Ours Stories
Housing In San Mateo County
It is more important than ever to include as many voices as possible in the Housing Element, which is why we asked community members across the county to share their housing experiences. We heard from a diversity of residents, including small families, seniors on fixed incomes, educators, people living with disabilities, and single parents. We thank them for sharing.
“We need more affordable housing because the rent is too expensive and what one makes isn’t enough to cover the high cost of rent. It would be great to get a living situation that is cheaper. Been here 15 years, I have three kids and my wife.”
- Caleb*, small family (translated from Spanish)
“We need to support and help those in our community who need help, who are struggling with affordable housing. Who don’t want to be left behind or have to relocate because everything has become too costly to live in the community where they lived most of their life.”
- Dolores*, senior on fixed income
“I am hoping that my situation will bring awareness to the housing emergency of the working class that is being ignored. Invest in the preservation of positive members of this community that are slowly falling behind in our ability to keep up with the cost of living. Most residents like myself, are both 6 months financially away from being displaced, or 6 months away from being stable and able to build on a bit of attention to our struggle.”
- Tracy*, educator
“It’s been a long term goal to live on my own, and I recently got my housing voucher, so it came true. The places that are for the tech companies, are not open towards people with housing vouchers or with disabilities. And I think it’s important that people are willing to help people with disabilities.”
-Ashley*, member of the disability community
“Been in San Mateo for, let’s see, 20 years, and affordable housing here is no joke because even a studio rents for almost $1,900 if you want something in a place where it’s a good community and your kids are better off. I’m a single parent and it gets pretty hard because two-thirds of my income just goes [to] paying rent and bills and then what’s leftover, you can’t sometimes even provide for your kid.”
- Maya*, single parent