California State Housing Mandates
Orange County Grand Jury 2025-2026
shaping statewide housing policy, and enforcing housing laws to promote equity, environmental quality, and community stability across the state.
HCD’s mission is to lead and implement California’s housing policy by determining regional housing needs, reviewing and enforcing Housing Element compliance, administering state and federal housing funds, and holding local jurisdictions accountable for fulfilling their obligations under state housing law.84 84 California Department of Housing and Community Development
CITY OF LAGUNA HILLS
24035 El Toro Road •Laguna Hills, California 92653 • (949) 707-2600 • FAX (949) 707-2633 Website: www.LagunaHillsCA.gov
October 13, 2026
The Honorable Sheila F. Hanson
Presiding Judge of the Superior Court
Orange County Grand Jury
700 Civic Center Drive West
Santa Ana, CA 92701
RE: City of Laguna Hills Response to 2025-2026 Orange County Grand Jury Report, California Housing Mandates, The Unintended Reshaping of Orange County Neighborhoods
Dear Judge Hanson,
In accordance with Section 933.05(a) and (b) of the California Penal Code, this letter contains the responses on behalf of the City of Laguna Hills to the Orange County Grand Jury report dated May 21, 2026, titled “California Housing Mandates, The Unintended Reshaping of Orange County Neighborhoods.” As requested by the Orange County Grand Jury, the responses correspond to Findings F1, F2, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, F10, F11, and F12, in addition to Recommendations R7, R8, R9, R11, R12, R14, R15, and R16.
FINDINGS F1, F2, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, F10, F11, F12:
F1. In recent years, the California Legislature has enacted an unusually large and burdensome volume of housing-related laws intended to strengthen compliance with State Housing Mandates.
Response: The City of Laguna Hills agrees with this finding.
F2. Housing Mandates are implemented through a RHNA process that often lacks transparency and relies on complex methodologies that are difficult for local officials and the public to understand or meaningfully challenge.
Response: The City of Laguna Hills agrees with this finding.
F4. Meaningful participation by Orange County cities in both OCCOG and SCAG meetings is critical to ensuring that local perspectives are represented during the development and implementation of Housing Mandates policies.
The Honorable Sheila F. Hanson
October 13, 2026
Response: The City of Laguna Hills agrees with this finding. The City agrees that participation in regional organizations addressing housing policies is important to ensure local perspectives are represented. Through OCCOG, City representatives have opportunities to participate in regional coordination, share data, and provide collective input to SCAG on housing and planning matters.
F5. SCAG’s 6th Cycle RHNA assigned Orange County a questionable total of 183,861 housing units for the 2021–2029 planning period, with higher allocations concentrated in cities with major population and employment centers.
Response: The City of Laguna Hills partially agrees with this finding. Historically, RHNA methodologies were based primarily on projected housing growth. The 6th Cycle methodology incorporated additional factors and greater complexity, making the methodology more difficult to interpret and independently verify.
F6. RHNA allocations are unrealistic and not attainable within the current planning cycle due to limited available land, built-out urban conditions, infrastructure constraints, environmental factors, and public health and safety requirements.
Response: The City of Laguna Hills partially agrees with this finding. Laguna Hills is a largely built-out, geographically constrained city of approximately six square miles, with limited vacant land and redevelopment opportunities primarily limited to existing developed sites. While the City can remove regulatory barriers through rezoning and supportive development standards consistent with HCD requirements, market conditions remain a significant factor in project feasibility. A key challenge is balancing adequate development capacity with achieving RHNA targets under current market conditions. Developers have indicated that, under current conditions, the minimum densities required by the City are not economically feasible.
F7. Residents in Orange County consistently express a desire for local planning decisions to reflect community priorities, including but not limited to neighborhood character, safety considerations, the environment and open-space preservation.
Response: The City of Laguna Hills agrees with this finding.
F8. California’s regulatory construction costs (i.e. permitting fees) present substantial challenges for private housing developers—particularly those delivering affordable units.
Response: The City of Laguna Hills partially disagrees with this finding. While construction costs may affect project feasibility, the City does not consider permitting fees to be a significant barrier to housing production. Permit fees are
The Honorable Sheila F. Hanson
October 13, 2026
periodically reviewed to ensure they are appropriately structured to recover the City’s actual costs for plan review and permit administration. Housing project feasibility is influenced by multiple factors, including land and financing costs, labor, construction costs, and market conditions. In addition, the State Density Bonus Law provides incentives and concessions that can facilitate the development of affordable housing.
