Affordable Housing

City Vision

In 2024, the City Council adopted the following vision for the Downtown Affordable Housing Project:

“To create a development that (a) enhances the vitality of downtown Menlo Park while (b) addressing the critical need for (state-mandated) affordable housing.” (Source: City website, January 2025)

Aerial View of Downtown Menlo Park

Primary Objectives

Build at least 345 units of very low income affordable housing on land now used for Parking Plazas 1, 2 and 3 and replace at least 506 of existing 556 public parking spaces. The a specific number of private parking spaces is not required.

As of April 2025, the City had not initiated a formal planning effort to identify, prioritize and fund specific projects that would “enhance the vitality of downtown Menlo Park“.

Overall Assessment

While building hundreds of affordable housing units in Downtown Menlo Park is an admirable objective, our community is unlikely to widely support any development that fails to meet a stringent set of success criteria.

  • Enough convenient public parking to continuously support local businesses BOTH during all phases of construction and for at least a decade after the completion of the entire project.
    .
  • Enough private parking capacity for new households to ensures these residents do not displace customers for downtown businesses.
    .
  • Attractive housing buildings and grounds that are aesthetically compatible with Downtown and acceptable to Menlo Park residents.
    .
  • Does not create construction-related traffic and environmental impacts that reduce (a) the desirability of visiting Downtown businesses, e.g. outdoor dining, and (b) the City’s ability to keep and attract local businesses.

Additional Concerns

  • This housing project requirements do not include any design elements that would directly benefit Menlo Park residents. For example, there are no new public outdoor places that could attract more visitors to downtown Menlo Park.
    .
  • Parking structures that can accommodate required public parking could cost more than $40M to build, and Menlo Park will likely be responsible for funding them.

Additional Information

Blog Posts