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Anaheim, CA 92805
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CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
City of Anaheim
PLANNING AND BUILDING DEPARTMENT
DATE: MARCH 24, 2026
FROM: PLANNING AND BUILDING DEPARTMENT AND HOUSING
AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
SUBJECT: GENERAL PLAN AND HOUSING ELEMENT ANNUAL
PROGRESS REPORTS FOR THE 2025 REPORTING PERIOD
ATTACHMENT (Y/N): YES ITEM # 12
GOVERNMENT CODE § 84308 APPLIES: NO
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council, by Motion, approve the 2025 General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Reports and direct the Planning and Building Director to submit the reports to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI), formerly the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.
DISCUSSION:
Each year, California cities and counties must file both the General Plan Annual Progress Report (APR) and the Housing Element APR with the State no later than April 1. These submittals enable the State to verify that local jurisdictions are adhering to planning and housing policies administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).
The General Plan APR serves as a reporting tool to demonstrate the jurisdiction’s success in carrying out its General Plan. The report summarizes implementation efforts across multiple elements, such as land use, transportation, and public safety, and identifies any amendments or updates completed during the year. It helps confirm that local planning initiatives remain consistent with State law and responsive to changing community priorities, including housing and infrastructure needs.
The Housing Element APR evaluates the City’s progress toward meeting its assigned regional housing needs as established in the Housing Element of the General Plan. It documents the number of residential units constructed, entitled, and in process during the reporting year and discusses constraints that may affect the City’s ability to achieve its housing objectives. This reporting ensures continued advancement toward State-required housing production goals and demonstrates efforts to address housing supply challenges.
General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Reports March 24, 2026
Through the annual submission of these reports, the City affirms its ongoing commitment to expanding housing opportunities and maintaining compliance with State mandates.
General Plan Annual Progress Report
Under California law, each city and county must adopt a comprehensive, long-term General Plan with eight mandated elements. The City of Anaheim’s General Plan was originally adopted in 1963, with the latest comprehensive update completed in April 2025. Anaheim’s General Plan includes all eight of the State-required elements - Land Use, Housing, Circulation, Conservation, Environmental Justice, Open Space, Noise, and Safety - in addition to four optional elements:
Public Services and Facilities Element, Growth Management Element, Economic Development Element, and the Community Design Element.
In response to recent State law requirements and the newly adopted 2021-2029 Housing Element, the City underwent a focused General Plan Update that included zoning, land use, and circulation updates. State law also requires that jurisdictions with disadvantaged communities adopt a new Environmental Justice Element when two or more elements of their General Plan are updated; as such, a new Environmental Justice Element was included in the focused update approved by City Council in April 2025.
Staff drafted the 2025 General Plan APR (Attachment 1), which includes the following four sections, as recommended in the State of California General Plan Guidelines:
I. Introduction
II. Compliance with State of California General Plan Guidelines III. Compliance with State Law Requirements for the Administration of the General Plan IV. General Plan Progress and Recent Project Summary
The Introduction section includes a table of contents, general information about the City of Anaheim and the General Plan, including the number of amendments to the General Plan during the reporting period. The next sections include information on how the City’s administration of its General Plan complies with State of California Guidelines in regards to the required elements and new General Plan requirements, such as Environmental Justice and Native American Tribal consultation. Lastly, the General Plan APR includes a list of major projects approved in 2025 and describes the General Plan goals and policies they implemented.
Housing Element Annual Progress Report
The Housing Element is one of the required elements of the City’s General Plan and addresses present and future housing opportunities for Anaheim residents. State law requires local jurisdictions to update the Housing Element every eight years and to file the Annual Report to HCD and LCI by April 1 of each year. State law also requires the City Council to consider these Annual Reports during a public meeting so that members of the public may provide oral testimony or written comments.
This is the fifth reporting year for the sixth cycle Housing Element which began October 15, 2021 and continues until 2029. The Annual Report, which is prepared on forms provided by HCD, identifies the City’s RHNA allocation and self-stated housing production goals (referred to General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Reports March 24, 2026
as the “Quantified Objective”). The completed Annual Report (Attachment 2), describes the following:
Progress made towards meeting the housing goals, qualified by the total number of permits issued for new housing units during the reporting year, and the total number of housing units entitled and completed (HCD Table A, A2, and B); and Status of other action items outlined in the Housing Element’s Implementation Program (HCD Table D).
