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Dear Neighbor,
We’ve broken the housing market in California. Here’s how San José is working to fix it.
We’re calling Tuesday’s City Council meeting “Housing Day,” because we’ll be voting on a slew of items — some of which have already unlocked thousands of housing units and some that will unlock thousands more, precisely in places like Downtown and North San José, where we have robust infrastructure and can support the housing we need for our kids and grandkids to be able to stay in the Bay Area. Here are the initiatives I believe will have the most impact:
MultiFamily Housing Incentive Program
In 2024, San José saw zero construction starts for new market-rate housing. The problem wasn’t that our Council was saying no to projects — the problem was they simply weren’t penciling, meaning it would cost home-builders more to construct the units than they could make back by renting or selling them.
We took a hard look at the fees that we add to these projects. Because here’s the thing – if no one can afford to build, then there are no fees to collect anyways, and we’re all worse off because no one can afford to live here.
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At the start of 2025, the Council made the right decision to reduce these fees – and we broke ground on 2,000 units. And on Tuesday, if we make the right decision again to expand this incentive program, we’ll unlock 2,200 more — including phase 2 of the project you see in the photo above!
Downtown Office to Residential Conversions
Downtown office vacancies are high, and so is the demand for housing. We’re changing the rules to make it easier to convert empty commercial buildings into something our state desperately needs — more homes.
San José’s Downtown Residential Incentive Program has already enabled 1,226 homes across three projects in our urban core: The Graduate, Miro, and The Fay. Now, we’re expanding that same incentive to office-to-housing conversions by removing the financial barriers that make these projects impossible to pencil — including development fees and inclusionary requirements for qualifying projects.
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One of the most exciting examples is the historic Bank of Italy building. If you’ve been Downtown recently, you may have noticed scaffolding going up. This 100-year-old building helps define our skyline, but for years, it has sat empty. Now, it’s poised to become housing — bringing new life, new residents, and new activity to the heart of our city. And on Tuesday, we’ll vote to go further: replacing rigid permit deadlines with a unit-count approach that gives builders certainty, increasing the cap on number of eligible units to give us enough runway to hit critical mass in Downtown, and creating a new “High Road” tier that rewards projects paying prevailing wages and supporting apprenticeship programs with even stronger incentives.
This is how we fix downtown — by turning empty buildings into homes, bringing people back, and making San José safer, more vibrant, and more economically resilient.
Inclusionary Housing Ordinance
Affordable housing policies only work if housing actually gets built.
I shared above how San José is removing the biggest barriers to building housing — from reducing fees that stopped projects from penciling, to turning empty downtown offices into homes. One final piece is our Inclusionary Housing Ordinance (IHO), which requires new housing to include affordable homes or contribute to affordability in other ways.
The IHO has helped deliver 1,442 deed-restricted affordable homes across 43 projects — including homes affordable to very low-income residents and working families. But today, fewer than 10% of projects subject to the ordinance make it from application to construction. With high construction costs, tighter financing, and higher interest rates, the rules are no longer aligned with market reality — and that means less housing gets built, rents rise, and displacement increases.
That’s why we’re proposing targeted updates: aligning affordability targets with workforce incomes, creating more flexible ways to comply (including on-site homes and surplus credits), shortening affordability terms to match state standards and lender requirements, and streamlining oversight for 100% affordable projects. The goal is simple — keep projects viable so more homes get built at every income level.
It all comes down to Tuesday. Your councilmember will be voting on each of the policies I’ve outlined. And I hope as a council, we collectively make the right decisions — because our working families, young professionals and rent-burdened communities are relying on us.
| | Wow — San José is ready to celebrate! We sent out invites to our State of the City on Thursday — and already hundreds of neighbors have said they’ll be there. I want to make sure you don’t miss out — space is limited, so please RSVP today. | |
The Mercury News said this week that it seems as though the road to the Governor’s Office runs through San José. And it’s certainly been feeling that way!
