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San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo on Monday issued a plan to build 25,000 residential units in the next five years. The mayor’s proposal includes changes to downtown San Jose and could double the size of downtown with higher-density projects, the Mercury News reports. This follows on the heels of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee calling for a more streamlined approval and permitting process and setting a goal of approving 5,000 new and renovated units annually.
Liccardo said the housing crisis is hindering tech and other industries from attracting and retaining employees. Of the 25,000 units, 10,000 would be affordable and potentially have rent control, he said. These efforts will help temper the potential impact on the housing stock from Google’s planned 8M SF to 10M SF campus once it becomes a reality and adds 15,000 to 20,000 employees to the Bay Area.
To ramp up the pace of housing construction, the mayor said open positions at the planning department need to be filled quickly and he expects city planning to approve additional staff. San Jose also is looking to partner with SPUR and San Jose State University.
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