Los Gatos Town Council on May 6 deferred a resolution that would have made it easier to build 100% affordable housing.

Vice Mayor Rob Moore’s resolution would have allowed 100% affordable housing developments to be built in areas zoned for mixed use without needing commercial use on the ground floor. It also would have allowed for these projects to be built in commercial highway zones.

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Instead, council unanimously approved a recommendation by Mayor Matthew Hudes for staff to collaborate with the state Department of Housing and Community Development to evaluate whether and where 100% affordable housing developments could be built within those zones. Hudes also asked staff to figure out how a buffer could be implemented for projects that take advantage of waivers to height limitations so that single-family homes wouldn’t be overshadowed.

Moore and Councilmember Maria Ristow both spoke in favor of the rezoning, saying that it would lower the restrictions for affordable housing in Los Gatos. Moore received clarification that a 100% affordable housing project would mean that each unit is deed-restricted. According to town staff, at least 13% of housing developments in Los Gatos need to be deed-restricted as affordable.

Ristow said the resolution was a way to pre-emptively exempt affordable housing from certain barriers.

“I want 100% affordable housing projects where they make sense and where the developer can do it, and the barriers to that are high,” Ristow said. “The only way you get affordable housing units is that they’re subsidized by something else, which is why there’s usually a small percentage.”

Moore said the resolution would help Los Gatos progress in its affordable housing commitments since the town didn’t take advantage of Measure A funding to build affordable housing. Measure A was approved by Santa Clara County voters in 2016, allowing the county to issue up to $950 million in general obligation bonds to provide affordable housing. Moore said Saratoga, Monte Sereno and Los Altos Hills also didn’t take any funding from the measure.

A representative from housing advocacy organization SV@Home also spoke in favor of the resolution, saying, “By allowing affordable housing without a commercial component in areas currently designated for mixed use and highway commercial, Los Gatos is unlocking more opportunity sites for much-needed housing, especially for low-income residents.”

Hudes and Councilmember Mary Badame were concerned that of the mixed use and commercial highway zones mapped out by town staff, many parcels were near single-family homes.

Badame said she wouldn’t support Moore’s resolution because she didn’t want to make a zoning amendment near single-family neighborhoods. The resolution did not specify that all mixed use and commercial highway zones would allow 100% affordable housing.

“To honor the rights, feelings and expectations of our residents that when they purchase a home, there was a certain zoning that came with it,” Hudes said. “And yes, we may have to do certain things to comply with state law and we certainly will, but to go above and beyond state law, to me, is not the way to proceed.”