Housing - Prohousing Burlingame
The City of Burlingame is firmly committed to the development of housing to serve a range of households and to meeting its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) targets.
- As of April 2024, there are 2,414 units that are either under construction, approved, or under review (1,440 residential units under construction, 511 approved, and 463 under review). Of the units under construction, approved, or under review, 424 (18%) are designated affordable for Very Low, Low, and Moderate-Income households. This is on top of 410 new units (160 affordable, or 39%) being completed during the past two years. Information on new housing development in Burlingame can be obtained on the Planning Division’s Major Projects page at at www.burlingame.org/majorprojects.
- Burlingame began a robust discussion about housing back in 2018 as the first pilot city in the County of San Mateo’s “Home For All” program. Those discussions were important for allowing the community to understand housing issues and the value of providing more housing. Click here to learn more about the "Burlingame Talks Together About Housing" initiative.
- Much of the progress in housing production has been the result of the City’s "Envision Burlingame" General Plan, which was comprehensively updated and adopted in 2019. The General Plan has a strong emphasis on housing production, with new areas of town designated for residential uses, and residential densities significantly increased in other areas. The intent of the General Plan was to expand the City’s housing supply by approximately 20 percent.
- Interim zoning was adopted concurrently with the new General Plan so that new residential projects could be submitted without needing to wait for the Zoning Ordinance to be updated. 1,002 new residential units were submitted and approved under the interim zoning.
- A comprehensive update of the Zoning Ordinance was adopted in December 2021. The update included significant streamlining of development review for new residential development, including objective design and development standards to comply with the Housing Accountability Act (HAA).
- The “Village at Burlingame” was the City’s first venture into the realm of financing affordable housing production directly. The City donated the land for the development, and now 132 new housing units for a range of families and seniors are close to completion. 82 of the units will be affordable for Very Low-Income households (up to 50% Area Median Income or "AMI"), 35 units will be affordable for Low Income households (up to 80% AMI), and 14 units will be available for Moderate Income households (up to 120% AMI).
- The City is providing direct financial support to a project called the Eucalyptus Grove Apartments that will provide 69 Very Low- and Low-Income units (up to 50% AMI). It is the first project submitted to the City under California Senate Bill (SB) 35, which streamlines affordable housing construction in California counties and cities. Construction is underway.
- The City convened an ad hoc citizen’s committee to prioritize expenditures of affordable housing funds collected from commercial development. The committee, known as the Housing, Opportunity, Priorities and Education (HOPE) community advisory committee, has provided recommendations to the City Council for uses of the affordable housing funds. The intent is to particularly focus on households in the Very Low- and Extremely Low-income categories, which includes a significant portion of the City’s workforce and have been the most challenging income categories to provide housing without the City providing financial support. Very Low Income (VLI) households are defined as those earning up to 50% of Area Median Income (AMI), and Extremely Low Income (ELI) households are those earning up to 30% of AMI. In San Mateo County in 2023 the Area Median Income is $122,500 for a single-person household, $140,000 for a two-person household, and $175,000 for a household of four.
