CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
City of Anaheim
PLANNING AND BUILDING DEPARTMENT
200 S. Anaheim Blvd.
Suite #162
Anaheim, CA 92805
Tel: (714) 765-5139
Fax: (714) 765-5280
www.anaheim.net
DATE: JUNE 21, 2022
FROM: PLANNING AND BUILDING DEPARTMENT
HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
SUBJECT: RESUBMITTAL OF REVISED DRAFT HOUSING ELEMENT
TO CALIFORNIA STATE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
ATTACHMENT (Y/N): YES ITEM # 03
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council, by Motion,
1. Direct the Planning and Building Director to resubmit the revised draft 2021- 2029 Housing Element to the California State Department of Housing and Community Development for review for compliance with State law; and
2. Find this action to be not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) and 15061(b)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines.
DISCUSSION:
This is a City-initiated request to resubmit the revised draft 2021-2029 Housing Element to the California State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for review for compliance with State law. This will be HCD’s second round of review of the City’s draft Housing Element.
The Housing Element is a State-mandated chapter of the Anaheim General Plan that sets forth an eight-year plan (housing cycle) to address the City’s identified housing needs. The Housing Element describes, identifies, and analyzes the City’s housing needs; and, addresses the maintenance and expansion of the housing supply to accommodate the households that currently live and/or may live in Anaheim in the housing cycle. Through research and analysis, the Housing Element identifies available housing sites (Candidate Sites) and establishes a Housing Policy Program to accommodate the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation, as determined by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and approved by HCD. Under the State law, jurisdictions are required to update their Housing Element every eight years. The deadline for the 2021-2029 planning period Resubmittal of Draft Housing Element to State HCD
June 21, 2022
(Sixth Cycle) was October 15, 2021 (Statutory Deadline), and, like most cities in the Southern SCAG region, the City continues to work diligently toward achieving a State-certified Housing Element. City staff began preparation of the required update to the City’s Housing Element in January 2021 with the assistance of the consulting firm Kimley-Horn. As part of the Housing Element update process, the City conducted extensive public outreach activities beginning in 2021. These outreach efforts included three Community Workshops, seven Housing Element Update Committee (HEUC) meetings, two workshops each before the City Council, Planning Commission, and Housing and Community Development Commission, all of which were open to the public; an on-line community survey; and e-mail and social media blasts. Staff provided all project materials, including summaries from community workshops, HEUC meetings and the community survey; notices; and draft public review documents on a dedicated website:
www.anaheim.net/housingelement.
In August 2021, the City released the draft 2021-2029 Housing Element (Draft Housing Element) for public review, and subsequently updated the Draft Housing Element to include minor clarifications and revisions, along with new strategies identified by the Housing Affordability Working Group. At its October 5, 2021 meeting, the City Council reviewed the Draft Housing Element and directed the Planning and Building Director to submit the document to HCD for its statutory 60-day preliminary review. As directed, staff submitted the Draft Housing Element to HCD on October 15, 2021.
On December 14, 2021 (the 60th day), HCD issued a comment letter (Attachment 1), stating that the City’s Draft Housing Element is inadequate to be found in substantial conformance with the statutory requirements of the State law. In summary, HCD requested that the City: 1) provide additional analysis and data to meet the requisite analysis required by State law on topic areas such as affirmatively furthering fair housing (AFFH), extremely low income households, housing characteristics, and constraints to housing; 2) review the City’s existing regulations on certain land uses, including transitional and supportive housing, group homes, accessory dwelling units, single-room occupancy units, and employee housing, to ensure compliance with the State law; 3) provide additional information on Pipeline Projects and Candidate Sites to further substantiate their suitability; and 4) update some of the proposed Housing Policy Programs to demonstrate stronger commitment.
