Jobs/housing Balance in Our Community

I’m lucky to work close to home in South San Francisco, but the other day I had an 8:30am meeting in Redwood City. I left at 7:40am and thought I would have plenty of time, especially since I decided to take 280 instead of 101.

I ended up getting to my meeting at 9:15am. I couldn’t believe how much traffic I encountered along nearly the entire route.

As I stated in my first blog, one of the reasons I am so interested in housing affordability is because of its impact on so many other parts of our communities and lives. My commute experience described above made me think about how many people have to commute long distances between home and work. 

The jobs/housing imbalance in our County is a big problem. Over 60% of San Mateo County workers do not live in San Mateo County. This results in commute time, which has numerous effects – traffic, pollution, increased costs for gas, etc. Our communities need workforce housing in order to support our workers.

I don’t know how much of that 60% choose to live outside of the County, but many people do not get to choose that option, especially when working in an expensive area. So, they “drive until they qualify,” meaning they drive from their job location until they reach an area where their income qualifies for renting or owning a home. 

In South San Francisco, 91.7% of our employees live outside of South San Francisco. Also, 87.3% of our residents work outside of South San Francisco. (See attached for additional statistics and source). This implies to me that the people we depend on to run our communities – our teachers, bakery employees, restaurant waiters, postal workers – either choose not to live here or cannot afford to live here. 

Feel free to comment and tell me: how long is your commute? Is it by choice? Does where you live affect where you work, or vice versa?