Chapter 2: Housing Revised May 5, 2015 31
Chapter 2
Housing
Fullerton will be a city which has an increasing choice of accessible, affordable and desirable housing options which enables our children, workforce families and young professionals to make their homes here, and for our seniors to remain here. -The Fullerton Vision
Introduction
In planning for the provision of housing for all present and future Fullerton residents, the City’s primary role is to provide for a variety of housing types in an atmosphere conducive to the well‐being of City residents, and particularly to provide for an adequate supply of housing ranging in cost to meet the demand of all income groups and the special needs populations.
State law requires that the Ci
ty evaluate its Housing Element periodically
to determine its effectiveness in achieving the City’s and the State’s housing agenda. The City adopted the updated and revised Housing Element in May 2015.
The Housing Element provides a detailed an alysis of the City’s demographic, economic, and housing characteristics as required by State Law. The Housing Element also evaluates the City’s progress in implementing the previous document’s policy program and actions related to housing production, preservation, conservation, and rehabilitation. The full Housing Element is provided in Appendix H.
The following goal and polic
y actions are provided to achieve the Fullerton
Vision as it pertains to Housing.
Overarching Policies
OAP1. Comply with State and Federal laws and regulations while maintaining local control in decision‐making.
OAP2. Pursue Federal, State and local funding options to support implementation of The Fullerton Plan.
OAP3. Leverage the advantages and advances of technology.
OAP4. Seek opportunities for increased efficiency and effectiveness.
Purpose
The purpose of the Housing
Element is to address housing
opportunities for current and future
residents of Fullerton.
This Element is required per
California Government Code
Section 65302.
The 2013-2021 Housing Element was
adopted under separate cover on
May 5, 2015. This Chapter contains a
summary of the adopted Housing
Element policy program. The policy
program contains “policy actions”
that encompass the City's policies
and implementation actions for
matters relating to housing.
Refer to the full Housing Element for
additional information. The full
Housing Element is included in
Appendix H.
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3.1:
GOAL
Provision of Adequate Sites for Housing
Development
An important component of meeting the housing
needs of all segments of the community is
promoting and supporting the development of
adequate sites to facilitate the development of all
types, sizes, and affordability of housing. Providing
an adequate supply and diversity of housing
accommodates the changing housing
needs and
desires of residents, based on
household size and
living arrangements, incomes, and physical
accessibility. As described in Chapter 2, Fullerton's
assigned housing need for the 2021-2029 period is
13,209 units. The City's existing land use plans and
regulations do not identify sufficient sites with
appropriate zoning to accommodate the City's
assigned share of regional housing need for the
6th planning period (see Appendix H-B). The City
is committed to ensuring adequate capacity to
meet the City's RHNA, pursuant to Government
Code section 65583.2 through rezoning sites and
amendments to the Zoning Code. Rezoning of the
sites is anticipated in January 2025 and other
zoning amendments will be adopted concurrently
with the Housing Element or as described in the
actions below.
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Review and Update the Development
Review Process
federal laws intended to facilitate residential
development. The City also takes into
consideration the needs and desires of the
community as it undertakes such policy updates.
The City also continues to improve the efficiency
of the development review process. As a response
to the state housing crisis, Senate Bill 35 (SB 35;
2017-Wiener) made changes to Housing Element
law to limit local discretion for qualified housing
projects. Amendments to Government Code
Section 81560 changed the Permit Streamlining
Act by creating a more ministerial, rather than
discretionary, two-step application process. The
City will continue to identify efficiencies for the
development process in line with Government
Code Section 81560 and further streamline the
permit process. The City will also coordinate with
developers to ensure a timely application and
development process.
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Facilitate Infill Development
The built-out nature of the City requires infill
development. Infill development facilitates
residential development in proximity to goods,
services, and transit. This increases transit
ridership, supports local businesses, and provides
opportunities for affordable housing
development. It also benefits seniors, persons
with disabilities, and less mobile residents.
The City must regularly evaluate and update its
development review and permitting policies,
standards, and practices in response to State and
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Support the Development of a Variety of
Housing Types
Although the City does not build housing, the
City can ensure that there is sufficient capacity
for development through its zoning framework.
Cities also do not control local market realities
but can provide greater access to information
that developers need, remove barriers, and
increase incentives for housing development.