Pursuant to HCD’s comments, staff and the City’s consultant revised the Draft Housing Element (Revised Draft) and prepared a Response Matrix. The Response Matrix lists HCD’s comments, summarizes how the City has addressed each comment, and identifies where the respective revisions can be found in the document. Staff also had several conversations with HCD staff on various occasions in order to further facilitate needed revisions. Notable revisions to the Draft Housing Element are summarized as follows:
Pipeline Projects List: Six projects, including the Angel Stadium project, were removed from the list because staff determined that there is no or low probability of these projects developing within the Sixth Cycle planning period. Also, one additional project was removed from the list as the project is expected to undergo a substantial redesign. Lastly, the number of units estimated to be generated by OC Vibe was reduced in order to reflect a more realistic estimate for the Sixth Cycle planning period.
Resubmittal of Draft Housing Element to State HCD
June 21, 2022
Candidate Sites List: Six sites were removed from the list as staff determined that they were inappropriate to serve as new housing sites due to limitations associated with existing uses (i.e. residential uses and a utility substation). In addition, income categories of certain sites were adjusted from moderate income to above-moderate income based on their maximum density being more suitable for above-moderate income developments, and the assumed unit counts for four sites were reduced after an error was discovered in the maximum density used to calculate the original assumed unit count. Even with these adjustments, the Candidate Sites List indicates that the City has excess capacity to accommodate the City’s RHNA obligation in all income categories. Housing Policy Programs: New programs were added to address requirements associated with replacement housing, transparency of information, Surplus Land Act, employee and farmworker housing, Density Bonus law, emergency shelters, and single-room occupancy units. In addition, a number of programs that were previously included in the Draft Housing Element were updated to further address HCD’s comments. Such updates include, but are not limited to, providing clarification on necessary actions to ensure compliance with various State laws (i.e. accessory dwelling units and affirmatively furthering fair housing) and updated timelines for implementation. In addition, pursuant to HCD’s December 14, 2021 Notice of Violation to the City of Anaheim, Affordable Housing Opportunity Strategy 5B: Transitional and Supportive Housing was amended to provide that the City will remove the requirement for a conditional use permit for transitional and supportive housing within 90 days of certification of the Sixth Cycle Housing Element.
Quantified Objectives Table: The Quantified Objectives Table was updated in order to reflect a more accurate estimate for the Sixth Cycle planning period. In doing so, staff considered factors such as available funding, current projects lists, and current market conditions, using the best information available to date. Acquired, rehabilitated, or preserved units: Discussions regarding acquired, rehabilitated, or preserved units to serve as Alternate Sites as allowed by Government Code Sections 65400(a)(2)(B)(iii) and 65583.1(c) were added to ensure that the City would be allowed to count these types of units towards meeting the City’s RHNA progress as allowed by the State law (up to 25%). Because the City has identified an adequate number of sites to accommodate the City’s RHNA obligation, provision of Alternate Sites as allowed by the State law is not required. However, the City has, and will, continue to dedicate significant resources to acquire, rehabilitate, and/or preserve existing housing units to maintain and increase affordable housing stock and will count these units towards meeting the City’s RHNA progress as allowed by the State law.
The Revised Draft and the Response Matrix are Attachments 2 and 3, respectively. The Revised Draft is presented in track changes to identify text deleted from (in strikethrough) and added (in underline) to the October 2021 version to facilitate review. The Revised Draft was posted on the City’s Website, and the public was notified of the document’s availability, in compliance with the new State law (Assembly Bill [AB] 215) requirements.
Resubmittal of Draft Housing Element to State HCD
June 21, 2022
Staff believes that the Revised Draft adequately addresses HCD’s comments, complies with State law, and provides an eight-year plan to address the City’s identified housing needs.
However, staff anticipates that at least one additional round of review with HCD will occur, as many other jurisdictions in the region already have or are expected to receive a second round of comments from HCD. As such, rather than taking a formal action to adopt the Housing Element at this time, staff recommends that the Council direct the Planning and Building Director to resubmit the Revised Draft to HCD for its review to continue with the certification review process.
