Rampant housing development in the Belle Haven section of Menlo Park is stirring concerns over displacement and gentrification in one of the last affordable places to live in Silicon Valley.
A city-commissioned report states that the number of new housing units in the bayfront neighborhood will nearly double in the next two years -- from 1,466 mostly single-family homes to 2,846. The growth is driven by Belle Haven's proximity to tech sector jobs, including those at Facebook, which plans to nearly double its already large workforce by 2019.
Longtime Menlo Park resident Brielle Johnck is among those concerned about gentrification and displacement.
"The worry is that the market will drive up rents and we will see the exiting of a specific demographic that has long been part of our community," Johnck said.
Despite all the new homes being built, the construction won't even put a dent in the neighborhood's jobs-to-housing imbalance. During the same two-year period, the number of jobs per housing unit also is expected to grow, from 2.35 to 2.67.
All of the new development is in multi-family units. According to the report, conducted by Keyser Marston Associates for the Menlo Park Housing Commission, roughly 86 percent of the 1,380 new units under construction or in planning will be sold or rented at market rate, meaning they will be affordable only to residents making at least 80 percent of the area's median income. For a family of four living in San Mateo County, the median income is $107,700. Few current Belle Haven or East Palo Alto residents would be able to afford the new units.
The report lends credence to the concerns of Johnck and others, stating that new housing near the Facebook campus could "attract a greater share of Facebook workers in the future."
Between 2011 and 2015, rents increased 130 percent in Belle Haven and neighboring East Palo Alto, according to the report. Facebook moved into the area in 2011.
The report shows that the two communities have the highest share of rental housing in the county; the largest concentration of people spending more for housing than they should for their income; the highest percentage of multiple people living in one room; the largest household sizes; youngest population; lowest incomes; and largest percentage of households below poverty level.
Sheryl Bims, a Belle Haven resident, said there's another problem at play, one that has not been addressed by the city or the report: Nobody is tracking who is being displaced in the neighborhood or for what reason.
"People have moved out of here for a multitude of reasons," Bims said. "No. 1, you need to find out who they are, and to this date I still don't know who they are. ... It would be great if all the powers that be can find a better way to really assess which people need help."
How much Facebook's expansion will impact the community's housing issues remains unknown. Facebook data shows that just 18 of its 7,475 employees currently live in Belle Haven.
Henry Riggs, a city planning commissioner, acknowledged that the report raises displacement concerns, but in an email to The Daily News he said Facebook likely isn't a "relevant part of the problem in Belle Haven and East Palo Alto."
The report suggests that Facebook is not encouraging employees to move into Belle Haven, East Palo Alto and North Fair Oaks. Beginning this month, according to the report, Facebook is suspending "any incentives for employees to relocate into existing housing" in those three communities.
The report states that Facebook reportedly offers a $10,000 to $15,000 stipend to its employees who purchase or rent property within a 10-mile radius of its headquarters. A Facebook spokesperson said that is not correct.
Riggs said Belle Haven could see an influx of residents moving there from other Menlo Park neighborhoods if new tech workers move into the other parts of the city that qualify for a Facebook stipend.
"Even if those who live nearby go for more expensive locations like (The) Willows and Linfield (Oaks), I suspect this pushes some non-Facebook renters down market toward Belle Haven," Riggs wrote. "It's all fungible."
Foster City, Redwood City, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Union City and Fremont are also within the 10-mile radius necessary to qualify for the Facebook stipend.
"Not even Facebook will be able to control this outcome," Johnck said. "... (Displacement) will happen anyway when a new housing stock is built."