Providing development opportunities for a
variety of housing types promotes diversity in
housing price, style, and size, and contributes to
neighborhood stability by offering more
affordable and move-up homes and
accommodating a diverse income mix. The City
will also support housing for the "missing
middle" - households that earn too much
annual income to qualify for traditional
affordable housing, but not enough to afford
market-rate rents. The City will review
applicable plans and the City's Zoning Code to
support the development of housing types at
higher densities in lower-density
neighborhoods, utilizing such methods as light-
touch density (LTD) housing, which includes
detached single-family housing with ADU,
duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes.
To provide connections with jobs, housing, and
transportation, the City shall continue to
encourage mixed-use development, which
could be either "vertical" (i.e., residential on
upper floors above non-residential uses) or
"horizontal" (i.e., adjacent residential and non-
residential uses in the same development area).
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Key focus areas shall include the City's primary
activity centers, including the downtown area. The
Fullerton Plan, adopted in 2012, identifies 12 focus
areas in which development character is either in
transition or desired. Within 11 of these areas,
residential development is established as an
appropriate use. The Fullerton Plan further
includes density parameters for each focus area,
establishing maximums ranging from 30 to 80
units per acre, and creates two additional land use
designations for mixed-use developments. Other
locations in addition to General Plan focus areas
may also be appropriate for vertical or horizontal
mixed-use development. The City will pursue a
community-based planning process to implement
these general plan policies on parcels, including
pursuing City-initiated general plan and zoning
amendments as required.
Comprehensive Community
Outreach Strategy
for Housing
One of the most effective tools to inform and
educate the community about the City’s housing
programs,
policies, and resources is through direct
outreach. To ensure the Fullerton community is
provided the highest level of access to
information, the City has established a
comprehensive community outreach strategy and
multi-faceted plan called the Housing Game Plan.
The one-stop shop online portal helps to inform
the community on housing fundamentals through
Speaker Series videos, interactive demographic
categories and maps, community participation
opportunities and will include links to
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development opportunities, and links to
affordable housing opportunities and
resources. The City will continue to utilize this
tool and various methods of delivery including
print media, mailers, speaker's bureaus, social
media, and other methods that consider
economic and cultural considerations unique to
the City of Fullerton. The City will ensure all
outreach materials are multilingual to account
for language barriers.
Accessory Dwelling Units
Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) provide
affordable housing options for singles and
small households including the elderly, young
adults and caregivers. The City of Fullerton
prioritizes and encourages the development of
ADUs as opportunities for infill housing and in
support of various state laws encouraging their
construction (AB 68, 2019-Ting; AB 670, 2019-
Friedman; AB 881, 2019-Bloom; SB 13, 2019-
Wieckowski). ADUs are an innovative approach
to adding more housing, particularly in single-
family residential neighborhoods. ADUs can
also offer a reliable source of income for
moderate to lower income homeowners. The
City aims to reduce barriers to the development
of ADUs and will explore options
including fee
waivers and expediting the process for ADU
permitting. The City has seen an increase in
ADU production in recent years. In recent years,
multiple bills have added requirements for local
go
vernments related to ADU permitting and
requirements. The City’s ADU ordinance was
last updated in 2022 to incorporate regulations
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for urban lot splits. The City will continue to
monitor the extent of ADU production to ensure
that ADU-related policies and procedures are
successful and that the Housing Element goals
and RHNA production can be met.
Support Production of Regulated Affordable
Housing for All Income Levels
The City is committed to maintaining, developing,
and monitoring affordable housing and will
continue to prioritize housing for very low- and
low-income households in the development of
additional housing stock. The City will continue to
support the development of housing appropriate
for extremely low-income households and seek
new funding opportunities and partnerships.
High construction and land costs and inadequacy
of public affordable housing subsidies and
burdensome regulations have created challenges
to building new affordable housing. In addition to
Zoning Code changes, the City will work with
developers to facilitate affordable housing
development and seek to provide gap financing as
a local match to State, federal, and other public
funding sources. When possible, the City will
utilize State, federal, and local funds to write down
the cost of land for the development of affordable
housing. The City will also provide greater permit
streamlining, fee reductions, and other possible
measures and incentives to support affordable
housing development.