In addition, HCD requires jurisdictions to provide the following information, as applicable:
A list of sites that the City has identified or rezoned to accommodate any shortfalls from the projected unit yields of the current Housing Element cycle, as required by the “No Net Loss” State law (HCD Table C; N/A for 2025);
A report on development bonuses granted for commercial development in exchange for providing housing, as permitted by the State law (HCD Table E; N/A for 2025); A report on units rehabilitated, preserved and acquired for alternative adequate sites, pursuant to State law (HCD Table F; N/A for 2025);
A report on above moderate units converted to moderate income, pursuant to State law (HCD Table F2; N/A for 2025);
A report on any sales, leasing, or disposition of sites owned by the City that were included in the Housing Element Sites Inventory (HCD Table G);
An inventory of locally owned or controlled lands declared as surplus lands or identified as excess lands (HCD Table H);
A report on student housing development for lower income students for which a density bonus was granted, pursuant to State law (HCD Table J; N/A for 2025); A report on the local government’s tenant preference ordinance (HCD Table K); A list of any sites newly added to a Local, State or National Register of historic places (HCD Table L; N/A for 2025); and
A report on Local Early Action Planning Grant progress (HCD LEAP Reporting).
RHNA and Quantified Objective
The City’s RHNA allocation represents the number of housing units that the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) estimates will be necessary to accommodate the City’s projected population growth for the 2021-2029 planning period. SCAG allocated a RHNA obligation of 17,453 residential units to Anaheim during the 2021-2029 planning cycle, divided into four income categories as indicated in Table 1:
General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Reports March 24, 2026
Table 1: 2021-2029 RHNA by Income Categories
Income Category Income Range for a Household of
Four** 2021-2029 RHNA
Very Low-Income
(< 50% of AMI*) < $84,600 3,767
Low-Income
(51% to 80% of AMI) $84,601– $135,350 2,397
Moderate-Income
(81% to 120% of AMI) $135,351– $163,900 2,945
Above Moderate-Income
(>120% of AMI) > $163,900 8,344
Total RHNA Allocation 17,453 units
*Orange County’s 2025 Area Median Income (AMI) for a family of four is $136,600. **Updated to reflect 2025 income ranges based on The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) data for Orange County, CA.
In addition to reporting progress made towards meeting Anaheim’s RHNA allocation, this report illustrates the City’s progress towards achieving its Quantified Objective, an important component of the Housing Element. The Quantified Objective represents what the City has determined to be a reasonable number of building permits that the City can anticipate it will issue for housing units during the planning period, when taking into consideration factors such as available funding, infrastructure, and current market conditions. HCD reviews the City’s Quantified Objective as part of its Housing Element certification process.
For the 2025 reporting year (January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025), the City issued 452 building permits for new housing units. Table 2 provides a breakdown by unit type.
Table 2: Building Permits Issued - By Type
Single-
Family
Detached
Single-
Family
Attached
Multi-
Family
Accessory
Dwelling
Unit
Total
Permitted
Units
Total 8 84 94 266 452
Percent of Total 1.8% 18.6% 20.8% 58.8% 100%
The following are notable projects in which building permits were issued in 2025:
A-Town - This project includes 73 for-sale residential dwelling units within Development Area F of the Lennar’s A-Town community in the Platinum Triangle Mixed Use (PTMU) Overlay Zone, of which 44 of the units were issued building permits in 2025. The units are proposed within 17 single-family attached, three-story townhome buildings. The project includes 39 three-bedroom units and 34 four-bedroom units, with living areas ranging from approximately 1,675 to 2,399 square feet.
Nolin II - This townhome project includes 44 single-family attached units with 10 percent of the units designated as affordable to moderate-income buyers, of which 39 units were General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Reports March 24, 2026
issued building permits in 2025. The townhomes are proposed in a series of four to eight- unit buildings, each approximately three stories tall.
Southeast Corner of Beach Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue – This mixed-use development includes a 47-unit senior affordable housing component, inclusive of 46 extremely low-income units, with 20 percent of the units reserved for Transitional Age Youth (TAY). Permits for all 47 affordable senior units were issued in 2025. The project also includes 60 for-sale townhomes, of which 10 percent will be designated for moderate- income households, as well as a commercial component. The townhome and commercial components are anticipated to submit entitlement applications in Winter 2026. Tampico Motel – In 2025, permits were issued for this 32-unit motel conversion project, which will provide 31 extremely low-income units for Transitional Age Youth and one manager’s unit. Construction began in August 2025, with completion anticipated in December 2026.
Table 3 below summarizes the RHNA income categories, corresponding RHNA allocations, permits issued, and remaining RHNA by income level. The table also includes the City’s quantified objectives by income category and the progress made toward achieving those objectives. For the 2025 reporting year, HCD added two additional income categories (Acutely Low and Extremely Low) and directed jurisdictions to report on these categories going forward. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) were assigned an income category consistent with the methodology utilized in the Housing Element.