F9. The cost of constructing a single affordable housing unit in California typically ranges from approximately $500,000 to $800,000 per unit when fully complying with current state regulations. New low-income housing is generally not financially feasible without public subsidy.
Response: The City of Laguna Hills partially agrees with this finding. The City recognizes the high cost of affordable housing construction; however, projects incorporating affordable units have been successfully developed, demonstrating market feasibility. Deeper levels of affordability present greater financial challenges and generally require public subsidy to achieve.
F10. Prior to their dissolution in 2012, redevelopment agencies served as a primary mechanism for cities and counties to finance affordable housing and related infrastructure.
The loss of redevelopment has reduced cities’ ability to support construction of affordable units.
Response: The City of Laguna Hills agrees with this finding.
F11. Because public subsidy is limited and highly competitive, cities seeking to produce meaningful quantities of low-income housing must rely in part on private development incentives, often resulting in higher overall development densities and unit counts than the RHNA allocation.
Response: The City of Laguna Hills partially agrees with this finding. Limited public funding and competition for available subsidies can make private development incentives an important tool for facilitating lower-income housing production.
Developers commonly use State Density Bonus Law (SDBL) as an incentive for affordable housing development. Developers can increase density by 20 percent in exchange for 5 percent lower-income units. This can result in development densities and unit counts exceeding the levels identified in the City’s RHNA allocation. Such requests may include increased building height, reduced setbacks, modified design standards, or increased floor area, which can result in larger or more intensive development.
The Honorable Sheila F. Hanson
October 13, 2026
F12. The 6th Cycle RHNA methodology included numerous technical inputs published by SCAG and HCD; however, these inputs were highly complex and difficult for cities to interpret or independently verify.
Response: The City of Laguna Hills agrees with this finding.
RECOMMENDATIONS R7, R8, R9, R11, R12, R14, R15, AND R16:
R7. OCCOG, all Orange County cities and the County of Orange should reassess the current dues structure, by September 30, 2026, to ensure that OCCOG has the resources necessary to effectively represent Orange County jurisdictions in SCAG processes, including RHNA methodology development and appeals. (F3, F15) Response: The City of Laguna Hills will not be implementing this recommendation.
The City does not have authority to modify OCCOG dues. However, the City would cooperate with OCCOG on studies to assess the dues structure, if requested.
R8. By December 31, 2026, the Orange County Board of Supervisors should partner with cities to evaluate countywide infrastructure capacity—including water, wastewater, flood control, transportation, and public-safety systems—and develop a coordinated regional plan capable of supporting the level of housing growth required under state law. (F6) Response: The City of Laguna Hills will not be implementing this recommendation.
However, the City would consider collaborating with the County of Orange to develop a regional plan to support the level of housing growth required under state law.
R9. By September 30, 2026, the Orange County Board of Supervisors should strengthen its engagement with OCCOG and increase staff support to develop a shared, countywide database of potential housing sites and key development-feasibility factors. (F15) Response: The City of Laguna Hills will not be implementing this recommendation.
This recommendation is not applicable to the City and is specifically directed to the County of Orange.
R11. The County of Orange and each city should ensure consistent participation in SCAG and OCCOG committees by September 30, 2026, including the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), to strengthen regional representation during RHNA-methodology development. (F3, F4, F15)
Response: The City of Laguna Hills has implemented this action. The City maintains regional representation through appointed representatives on OCCOG and SCAG boards and committees, including a City staff representative on the OCCOG
The Honorable Sheila F. Hanson
October 13, 2026
Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), supporting the City’s participation in regional housing and planning discussions.
R12. The County of Orange and each city should designate a single technical representative, by September 30, 2026, along with an alternate, for all RHNA-related SCAG and OCCOG committees to ensure continuity of participation and eliminate gaps in representation across multiple decision-making bodies. (F4) Response: The City of Laguna Hills has implemented this action. The Principal Planner serves as the City’s primary technical representative on RHNA-related SCAG and OCCOG committees, with an alternate designee to ensure continuity. Staff continues to participate in regional housing and planning activities, including the OCCOG TAC.
R14. By April 30, 2027, the County of Orange and each city should publish annual monitoring dashboards showing (a) entitlement pipeline conditions, (b) realistic site yield, (c) assembled funding sources for affordable units, and (d) conversion rates from planned capacity to issued permits and completed units, ensuring that County and city-determined capacity assumptions remain aligned with actual production. (F13) Response: The City of Laguna Hills will not be implementing this recommendation.
