San Mateo County investments are paying off with 529 affordable homes for families, veterans, farmworkers now coming online
REDWOOD CITY — Less than two years after a massive eight-alarm fire gutted the Middlefield Junction construction site, the North Fair Oaks development has been reborn.
Now, nearly 180 affordable apartments are opening to families struggling to remain on the Peninsula.
Signs of life are everywhere at the complex: a black cat lounging in a second-floor window catching the sun, caregivers lifting small children out of cars and a family piling into a minivan on the way to soccer practice.
County officials, housing advocates and the developer joined residents this month to celebrate the opening of Middlefield Junction amid a broader wave of affordable housing construction in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets.
“Every day I hear from families who are fighting to stay here, families who have lived here for generations and families who came here seeking stability and opportunity,” Supervisor Lisa Gauthier said at Middlefield Junction’s dedication. “Housing is not just shelter. It is dignity. It is belonging. It is the difference between surviving and being able to dream.”
That vision is becoming reality for a growing number of San Mateo County residents. Since 2013, the Board of Supervisors has directed $364 million through the County’s Affordable Housing Fund to help create more than 5,100 affordable homes, with more on the way. That total includes $223.7 million from the local Measure K half-cent sales tax.
 Ivan Rugerio (checkered shirt) with his family at the Middlefield Junction ribbon cutting, alongside local officials and housing advocates. His wife, Janet Gonzalez, holds the scissors, with their sons: Ulises, 15, Aiden, 8, and Mateo, 5.
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