreement is not a project subject to CEQA, because it can be seen with certainty that it will not cause a physical change in the environment (Public Resources Code Section 21065).
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT:
This staff report supports the Housing initiative.
NOTICE PROVIDED:
All meeting noticing requirements were met.
ATTACHMENTS
Att 1 – Emergency Rental Assistance Program 2026-27 Agreement Att 2 – Updated Emergency Rental Assistance Program Guidelines
STAFF CONTACT
Jennifer Mora, Housing Specialist I
[email protected]
(650) 522-7230