The City of Laguna Hills currently provides comprehensive annual reporting to the State through its General Plan Annual Progress Report (APR), which is available on both the City and State websites. The City also submits numerous reports and datasets to HCD and other agencies to satisfy existing statutory and regulatory requirements. An additional reporting requirement would increase administrative burden and duplicate information already collected and reported.
R15. By September 30, 2026, and ongoing, the County Board of Supervisors and all city councils should make a coordinated and sustained effort to educate their constituents about the RHNA process—its requirements, its impact on local planning and community character, and the role residents can play in shaping outcomes. Public education efforts should also include guidance on how community members can effectively engage with the California Legislature and advocate for more realistic, data-driven housing policies. (F1, F7) Response: The City of Laguna Hills has implemented this action. The City of Laguna Hills supports public education regarding housing planning and conducted community outreach as part of its 6th Cycle Housing Element Update. As previously stated, the City also participates in regional housing coordination through OCCOG, including efforts related to RHNA implementation. OCCOG provides publicly accessible housing planning and educational resources through its Housing Orange County program, which the City may utilize to further inform residents regarding RHNA and regional housing requirements.
The Honorable Sheila F. Hanson
October 13, 2026
R16. By December 31, 2026, all cities should look to enhance their relationships with notfor-profit affordable housing developers to increase the opportunity to develop more affordable housing. (F8, F10, F12)
Response: The City of Laguna Hills will implement this recommendation. The City committed through multiple Implementation Programs and Housing Policies in its 6th Cycle Housing Element Update to assisting public and private nonprofit housing developers in the development of affordable housing.
The City of Laguna Hills values the opportunity to respond to the Orange County Grand Jury’s report, “California Housing Mandates, The Unintended Reshaping of Orange County Neighborhoods,” and appreciates the opportunity to provide the City’s perspective on the findings and recommendations.
Should you have any questions, please contact Bob Wingenroth, City Manager, at (949) 707- 2610 or [email protected].
Sincerely,
Don Caskey
Mayor
cc: Laguna Hills City Council
City Attorney
Bob Wingenroth, City Manager
Jennifer Lowe, Community Development Director
Item No. 6.1
City of Laguna Hills
City Council / Planning
Agency
Staff Report
Date: October 13, 2026
To: Mayor and Council Members
From: Joshua Stevenson, City Clerk
Issue: Committee Assignment Reports
Recommendation: That the City Council receive reports from the City Councilmembers on the City Council Committee Assignments listed on the attachment.
Background:
Members of the City Council serve on various boards and committees that impact the City of Laguna Hills. The Council Members will provide periodic updates from these external agencies as they relate to the City.
A complete listing of the City Council Committee Assignments is attached.
Fiscal Impact:
The City does not provide any additional compensation to City Council members for serving on outside agency boards or committees.
Attachments:
1. City Council Committee Assignments
City of Laguna Hills, CA
City Council Committee Assignments
Agency LH
Representative
LH
Alternate Link Meetings
Transportation Corridor Agencies Joint
Board of Directors (TCA) Pezold Mathis https://thetollroads.com/about/boards-ofdirectors/board-agenda/board-agendas Monthly Orange County Fire Authority Board of
Directors (OCFA) Sweeney N/A https://ocfa.org/about-us/board-meetings/ Monthly Orange County Mosquito and Vector
Control District Board of Directors
(OCMVCD)
Pezold N/A https://www.ocvector.org/board-meetings Monthly Orange County Older Adults Advisory
Commission Wheeler N/A
https://www.officeonaging.ocgov.com/aboutus/orange-county-older-adults-advisorycommission-oaac Monthly
Orange County Library Advisory Board
(LAB) Wheeler Sweeney https://www.ocpl.org/about-ocpl/libraryadvisory-board 3x/year Southern California Association of
Governments (SCAG) Annual General
Assembly
Caskey Wheeler https://scag.ca.gov/leadership-generalassembly Annually California Joint Powers Insurance
Authority (CJPIA) Annual Board of
Directors Meeting
Mayor Mayor Pro
Tem https://cjpia.org/about/meetings-agendas/ Annually
Association of California Cities – Orange
County (ACC-OC) Mayor Mayor Pro Tem
https://www.accoc.org/event-detailsregistration/acc-oc-2026-annual-leadershipsummit-and-golden-hub-of-innovationawards Annually