What is the Housing Element?
During this 8 year cycle (2023-2031), Menlo Park must issue permits for an additional 2,946 units housing (segmented by income level) in order to meet its state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA).
The Housing Element is a document which explains how the City expects to meet those RHNA targets. It includes hundreds of pages of background, but ultimately comes downtown to a list of Pipeline Projects (housing developments in progress) and Opportunity Sites (properties with the potential for housing development).
If the HCD (California Department of Housing and Community Development) believes our Housing Element follows state laws and provides a realistic path to the required housing, it will certify the Housing Element. A city without a certified Housing Element is subject to fines and “Builder’s Remedy,” which allows developers to bypass local zoning rules. Menlo Park was late in getting the current Housing Element certified, and thus the massive project at 80 Willow was filed as a Builder’s Remedy project. (since then, Builder’s Remedy has been declawed a bit, but is still something to be avoided!)
Despite the late certification, Menlo Park is off to a strong start in meeting its housing allocations. The last annual report, in March 2025, showed that Menlo Park is doing so well that it is one of only 47 municipalities (out of ~480) that were not subjected to the state’s “streamlined ministerial approval” process.
Nonetheless, it will be challenging for Menlo Park to meet RHNA’s lowest income bracket - which requires that 740 units be very low-income (for people who earn less than 50% of the Average Median Income.)
Our Housing Element addresses the need for very low-income housing in two ways:
Inclusionary Zoning on Private Land - In Menlo Park, large housing developments require at least 15% of the units to be Below Market Rate (BMR), with at least 40% of the BMRs being for very low-income. In addition, sites in the Housing Element include an Affordable Housing Overlay which incentivizes a higher percentage of BMRs for low income.
Affordable Housing Developments on City-Owned Land - These projects are are 100% affordable, with an emphasis on the very low-income bracket. The city-owned land is declared “surplus” and then leased to a developer for negligible rent. Specifically, the City put the 8 downtown parking lots into the Housing Element in this manner.
Most of the sites in our Housing Element are private sites with Inclusionary Zoning. The only City-Owned land in the Housing Element are the 8 downtown parking lots. So the downtown parking lots are clearly an integral part of the City’s plan to provide for very low-income housing.
Note: The above units are “deed-restricted” for affordability. Units that are not deed-restricted but are “naturally affordable” (like old apartment buildings) don’t count toward the low-income allocations because they could theoretically be improved and thus no longer be affordable to the low-income residents.
Menlo Park’s Housing Element plans for