San Mateo County Employee Housing Demand Study

San Mateo County's Human Resources Department and Department of Housing engaged CPC to assess demand for employee housing across the County and to map the broader landscape of regional employee housing programs. 

Key questions included: 

• How large is the demand for County-owned employee housing at different income levels? 

• How much are employees willing to pay for housing? 

• Which factors most strongly influence employees' housing decisions? 

• What lessons can San Mateo County draw from other local agencies' employee housing programs? 

To answer these questions, CPC surveyed over 1,900 County employees, representing more than one-third of the workforce. CPC applied descriptive statistics and cross-tabulations to the quantitative data and thematic analysis to open-ended responses, then translated the findings into data visualizations designed for a non-technical audience. 

CPC complemented the survey with two employee focus groups that probed housing priorities, affordability challenges, and interest in employee housing more deeply. A landscape scan of local agencies' employee housing programs, paired with interviews with program administrators, provided further insight into demand and surfaced best practices and lessons learned. The result was a comprehensive demand study capturing key findings from both the employee engagement effort and the landscape scan, insights that will guide the County's future employee housing program development.