Placer County to give developers new subsidies to build multi-family housing
To try to get more multi-family housing units, Placer County is launching a program to pay developers a total of $1 million to build new residences.
The Placer County Board of Supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved the Launchpad Program. The county set aside a fund of $1 million, which could cover subsidies to build five apartment, town home or condominium units, at $200,000 each, according to a county staff report. The fund could be stretched slightly farther if it’s used for other types of units. It could be used to subsidize eight ADUs or 20 single-room occupancy units.
There is a shortage of 8,200 housing units in the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District area, according to a 2023 report by the Mountain Housing Council, the staff report said. Of the roughly 35,045 housing units currently within the district area, 83% are single family homes.
“The costs for creating new housing in this region is high,” Timothy Cussen, the county’s housing Tahoe housing specialist, told the board.
The new housing could either be for sale or for rent, the county staff report stated. The residents will not be income-restricted, but at least one occupant must work 30 or more hours per week for an employer located within the the TTUSD boundaries.
The county will issue the incentives at the time of certification of occupancy in exchange for a deed restriction that requires occupancy by a local worker, Cussen said.
Developer Sean Whelan told the board ahead of the vote that he disagreed with the requirement to work in the TTUSD and that the projects be located in Eastern Placer County. He said he is building 62 units in Truckee, where Launchpad won’t apply, even though many Truckee residents work in Placer County.
“The need for housing and employment does not care about county boundaries,” Whelan told the board. “I would do 23 units with Launchpad, but as it stands today, they’ll be sold to buyers likely who live in the Bay Area.”
Whelan also said the county should allocate more money than $1 million to the program.
Cussen said the $1 million is a pilot program that can be expanded in the future, potentially.
“It’s going to help us be able to accept live applications to see what projects are out there right now that are ready to hit the ground,” Cussen said during the meeting.
After the county selects an applicant to receive funding, they’ll have two years to complete the project or the funding will be returned to the funding pool, Cussen said.
This story was originally published April 1, 2025 at 3:30 PM.
CORRECTION: Timothy Cussen, the county’s housing Tahoe housing specialist, said the pilot program will help the county assess what projects are ready for development. Information was incorrectly attributed to a different person in an earlier version.
This story has also clarified the requirements that developers have disputed.
