San Mateo Passes Rental Assistance Program

Fernando Peña, Government Affairs Director | July 29, 2025

The City of San Mateo City Council unanimously passed an emergency rental assistance program at its Monday, July 28 meeting. The call for such a program came from recent community outreach and engagement meetings that the city conducted, study session testimony, and input from SAMCAR and the California Apartment Association (CAA).

A recent study by Stanford University showed that over 70 percent of evictions in San Mateo County were due to nonpayment of rent. SAMCAR and CAA have argued that all interested parties should be working together on solutions like an emergency rental assistance program rather than imposing new overly burdensome rent control and tenant protections on housing providers. Samaritan House was awarded the contract to administer the program.

Specific guidelines and operational procedures are being developed for program eligibility. At the council meeting, staff was directed to reach out to all stakeholders, including SAMCAR and CAA, for program rollout. SAMCAR will assist in disseminating program information to its housing provider members who provide rental housing in San Mateo.

For more information on the new emergency rental assistance program and how you can help tenants apply for the program, please contact Jennifer Mora at jemora@cityofsanmateo.org or (650) 522-7220 and Samaritan House at (650) 347-3648.

Fernando Peña

SAMCAR

850 Woodside Way, San Mateo CA 94401 (map)

(650) 696-8200

TAGGED: Rental, Rental Assistance, San Mateo

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