CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: October 16, 2023
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCILMEMBERS
SUBJECT: STUDY SESSION ON REVISIONS TO THE CITY OF PLEASANT HILL ADOPTED HOUSING ELEMENT (2023-2031)
SYNOPSIS
On May 21, 2023, the City of Pleasant Hill adopted its 2023-2031 Housing Element.
Subsequently, on May 31, 2023, the City of Pleasant Hill submitted the document to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for potential certification. On July 31, 2023, HCD responded with additional comments to the City for consideration. In August and September, after informal discussion with HCD staff, City staff and the consultant team made revisions to address HCD’s comments. The revised 2023-2031 Housing Element is presented for City Council discussion in this proposed study session. No formal action is requested or required from the City Council at this time, as the resolution to adopt the 2023-2031 Housing Element allowed City staff to make necessary modifications in response to HCD comments.
DISCUSSION
Background
Since 1969, every jurisdiction in California has been required to include a Housing Element as part of its General Plan. Unlike other mandatory General Plan elements, the Housing Element must be updated every eight years and is subject to review and approval by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). Major components of the Housing Element include a housing needs assessment, the identification of sites for housing at all income levels, a review of constraints to housing, and updated policies and programs to carry out the goals of the updated element.
The purpose of a Housing Element is to provide an assessment of current and future housing needs, identify opportunities and constraints on housing production, establish goals, policies, and programs to meet those needs, and to update City practices and regulations to reflect changes in State housing laws. Contemporary housing elements often identify strategies and programs that focus on conserving and improving existing affordable housing, maximizing housing opportunities throughout the community, assisting in the provision of new affordable housing, removing governmental and other constraints to housing investment, and promoting fair and equal housing opportunities.
5 th Cycle vs. 6th Cycle Housing Element Updates
Every update of a housing element is called a cycle. For every cycle, there is a window of time for all jurisdictions in California to update their housing elements. The City’s current 2014-2022 Housing Element was adopted in 2015 as part of the statewide 5th Cycle Housing Element update. The 2023-2031 Housing Element is part of the 6th Cycle Housing Element update.
Between the 5th and 6th cycles, the State passed over a dozen new housing laws intent on lowering barriers to building affordable housing. These changes in State law are addressed as part of the 6th Cycle update. Additionally, a major component of every housing element update cycle is the identification of a jurisdiction’s capacity to support development of a determined number of housing units (i.e., Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA), as calculated by HCD and assigned to each jurisdiction within the nine-county Bay Area by the regional governing body (i.e., the Association of Bay Area Governments/Metropolitan Transportation Commission, or ABAG/MTC).
As part of the RHNA process, HCD calculated the total number of housing units needed across California over the next decade, including the Bay Area region. ABAG/MTC then developed a methodology to apportion the region’s housing units to each of the 109 jurisdictions within the Bay Area region. In the process of updating its Housing Element, each jurisdiction must demonstrate how it will accommodate its assigned share of the HCD-determined and ABAG/MTC-allocated housing units. Pleasant Hill was allocated 1,803 units in the current 6th Cycle.
Under State law, the RHNA is spread across the following four income categories:
• Very low household income
• Low household income
• Moderate household income
• Above moderate household income
The household income for each of these categories is based on a percentage of the Area Median Income (AMI). The breakdown of the number of units for each income category is shown below:
RHNA by Income Category for 6th Cycle
Lower Moderate Above Moderate Total RHNA
Very Low Low
Current
RHNA 566 326 254 657 1,803
As part of the inventory and analysis of adequate sites, Pleasant Hill was required to evaluate the General Plan land use designations, and subsequently the zoning ordinance, to determine whether there is enough land available to accommodate the assigned RHNA for each income category. Because existing designations could not accommodate the production of 1,803 units over the next eight years, the City must rezone land to meet the RHNA obligation. Further, the inventory of sites and zoning designations must include land with adequate potential to satisfy the City’s 6th Cycle RHNA obligations.