Table 3: Building Permits Issued
Income Category
RHNA
Allocation
for 8-Year
Planning
Period
Quantified
Objective for 8-
Year Planning
Period*
Permits
Issued 2025
(Current
Reporting
Year)
Total
Permits
Issued in
6th Cycle
Remaining
RHNA
Allocation
Remaining
Quantified
Objective
Acutely Low** 0 0
Extremely Low** 77 262
Very Low 3,767 754 68 544 3,223 210
Low 2,397 168 115 367 2,030 -199
Moderate 2,945 8 85 310 2,635 -302
Above Moderate 8,344 7,000 107 1,827 6,517 5,173
TOTAL 17,453 7,930 452 3,048 14,405 4,882
*Building permits issued from October 15 through December 31, 2021 were reported in the 2021 APR but are applied to the 6th Cycle.
**For years prior to 2025, Acutely Low-Income units are reported within the Extremely Low-Income category. Acutely Low-Income and Extremely Low-Income units reported during the 6th Cycle are counted towards Very-Low Income RHNA progress.
General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Reports March 24, 2026
Housing Policy Program
In addition to housing production targets, the Housing Element includes a Housing Policy Program (HPP) that outlines a range of policy actions designed to help the City meet both current and future housing needs. Some of these actions are ongoing, while others began at different intervals following Housing Element certification. The Housing Element APR tracks the City’s progress in implementing these policies and programs. The following list highlights key housing accomplishments achieved in 2025:
Relocation Assistance - The Housing & Community Development Department provided relocation assistance during 2024 and 2025 to a total of 14 households residing at the Kettle Motor Motel and Rainbow Inn.
Federal Voucher Programs - The Housing Authority administers federal voucher programs based on HUD funding availability. The number of vouchers for 2025 are listed below:
o Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers – 5,705 leased
o Section 8 Mainstream Housing Program Vouchers – 338 leased o Project Based Voucher Program – 625 leased with 153 committed Emergency Solutions Grant - The Housing Authority administers Federal Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds to support individuals experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. In Federal Fiscal Year 2024–2025, a total of $442,875 in ESG funding was made available to local nonprofit organizations to provide homeless prevention, rapid rehousing, and emergency shelter services, assisting 573 individuals experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.
Affordable Housing Policy and Funding Initiatives - The City adopted several measures to expand affordable housing, including an amendment to the Anaheim Tourism Improvement District (ATID) ordinance to dedicate nine percent (9%) of annual ATID assessment revenues, which totals approximately $3 million annually, to workforce housing programs.
Additionally, the City adopted an Inclusionary Housing Ordinance and established Orange County’s first city housing trust fund, which has already received $16 million.
These actions created both regulatory requirements and dedicated funding sources to support long-term affordable housing production.
Outreach and Mapping Efforts – The City developed a GIS mapping tool identifying multifamily housing sites in high-resource areas to support targeted outreach to property owners, including mailers distributed in October 2025. Housing Element Candidate Sites by Council District have been added to the City’s Housing Element website, and a searchable interactive map is currently in development. In addition, the City created a developer database in 2025 and hosted a Housing Workshop on September 24, 2025, highlighting development tools and strategies available to support housing production in Anaheim.
General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Reports March 24, 2026
Progress on Extremely-Low Income Housing - In 2025, 287 extremely low-income units were either completed or were in the development pipeline, including motel-to- housing conversions and senior and TAY projects.
Comprehensive Zoning and Code Updates to Streamline Housing Production - The City amended its Municipal Code in 2025 to comply with State housing laws, allowing by-right approval for qualifying affordable projects, updating ADU regulations, implementing Objective Design Standards, and rezoning sites to address RHNA obligations, reducing regulatory barriers and increasing housing capacity.
Status of General Plan and Housing Element Update
On April 22, 2025, the Anaheim City Council adopted Resolution No. 2025-033 approving the 6th Cycle (2021-2029) Housing Element as part of the City’s General Plan. On May 13, 2025, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 6609 amending the Zoning Code and Zoning Map to implement the General Plan Focused Update and associated Housing Element programs, including necessary rezonings to address the City’s RHNA shortfall.
The adopted Housing Element was resubmitted to HCD for final compliance review on May 16, 2025. On July 10, 2025, HCD issued a determination letter finding the City’s 2021-2029 Housing Element in substantial compliance with State Housing Element Law, allowing release of the City’s Permanent Local Housing Allocation funds. As a condition of full certification, HCD requested clarification of four technical provisions within 60 days to ensure consistency with State Housing Element Law. These amendments were approved by City Council in September 2025 and HCD confirmed Housing Element certification as of October 14, 2025.
IMPACT ON BUDGET:
Funding for the preparation of the General Plan and Housing Element APRs and associated activities is included in the Planning and Building Department’s FY 2025/26 General Fund Budget and the Housing and Community Development Department’s FY 2025/26 Low- and Moderate-Income Housing Asset Fund Budgets.
Respectfully submitted, Concurred by,
Heather Allen Grace Ruiz-Stepter
Planning and Building Director Housing and Community Development Director Attachments:
1. General Plan Annual Progress Report
2. Housing Element Annual Progress Report