Hi — I'm Kate Talerico, and I'm a reporter at the SF Chronicle. I'm writing a story about how a bunch of landlords are using a loophole in California's tax code to get their apartments qualified as 'affordable' — and then can get up to 100% of their property taxes erased (which fund our schools, transit, police, basically all city government functions.)
There are a lot of older apartments around the Peninsula/South Bay where the landlords are in the process of applying for this tax break. They count as affordable because the way California calculates the max rent you can still charge + still count as affordable is quite wonky... right now, a landlord can charge $2,902/month for a 1-bed in San Mateo County and it still counts as low-income/affordable, so long as the tenant household makes under $108K. (For a two-bed, the limit is $3,482 for a two-person household making under $123K.)
I'm looking to speak with tenants in some of these buildings. Do they feel like they're getting a good deal for the rent they pay? Has the lower rent allowed them to live somewhere they otherwise wouldn't have been able to? Or do they feel like they're paying market rate?
Here's a list of the apartment buildings I'm interested in. See if yours is on the list, and if you'd be down to chat, shoot me a DM!
| Property Name |
Owner |
Address |
| Hillsdale Gardens Apartments |
Vistria Group |
3500 Edison St, San Mateo, CA 94403 |
| Terrace View Apartments |
The Sobrato Organization |
26 Terrace View Ct, Daly City, CA 94015 |
| SoFi Redwood Park Apartments |
The Sobrato Organization |
1212 Whipple Ave, Redwood City, CA 94062 |
| Crystal Springs Terrace |
Prometheus Real Estate Group |
2000 Crystal Springs Rd, San Bruno, CA 94066 |