As part of the Housing Element process, the City held multiple General Plan Advisory Committee meetings where the Committee (made up of one Architectural Review member, two Planning Commissioners and two City Council members) discussed the Housing Element. In addition, public hearings were also held by the Planning Commission and the City Council.
Based on the feedback and input provided at these meetings, the Housing Element was finalized and submitted to HCD in December 2022.
Approximately 90 days after this initial submittal to the State, the City received comments from HCD. After review of these comments, the City prepared a resubmittal, held additional public meetings, and then resubmitted to HCD in May 2023.
The City subsequently received additional HCD comments at the end of July 2023. Since receiving the comments, City staff had informal discussions with HCD staff to better understand and receive clarifications of its comments, which would result in a focused response to HCD in hopes of receiving certification in the next submittal.
Analysis
The following includes a summary of the comments made by HCD. A summary of the proposed responses that took into consideration the informal clarifying comments provided by HCD is provided in Attachment 1.
1. Requested additional information related to Racially Concentrated Areas of Affluence (RCAA), including additional information and analysis related to trends, conditions and coincidence with other fair housing factors and whether additional programs are necessary to address housing mobility.
2. Noting that additional actions are needed to address that the City is largely a RCAA and that large portions of the City’s lower income RHNA are outside of these high resource areas. The State provided direction to establish quantified metrics in programs that focused on RCAA (high resource and lower density) that would result in improved housing mobility and increased housing opportunities and affordability.
3. Provided direction that place-based strategies for community revitalization were necessary for neighborhoods that were considered low and moderate resourced.
4. Evaluate any potential constraints related to infrastructure (water and sewer capacity) and environmental issues (sloping conditions) or any other site-specific conditions that would preclude development. If any were found, the Housing Element may need to incorporate revisions to address any identified constraints.
5. Describe the redevelopment potential of non-vacant site and clarify its redevelopment potential. This could include a listing of local and regional project that have redeveloped with similar characteristics.
6. Address AB2162 – Supportive Housing, by explicitly committing to revising the Zoning Ordinance to be in compliance.
7. Ensure the City is in compliance with State of California Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) provisions.
8. Ensure the City has completed necessary zoning changes by January 31, 2024, to be in compliance with Government Code Section 65583/2 (h) and (i).
9. Ensure the City has removed constraints on housing for persons with disabilities (Reasonable Accommodation), primarily removing discretionary actions related to compatibility with surrounding uses.
10. Remove constraints in the Zoning Ordinance, related to development standards, that would be a constraint to providing a variety of housing choices and facilitating maximum densities (height, parking, etc.).
11. Allow group homes in the same manner as other residential uses of similar type and form.
12. Reminded the City that future Housing Element submittals would require proper planning for emergency shelters (AB2339), to ensure sufficient and suitable capacity.
13. Continue public participation involvement, particularly for those that represent lowerincome and special needs households.
FISCAL IMPACT
The proposed revisions contains an additional $100,000 dollars that would be used to support projects in lower resource areas. The financial assistance could be direct contributions from the City’s General Fund, but could also be indirect contributions that could come from reductions in fees or permit processing costs.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made through posting of the City Council agenda on the City’s official notice bulletin board, at the Senior Center and at the Pleasant Hill Police Department. Additional noticing was provided on the City website and on the City General Plan website (pleasanthill2040.com) and through email blasts generated from an interest list on the City General Plan website, on A-Frames at the library and police stations, on the City Hall Changeable Electronic Message Board, and a display ad in the East Bay Times Newspaper. The agenda and staff report are posted on the City’s web page.
RECOMMENDED CITY COUNCIL ACTION
Receive public input and accept the Staff proposed revisions and provide directions to resubmit to HCD.
ALTERNATIVES TO RECOMMENDED ACTION
Provide modifications to staff and direct resubmittal to HCD.
ATTACHMENT(S):
1. Proposed Response Matrix to HCD Comments
2. Revised Housing Element (Strikeout and Underline Format)
3. July 31, 2023 HCD Comment Letter
4. Public Comments Received Since Receipt of July 31, 2023 HCD Comment Letter Prepared by: Troy Fujimoto, City Planner
Approved by: Ethan Bindernagel, City Manager