San Mateo County officials are looking to rezone about 25 acres of land in a scramble to close a housing shortfall in one of the Bay Area’s priciest apartment markets.
The county is required by the state to plan for 2,833 homes in its unincorporated areas by 2031, but current zoning only allows capacity for about 1,869 units, leaving a gap of roughly 964 homes, the San Francisco Business Times reported. By rezoning additional sites, the county could boost potential housing capacity to approximately 3,844 units.
Much of the strategy focuses on denser housing near transit stops. County planners are targeting the area around the Colma BART station, where zoning already permits apartments and mixed-use buildings but could be streamlined to encourage more development. The goal for county officials is “going big,” Jeremy Levine, policy manager at the nonprofit Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County, told the Business Times.
The push comes as California lawmakers ease some of the regulatory friction around housing. Senate Bill 131 exempts housing-element rezonings from parts of the state’s environmental review process, potentially smoothing the path for local governments trying to meet aggressive housing targets. On July 1, Senate Bill 79 will go into effect, further incentivizing transit-oriented development like housing near the Colma BART station by making it easier and faster for developers to get approvals for projects located within half a mile of qualifying transit stops.
The timing aligns with a shifting Bay Area housing landscape. Apartment construction remains near historic lows even as rents climb and the region’s tech sector regains momentum. Effective rents across the Bay Area hit a record $2,942 per unit in the fourth quarter of 2025, while rents in San Mateo County rose 5.2 percent year-over-year, second only to San Francisco County.
Though San Mateo County’s unincorporated areas house only 66,000 residents out of roughly 764,000 countywide, housing supply has not kept pace with demand. The area is dominated by single-family homes, leaving limited rental stock and pushing many tenants into cost burdens or overcrowded living situations.
Developers have already started to respond. Last fall, San Diego-based Affirmed Housing broke ground on a $70 million, 86-unit affordable housing project in North Fair Oaks, the lowest-income unincorporated area in San Mateo County, according to the Business Times. — Chris Malone Méndez
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