STATE OF CALIFORNIA - BUSINESS, CONSUMER SERVICES AND HOUSING AGENCY GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
DIVISION OF HOUSING POLICY DEVELOPMENT
651 Bannon Street, Suite 400, Sacramento, CA 95811
(916) 263-2911 / FAX (916) 263-7453
www.hcd.ca.gov
November 1, 2024
Jennifer Ott
City Manager
City of Alameda
950 W. Mall Square, Suite 205
Alameda CA 94501
Dear Jennifer Ott:
RE: Prohousing Designation – City of Alameda
Please Note: The Prohousing Designation award is under a media and public announcement embargo until released by the Office of the Governor or otherwise notified by HCD staff. HCD will provide updates on the timing of the award announcement and provide a social media toolkit and a quote from the HCD Director for use in local media releases. Please reply to this email and provide the name, email, and phone number of your Public Information Officer. Should you want to host an in-person event, please complete HCD’s online speaker request form [calhcd.service-now.com] to ensure the event is routed to our executive office.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development (Department) is pleased to announce that the City of Alameda has been designated a Prohousing Jurisdiction under the Prohousing Designation Program. The Department has determined that the application meets Prohousing statutory requirements.
The Prohousing Designation Program was established in the 2019-20 Budget Act to acknowledge the policies of local governments that promote housing development. The purpose of the program is to encourage jurisdictions to pass and implement policies that accelerate housing production, promote favorable zoning and land use, reduce construction and development costs, and provide financial subsidies. Through a Prohousing Designation, the City of Alameda has shown commitment and diligence and demonstrated itself as a partner to the state in combatting the housing crisis.
With their Prohousing application, the City of Alameda demonstrates a commitment to building, maintaining, and increasing availability of housing. The City has directed residual development funds to accelerate the production of affordable housing by annually adopting the Recognized Obligation Payments Schedule (ROPS) to support preservation of an existing affordable senior rental development and funding new construction of affordable housing. Additionally, the City established a local financing tool that supports the Alameda Point Public Services District for newly entitled and constructed units of which more than 20 percent are designated as affordable to lower-
income households. Finally, the City of Alameda has initiated an adaptive reuse residential density waiver that allows additional units in existing space conversions by right. The cap on four units is waived on lots with two or more existing units. Waiving the cap on a lot with two existing units goes beyond the requirements of ADU Law and SB
9. As a reminder, Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) is state law (Chapter 958, Statutes of 2018) and a threshold requirement for receiving and maintaining your Prohousing Designation. The treatment of unhoused individuals has inherent intersections with public agencies’ duties to AFFH. People with disabilities, and particularly people of color with disabilities, continue to be disproportionately impacted by California’s housing crisis. People with disabilities are the most likely population to experience homelessness, be rent burdened or unable to afford housing, and face the highest rates of housing discrimination.
1 2 This is an evolving area of law. Thus, the
Department strongly recommends you monitor your policies, procedures, and ordinances for compliance with AFFH; examine possible disparate impacts on persons with protected characteristics; follow best practices regarding encampments published by the US Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) at Principles for Addressing Encampments. The Department may reach out if concerns with your implementation of AFFH arise.
Congratulations on your successful application. For further information, please contact Weston Starbird, Prohousing Program Manager, at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Megan Kirkeby, Deputy Director
Housing Policy Development
1 National Disability Institute, Financial Inequality: Disability, Race and Poverty in America https://www.nationaldisabilityinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/disability-race-poverty-in-america.pdf. 2 HCD’s Final 2020 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice https://www.hcd.ca.gov/policy-research/plans- reports/docs/final2020ai.pdf