Let's Talk Housing is an outreach effort of all the jurisdictions in San Mateo County
This effort includes all cities, towns, and the county to increase awareness of and participation in the Housing Element Update process.
Our goal is to make sure everyone is involved in shaping our shared future.
Housing and planning staff started working together in 2008 on the RHNA 4 Housing Element update and have been working together on housing policy ever since. They meet regularly to collaborate on housing policy, share what's working, respond to new laws or issues, and explore potential policies and programs.
This effort was named 21 Elements, which is now an award-winning collaborative planning project. It is co-sponsored and coordinated by the San Mateo County Department of Housing (DOH) and the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County (C/CAG).
21 Elements is not a nonprofit or organization, just a group of staff from all of San Mateo County’s jurisdictions that have found they can do more together than apart when it comes to housing policy.
For this Housing Element update they decided to try to do more extensive countywide outreach together and created this Let’s Talk Housing effort. Although they’ve all collaborated on housing policy for more than 12 years, including past housing elements, they have never tried this type of countywide outreach about city-specific processes before.
The hope is it will expand who is heard from in the community because it is more important than ever to hear from as many people as possible – to both state housing laws and to all the jurisdictions – so final plans match the housing needs of all community members.