This week, we hosted our sixth gubernatorial candidate at the Guadalupe Interim Housing Community. Tom Steyer, Katie Porter, Ian Calderon, Betty Yee, Tony Thurmond and now Steve Hilton have all come by to learn about San José’s approach to homelessness.
This should make us all proud — what we’re doing here is working, and people are starting to pay attention. As I’ve argued for years now, San José can’t solve homelessness for the entire state — but our approach can and should be replicated in every single city.
The truth is, no matter who our next governor is or what political party they come from, we need them focused on what works. I hope that all the candidates who have come through adopt our approach as a model for what’s possible and commit to holding every city and every county accountable for doing their fair share by investing in what works. We have a solution — we just have to help spread it.
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By now, you’ve likely seen the news that one of our SJPD officers — a sergeant to be exact — was shot in the line of duty this week.
It’ll take some time to work through the actions that led up to this tragic incident. The suspect had been committing crimes from Sacramento to San José, getting into gunfights across several days with multiple agencies before the final standoff that has since gone viral.
Chief Joseph told me that the first thing our Sergeant said when he got to the hospital was, “make sure someone takes care of my dogs”.
That’s the kind of person he is. That’s the kind of people we have on our force. People who put their lives on the line to protect our families during the day, and then go home at night to take care of their own families.
I was grateful to visit our injured Sergeant in the hospital — but not as grateful as I was to hear he has since been released. He was lucky this week. And we are all lucky that he chooses to serve our city.
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The Wiz Broadway San Jose
Tuesday January 27 to Sunday February 1
Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd., San Jose, CA 95113
The Tony Award-winning Best Musical that took the world by storm is back. The Wiz returns “home” to stages across America in an all-new Broadway tour. This groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz changed the face of Broadway — from its iconic score packed with soul, gospel, rock, and ’70s funk to its stirring tale of Dorothy’s journey to find her place in a contemporary world. Find more information here.
Toastique Grand Opening
Saturday, January 31
145 W Santa Clara St, San Jose, CA 95113
Celebrate the grand opening of Toastique’s newest location in downtown San Jose! Serving fresh food, cold-pressed juices, smoothies, and bowls, all made with high-quality, wholesome ingredients, come experience Toastique’s new San Jose location before anyone else! Learn more here.
Big Game Opening Night Drone Show
Monday, February 2
South First Street in the SoFA District
Delight in evening visual entertainment as drones light up the sky in Downtown San Jose! Catch the Opening Night show in the SoFA District. Find more event information here.
Candlelight: The Lord of the Rings
Friday, February 6 at 8:45 PM
Hammer Theatre Center
The Fellowship lives on through the music from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Lord of the Rings like never before with Candlelight: The Lord of the Rings in San Jose. This exclusive tribute concert, performed by a talented string quartet, will bring the unforgettable music from the films to life. Join us for a night that celebrates the music behind the heroic journey of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Get your tickets here.
| | Planting Trees in Honor of Dr. King | | Martin Luther King wanted his legacy celebrated as “a day on, not a day off”. Here in San José, alongside Our City Forest, we took that message to heart. Thank you to the many volunteers for coming together to strengthen our city, honor Dr. King’s call to service, and prove that collective action can change our world. | | 2026 has arrived — and San José is ready to show up and show out. From wrapping the rotunda to transforming streets into stages, we’re gearing up for block parties, concerts, activations, and more. This is our city, our celebration, and everyone’s invited. Explore the full lineup of events here: sj26.sanjose.org | | Beautifying Julian Street | | In San José, every Saturday starts with service. But our Tackle San José clean-ups are extra special. In just two weeks, our downtown will be hosting our State of the City, Super Bowl block parties, national headliners, and more. We want our residents to be proud of the city they call home and our visitors to see us at our very best. Thanks to BeautifySJ, Caltrans, our Conservation Corps, the Silicon Valley KASCL and KAJVL and our 50+ volunteers for joining in today. Don’t miss out on next week’s clean-up, and make sure to RSVP for State of the City: tinyurl.com/SJ2026SOTC | | | | |
