San Mateo County social worker Aldo Quintero and his wife, Liza, make respectable salaries in their government jobs, but in a region with a median home price of $1.4 million and a county where the figure reaches $2.2 million, a home for the couple and their two kids in the community they serve was out of reach.

For years, Quintero commuted an hour-plus across the Bay from Hayward, and though they later found a small rental in the San Mateo County town of Belmont, their pay wasn’t enough for them to afford a home of their own.

“Even as I got raises and better-paying jobs, it’s like I couldn’t catch up to where prices were,” said Quintero, who earns $144,000 not including benefits.

Each year, the Quinteros entered a program sponsored by the county for its employees — a lottery awarding

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