Linkage Fee for Affordable Housing Funding Approved in San Jose

The San Jose City Council voted this week to impose a linkage fee for commercial developers that will help fund affordable housing projects, reports Maggie Angst.

"Under the new fee structure, developers of downtown office buildings more than 100,000 square feet will have three payment options: paying $12 per square foot upon the certificate of occupancy, $15 per square foot in phases or no fee if the developer agrees to build a certain number of affordable housing units equivalent to the applicable fee," explains Angst.

The 7-4 council vote came after years of debate and skyrocketing housing costs in the most populous city in the Bay Area. The four dissenting voters on the council opposed the fee because they believed the fee isn't high enough to make a significant impact on the problem it is intended to address. The fee is expected to generate $14 million a year for affordable housing in the city. 

Angst's coverage presents the housing affordability challenges in the city as the fault of tech companies in the area. Google parent company Alphabet has been aggressively buying up property and expanding around the city, for example, only recently pausing in this effort during the economic uncertainty of the pandemic. 

"As developers and tech companies, such as Mountain-View based Google, are pouring more money into San Jose than ever before, longtime residents are getting pushed out of the area due to rising rents and a crippling shortage of affordable housing units," writes Angst.