|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The San Mateo Board of Supervisors will consider purchasing a $2 million property in North Fair Oaks to house youth transitioning out of foster care.
And some residents of the neighborhood are up in arms.
The property in question is located at 3335 Spring St. in North Fair Oaks, the unincorporated district of Redwood City. The six-bed, four-bath house would host no more than six residents in the first six months. The plan is to eventually expand occupancy to 12, according to the county’s Interim Director of Strategic Communications, Effie Milionis Verducci.
The potential purchase was prompted by the shutdown of StarVista — the San Mateo nonprofit that’s offered wellness services to at-risk community members for over 55 years, including a transitional living program for unhoused youth. The organization ceased operations Aug. 1 due to “ongoing financial challenges,” according to a press release on its website in mid-July.
When the county learned StarVista’s housing program for up to 10 youth would bolt up, “it moved quickly to secure a new property,” Verducci told the Pulse. The former property was at 639 Douglas Avenue, which is a three-minute drive from 3335 Spring Street.
The purchase of the property was initially on the board’s consent agenda for its Aug. 26 meeting, until a tidal wave of opposition by community members prompted Supervisor Lisa Gauthier to request the board save the item for discussion at its next board meeting on Sep. 9.
“I would like to have some additional conversations with these individuals,” Gauthier said of the public commenters, who voiced concerns about the lack of details related to the project.
Opponents at the meeting included Alisa Martinez, who asked the board, “If these people are coming from the foster care cycle, why are they 18-24 year olds?” She also wanted to know “what is the vetting process for those individuals who are 19 to 24?”
One woman expressed concern that property values “will be going down” if the county proceeds with this project.
Concerns ran the gamut from the number of people who’d be housed in this single-family-zoned home to how they’d be chosen to the fiscal impact of the purchase (between the use of taxpayer dollars and loss of tax revenue, seeing as the government-owned home could be tax-exempt).
Opponents wonder if purchasing a place less expensive than $2 million, which already exists in a mixed-use zone, might make more sense for the project.
Verducci explained that the property was chosen for its proximity to its former Douglas Avenue shelter, the Sequoia Union High School District, and access to public transit, as well as its layout that’s good for workshops and one-on-one sessions.
Also, because the board hasn’t yet chosen an operator, and the previous one for the Douglas Avenue house, StarVista, just shut down for financial reasons, residents worry that they can’t vet the security and financial liability of what would be the incoming operator.
Supervisor Gauthier, who’s championing this proposal, told the Pulse in the days to follow the Aug. 26 meeting that she understands that the neighbors of 3335 Spring Street “have concerns,” but that she believes “it’s so important that San Mateo County support our youth aging out of the foster care system.”
“These are young adults who could be your child, your cousin, your friend,” Gauthier wrote, “many of whom have had a challenging start to life.”
The county plans to select one through a “competitive process,” per its rules and regulations, which will involve “careful” screening for qualifications, experience, track record, and proposed service plan. Young adults in need of stable housing and supportive services, Verducci said, would be referred through the county’s Coordinated Entry System, which prioritizes those with “the greatest needs.”
Per San Mateo’s Planning Department standards, the Office of Community Affairs notified neighbors within 300 feet of the property of the proposal by inviting them to a community meeting on Aug. 19 at Taft Elementary School, according to Verducci.
However, one commenter at the Board of Supervisors meeting, Teresita Perez, said she lives “less than 20 feet” from the house and that “many” people on her street didn’t get the memo.
Disgruntled by what he considered to be limited notice and lack of details associated with the project, long-time North Fair Oaks community member Alfonso Avila, 33, created a petition on Aug. 20, one day after the community meeting at Taft, to rally neighbors to oppose the progression of the project. The petition has garnered over 120 signatures, which caught him by surprise, as he said he expected no more than 30.
“It seems to me that [the board was] trying to just push this through with minimal people knowing about it,” Avila told the Pulse. “The petition was just to put the brakes on [the project] to ensure the community is more informed about what’s going on.”
He attributes many of the petition signatures to activism from neighbors in other parts of the county, who worry that “if zoning laws can change” in North Fair Oaks, “what’s to stop it from coming” to their areas too?
The program’s mission is for participants to transition into permanent housing, such as reuniting with family, shared housing with peers, or moving into their own apartments, with short-term rental assistance from the County, as Verducci explained.
The aim is for residents to stay at 3335 Spring St. for about six months, though some will be able to move out more quickly, and others will be able to stay longer “to get everything in place for their next step,” the county’s interim director of strategic communications added. The service provider “will be working” to balance shorter stays with more successful outcomes.
Supervisors are scheduled to vote on the purchase Sept. 9.
‘Theft by the state’: San Mateo County leaders warn of cuts without funding fixAugust 13, 2026 6:24 pm
Why not allow this housing situation to happen? I understand residents POV; but do they understand how losing Star Vista to these candidates is devastating enough; in essence they’re now a homeless statistic in the abundance of homeless in Redwood City !! The loss of Star Vista is horrendous, do any residents realize what Star Vista did and meant?? Please take a moment to look this former agency up. Then rethink the hole now there. Stop with taxes how about showing HUMANITY, instead of SELFISHNESS. That’s the true meaning of community!
Lisa Gautier was elected to make a difference; please allow her to do so.
So an 18-year-old with no job would get the privilege of living in a $2 million home, which a 30-year-old with a full-time job, a family, and a solid reputation might not be able to afford. There are plenty of more affordable homes that the city could buy. Please don’t waste our tax dollars.
“Verducci explained that the property was chosen for its proximity to its former Douglas Avenue shelter, the Sequoia Union High School District, and access to public transit, as well as its layout that’s good for workshops and one-on-one sessions.”
1. Who cares if it’s near the old shelter?
2. What does the high school matter if these kids are 18+?
3. The home is nowhere near a Caltrain or BART station. It’s waking distance to a bus station, just like almost every other home in RwC.
4. A layout that’s good for workshops and one-on-one sessions? I’m guessing that means a dining room or garage, like many more affordable homes in other neighborhoods. It’s not like this house is big enough to have conference rooms or a gymnasium.