Where feasible, the City shall support the
development of affordable housing units and
provide first right of refusal to Community
Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs)
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3.8:
Housing Rehabilitation
Deferred maintenance of existing housing plays
a primary role in the incidence of substandard
housing. To address the issues of deferred
maintenance, the City shall continue to
proactively identify areas in the City that exhibit
a prevalence of substandard conditions. Based
upon this identification, the City shall prioritize
the allocation of rehabilitation funding resources
to address those areas with the highest level of
identified need. The City shall conduct ongoing
review and identify specific
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and other affordable housing developers in
accordance with Government Code Section
54222. Additionally, the City will provide in-kind
assistance and funding for qualified CHDOs to
develop affordable housing.
Preservation of Historic Residential Resources
The City values its historic residential resources.
To ensure the continued preservation of historic
residential structures, the City shall encourage
the conservation, preservation and
enhancement of the City’s historic residential
neighborhoods while accommodating
additional residential units consistent with State
law and City policy. The City shall consult with
organizations, such as Fullerton Heritage, and
investigate the appropriateness and feasibility
of additional General Plan policies that further
encourage the preservation and enhancement
of historic residential resources in the City.
Additionally, the City shall periodically update
the City’s Historic Building Survey.
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Affordable Housing Acquisition and Rehabilitation3.10:
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areas to establish strategies, programs, and
improvements to address deferred maintenance,
overcrowding, infrastructure deficiencies, and
other issues that affect neighborhood quality. The
City shall aggressively pursue local, State, and
federal funding to assist in the improvement of
identified neighborhoods.
The City shall assist affordable housing developers
in the acquisition of existing market-rate units for
rehabilitation and conversion to affordable units.
An energy-efficient buildings program is necessary
to keep providing resources and support to
developers engaging with sustainable design and
energy-efficient building construction methods. The
City shall continue to encourage housing developers
to maximize energy conservation through proactive
site, building and building systems design,
materials, and equipment. The City’s goal is to
provide the development community the
opportunity to exceed the provisions of Title 24 of
the California Building Code. The City shall continue
to support energy conservation through
encouraging the
use of Energy Star®- rated
appliances, other energy-saving technologies and
conservation. To enhance the efficient use of energy
resources, the City shall review the potential of
offering incentives or other strategies that
encourage energy
conservation.
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Support Climate Change Resiliency in Buildings
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Additionally, the City aims to build community
resilience to prepare for and adapt to the
impacts of climate change, including the
reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,
by investing in infrastructure to support active
and public transportation. The City developed a
Climate Action Plan (CAP) in 2012, which
provides a framework for reducing GHG
emissions and
is included in the Fullerton Plan.
In 2015 and again in 2023, the City adopted a
simplified procedure for certain types of
residential solar systems to increase
access to
this technology. This streamline permitting
process benefits homeowners with shorter wait
times between contract
signing, installation,
inspection, and saving on their electricity bill.
The City will expand and prioritize resources for
property owners
to implement environmentally
friendly improvements and will prioritize active
and public transportation
infrastructure for
historically underfunded neighborhoods and
neighborhoods with higher percentages of
low-income households.
Continued Monitoring and Preservation of
Housing Units At-Risk of Converting to
Market Rate
The City shall monitor existing deed-restricted
units that will have expiring affordability
covenants during the planning period (see
Appendix H-C). To encourage the preservation
of these deed-restricted affordable
units, the
City shall conduct targeted outreach to owners
of these units to encourage the extension and/
or renewal of deed restrictions and/or
covenants.
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There are 101 units at risk of conversion in Amerige Villas Apartments, which are the only units at risk of having
expiring affordability covenants during the planning
period. Amerige
Villas Apartments Property Management
staff informed
the City that it is extending the existing
project-based contract with the Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) beyond the expiration
date of January 2025. The City shall develop a
preservation strategy that is ready for implementation
should owners of these units do not extend affordability.
The preservation strategy shall identify non-profit
agencies that
the City can partner with to preserve the
units and available funding sources. As part of this
strategy, the City shall ensure compliance with noticing requirements and conduct tenant education.
Fair Housing Services
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The City currently contracts with the Fair Housing
Foundation, which provides community education,
individual counseling, mediation, and low-cost advocacy with the expressed goal of eliminating housing
discrimination and guaranteeing the rights of all people to freely choose the housing for which they qualify in the area they desire. The City refers all inquiries for these services to the Fair Housing Foundation and similar
agencies and maintains literature and informational
brochures at City Hall available for public distribution.
