Add to mobile home park fund

County mulls $6.5Mmore to buy Buena Vista

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors could soon add $6.5 million to the $8 million it has already set aside for the purchase of Buena Vista Mobile Home Park.

The board is set Tuesday to consider the request for additional funding from supervisors Joe Simitian and Dave Cortese.

The $14.5 million would be used to purchase the mobile home park from its owner, the Jisser family, and retain it indefinitely as a source of affordable housing. Last month, the City Council authorized its closure, setting the stage for the displacement of 400 mostly low-income Latino residents.

The owner’s plans for the 4.5-acre property at El Camino Real and Los Robles Avenue are unclear, but they previously called for it to be sold to a private developer and turned into luxury apartments.

“As development pressures continue to increase in Santa Clara County, more and more working class families are finding it harder and harder to keep their foothold in our community,” the supervisors wrote in a memo. “Rather than drive them out, we have an opportunity to ensure they will always be welcome at the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park.”

Like the $8 million that the board set aside this year, the $6.5 million would be drawn from an affordable housing fund established by Stanford University in exchange for permission from the county to construct new buildings.

The additional funding, however, would be contingent on a one-forone match by Palo Alto. In February, City Manager James Keene set aside $8 million in affordable housing funds for the purchase of Buena Vista, an expenditure that will require the council’s blessing.