Fremont City Council Meeting: 04/05/22 07:00 PM
3300 Capitol Avenue Div/Dept: Planning
Fremont, CA 94538 Category: Presentations
SCHEDULED
Sponsors:
STAFF REPORT (ID # 4571) DOC ID: 4571
Updated: 3/25/2022 9:51 AM by Alberto Quintanilla Page 1 2023-2031 HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE PRESENTATION - Receive a Presentation Regarding the 2023-2031 Housing Element Update: An Eight-Year Plan to Meet the Housing Needs of Everyone in the Community Contact Persons:
Name: Wayland Li Joel Pullen
Title: Principal Planner Planning Manager
Div/Dept: Planning Planning
Phone: 510-494-4453 510-494-4436
E-Mail: [email protected] [email protected]
Executive Summary: The purpose of this presentation is to update the City Council on the 2023-2031 Housing Element Update.
BACKGROUND: Under State law, all local governments in California are required to adequately plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community by adopting a Housing Element as part of their General Plan. State law also requires that local governments update their Housing Elements every eight years to periodically address the changing housing needs of their communities, establish action plans to meet those goals, and report on progress toward meeting those goals. All local jurisdictions in the Bay Area, including the City of Fremont, are currently preparing an update to their Housing Elements.
Bay Area jurisdictions must adopt an updated Housing Element by January 2023 to plan for the housing needs for the next eight-year Housing Element Planning Period (2023-2031).
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS:
Planning for Housing Growth in the General Plan:
In December 2021, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) adopted the Final Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) Plan for the Bay Area. The plan distributes a share of the region’s projected housing needs for 2023-2031 to local jurisdictions; Fremont’s allocation was finalized at 12,897 units. Under state law, the City is now responsible for updating the Housing Element to show where this housing can be built and the policies and strategies necessary to meet that target.
The City’s 2011 General Plan anticipated the need to provide additional housing to accommodate the community’s growing housing needs through the year 2035. The General Plan recognizes that, as the City’s vacant land supply dwindles, the ability to house our population becomes a challenge. For many reasons—preservation of open space, reducing vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions, supporting vitality in the City’s core districts—the City’s General Plan focuses future housing growth primarily near transit hubs and corridors, becoming more urban in strategic locations. Because of the strategically urban growth potential created through the 2011 General Plan, City staff believes that the City has adequate sites available to accommodate the RHNA target without the need for significant rezoning. The state must ultimately concur that adequate sites exist through the review of the City’s draft Housing Element.
Staff Report (ID # 4571) Meeting of April 5, 2022
Updated: 3/25/2022 9:51 AM by Alberto Quintanilla Page 2 Components of a Housing Element:
Under State law, a Housing Element must contain several mandatory components, as shown in the graphic below.
The first three basic components -- 1) an evaluation of the previous housing element; 2) an analysis of community housing needs; and 3) analysis of potential constraints to housing –- are the foundational pieces to a Housing Element that provide a factual basis to determine appropriate policy responses.
The next three basic components -- 4) affirmatively furthering fair housing (AFFH); 5) an inventory of land zoned for housing; and 6) goals, policies and programs -- are the actionable components of a Housing Element. These components build off of the analysis from the foundational components to create actionable items to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community. Since major rezoning is not anticipated to be necessary to meet the City’s RHNA target, the principal focus of the Housing Element update will be on establishing effective policies and programs to facilitate meeting the housing needs of everyone in the community and to affirmatively further fair housing.
Focus of Presentation:
The presentation this evening will focus on the foundational components of the Housing Element. Staff will provide an overview of these topics and highlight important take-aways from preliminary analysis. The information presented will inform future work and discussion on the Housing Element update.
RECOMMENDATION: Receive presentation.