The City will continue the provision of fair housing
assistance including landlord/tenant counseling,
homebuyer assistance, and amelioration or removal of
identified impediments through a partnership with the
Fair Housing Foundation or a similar agency for these
services and facilitate fair housing outreach, including educational workshops or presentations.
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Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing
AB 686 requires each city to administer its
programs and activities related to housing in a
manner that affirmatively furthers fair housing.
The City will take actions to overcome patterns of
segregation, address disparities in housing needs
and access to opportunity, and foster inclusive
communities. Appendix E, Affirmatively
Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH), summarizes the
fair housing issues and concerns in Fullerton
based on findings of the Regional Analysis of
Impediments (AI) to Fair Housing Choice for FY
2020-25 for Orange County (AI) and additional
research conducted as part of this Housing
Element update. Programs under this goal are
designed to affirmatively reduce barriers to
housing and increase equitable conditions across
neighborhoods, addressing issues such as
historic and existing racial and economic
inequities, housing mobility and access,
community investment and engagement, and
environmental health. The findings of the AFFH
analysis were used to develop meaningful
actions and metrics and milestones that promote
inclusive communities, increase housing
opportunities, and address racial/ethnic and
economic disparities in the city. The actions for
this program are separated under the headers of
each AFFH identified housing issue.
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As the cost of housing increases, low-income renters
and other vulnerable populations are
disproportionately at risk of displacement.
Displacement
risk is highest in neighborhoods of
Artesia Blvd/N Gilbert, Valencia Park, Woodcrest Park,
Rancho La Paz, and California State University
Fullerton. Areas vulnerable to displacement have
higher
rates of low- and moderate-income
households and overcrowded households.
Displacement could result directly from development
(and removal of lower cost housing) or indirectly from
rising
rents, evictions, Notices to Vacate,
condominium conversions, and other activities which
result in tenants losing their homes. The Orange
County Housing Authority (OCHA) currently
administers the Section 8 Rental Assistance program
on
behalf of the City. Based on future congressional
appropriations, the OCHA will apply for
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continuing to explore new opportunities to identify
new housing resources and expand services. The City
partners with the nonprofit organization City Net to
provide street outreach and case management to
those experiencing homelessness in Fullerton. The
City also partners with the OC Health Care Agency,
which serves individuals who are homeless or on the
verge of becoming homeless. Pursuant to the
provisions of State law, the City will continue to
facilitate the establishment of emergency shelters,
low barrier navigation centers, transitional housing
and supportive housing. To ensure that development
standards and procedures continue to encourage
these uses, a Code amendment will be processed to
revise emergency shelters and transitional housing
development standards.
Tenant Protections and Support
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The 2022 Point-in-Time count identified 272
people experiencing homelessness in the city. The
City is committed to preserving existing initiatives,
while
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3.17: Housing for Persons with Special Needs
GOAL
additional funding, which will enable it to
administer additional certificates for families,
elderly, and
persons with disabilities over the
Housing Element Planning Period. The City will
continue to provide referral services and
information to the City’s residents.
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The City of Fullerton is a diverse community with
many residents who have special housing needs.
Government Code Sections 65583 and 65583.2
require the housing element to address the
needs of specific groups with special housing
needs, including extremely low-income
residents, seniors, persons with disabilities, large
families, female-headed households with
children, and persons experiencing
homelessness. Persons with special needs may
require special housing facilities and services to
meet their daily housing needs. The City shall
consider the specialized needs of persons with
physical and mental disabilities as well as large
family households (including multi-generational
households), single parent households, the
elderly, and other groups requiring specialized
services or facilities when developing housing
within Fullerton. The City shall continue to
encourage private and non-profit housing
developers to incorporate specialized housing in
new construction and substantial rehabilitation
of existing housing and evaluate current needs
and investigate regulatory incentives and other
concessions to further encourage the production
of housing for special needs groups.
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The City recognizes that homeownership allows
households to gain housing security and build
wealth through equity and can serve to strengthen
and stabilize neighborhoods. There are several
organizations
that offer homebuyer counseling and
host homebuyer education workshops. The City
will support participation in these programs by
Fullerton
residents, prioritizing outreach to
residents
in vulnerable communities.
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