Woodside Won't Build Affordable Housing Because Of Mountain Lions

WOODSIDE, CA — A wealthy Bay Area town will not build new affordable housing, urging that the development would compromise the area's mountain lion habitat.

As part of Senate Bill 9, the wealthy Bay Area town of Woodside was directed to develop the new housing. The new split-lot law took effect last month and allows single-family lots to be divided up for four individual units at the most.

In a memo last week, Woodside officials said they would be placing an affordable housing project on hold, citing mountain lions as a candidate for the California Endangered Species Act.

"Given that Woodside – in its entirety – is habitat for a candidate species, no parcel within Woodside is currently eligible for an SB 9 project," Woodside Planning Director Jackie Young wrote in the memo late last month.

Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) decried the move on Twitter this week and forecasted legal action against the wealthy town.

"I'm all for mountain lions. I’m also for people. You know, the ones who need homes," Wiener wrote. "Can’t wait for the lawsuit against Woodside for this brazen violation of state law."

Woodside Mayor Dick Brown told The Almanac that it's "not the Woodside way" to value housing over the environment.

"We love animals," Brown told the local newspaper. "Every house that's built is one more acre taken away from (mountain lions') habitat. Where are they going to go? Pretty soon we'll have nothing but asphalt and no animals or birds."

Brown also added that a committee had been established to research different affordable housing options.

The news comes as rents continue to creep up in California. The median expected change in the price of rent across the U.S. was 10 percent, according to a January report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Prices on everything from groceries to gasoline have risen to their highest point in 40 years, placing a major strain on those who live in California — one of the nation's most expensive states to live.

President Joe Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom have vowed to alleviate the effects of inflation, but many Californians are adapting to an unrelenting state of sticker shock.

The Labor Department reported last month that a measure of inflation, which excludes volatile food and gas prices, jumped 5.5 percent in December over the same month a year earlier — the highest increase in decades.

"U.S. inflation pressures show no sign of easing," said James Knightley, chief international economist at the financial services company ING. "It hasn't been this high since the days of Thatcher and Reagan. We could be close to the peak, but the risk is that inflation stays higher for longer."

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