Next Steps
Once resubmitted, HCD must complete its review of the resubmitted documents in 60 days. Staff anticipates that next round of HCD comments will be minor in nature and that staff will be able to finalize the Housing Element shortly after receiving HCD’s comments. Once the final draft of the 2021-2029 Housing Element (Final Document) is completed, it will be reviewed by the HEUC, followed by the Planning Commission’s review and recommendation to the City Council. Staff anticipates that the City Council review of the Final Document would occur in early Fall 2022. Once adopted, staff will submit the Final Document to HCD for its review and certification.
In order to implement the 2021-2029 Housing Element (pending approval), amendments to the General Plan Land Use Element, the Zoning Code, and the Zoning Map are necessary to reflect potential housing sites and implement Housing Policy Programs. Prior to January 2022, jurisdictions that could not identify sufficient sites to accommodate their RHNA obligation with existing zoning were required to include a rezoning program to rezone properties needed to accommodate their RHNA, and were allowed a three year period to complete such rezoning program. However, with the recent update to the State law (AB 1398), jurisdictions in the SCAG region who have not received HCD’s substantial conformance on their 2021-2029 Housing Element within 120 days of the Statutory Deadline, or February 15, 2022, must now complete such rezoning program within one year from the Statutory Deadline, or October 15, 2022. Also, HCD is prohibited from certifying such jurisdictions’ Housing Element until the required rezoning is complete. Non-compliance with this new requirement may subject jurisdictions to penalties, such as, but not limited to, loss of eligibility for state and regional funding sources, financial penalties, increased exposure to HCD’s monitoring, increased exposure to litigation, and loss of permitting authority.
Because the City has not yet received HCD’s certification of its 2021-2029 Housing Element, the City is subject to the new one year rezoning requirement. As such, staff and the City’s consultant have already initiated the work effort associated with the required actions to implement the pending Housing Element, including the required rezoning of the applicable Candidate Sites.
While the Housing Element is a policy document that itself would not create a new physical impact on the environment, these changes to the land uses have potential to create an impact on the environment. Therefore, City staff also have kicked off the process to prepare a Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) to analyze these changes, as well as a Climate Action Plan, to streamline future environmental review. In addition, City staff is currently preparing amendments to the Circulation and Safety Elements of the General Plan, and creating a new Resubmittal of Draft Housing Element to State HCD
June 21, 2022
Environmental Justice Element, all of which are required in conjunction with the Housing Element update pursuant to State law. The PEIR will also analyze the impacts of these General Plan amendments.
To date, the City issued a Notice of Preparation on February 16, 2022 and held an on-line public scoping meeting on March 2, 2022 to solicit comments and suggestions regarding the scope and contents of the PEIR to be prepared. Staff is currently working with the City’s consultant to complete technical analysis required for the preparation of the draft PEIR. Staff anticipates that the draft PEIR would be available for public review in fall 2022, and that the adoption of the final PEIR and associated General Plan, the Zoning Code, and the Zoning Map amendments, including the required rezoning program, would occur in January of 2023. Although staff will diligently proceed to complete the required rezoning program as soon as possible, the October 15, 2022 deadline is not possible for the City to meet given the vast scale of the work effort and the need to complete the PEIR process. Staff will continue to work closely with all stakeholders and HCD through this process to reduce and otherwise avoid negative impacts of potential penalties, should the need arise.
Environmental Impact Analysis
Staff recommends that the City Council determine that the resubmittal of the Draft Housing Element to HCD is not subject to CEQA pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) and 15061(b)(3)of the State CEQA Guidelines. Pursuant to Section 15060(c)(2), this action is not subject to CEQA because it will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. In addition, pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3), the action fits within the general rule that CEQA only applies to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. In that, this is a request to resubmit a document for review by HCD, it would not have a significant effect on the environment; and, therefore, the activity is not subject to CEQA.
IMPACT ON BUDGET:
The Planning and Building and Housing and Community Development Departments have sufficient funds to cover the staffing costs associated with this project. Consultant costs are being funded by SB2 and LEAP grants provided by HCD.
Respectfully submitted, Concurred by,
Ted White Grace Stepter
Planning and Building Director Housing and Community Development Director Attachments:
1. HCD Comment Letter dated December 14, 2021
2. Revised Draft 2021-2029 Housing Element
3. Response Matrix