DATE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2025
DEPARTMENT: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
FROM: LISA BRINTON, DIRECTOR
THROUGH: ORLANDO REYES, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
BY: VINCENT MONTGOMERY, PLANNING MANAGER
LUIS RODRIGUEZ, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ANALYST
TITLE: HOUSING PRODUCTION DASHBOARD UPDATE
RECOMMENDED MOTION:
No action is required. Receive an Administrative Report on Housing Production Dashboard development.
DISCUSSION:
Staff has undertaken a comprehensive, multi-departmental initiative to develop a Housing Production Dashboard, a digital tool designed to monitor and report on housing production within the City. The Dashboard tracks and communicates data reported in the Housing Element Annual Performance Report (HE APR), a key regulatory reporting instrument submitted annually to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) pursuant to California Government Code §65400. The Dashboard responds to increasing requests for local transparency, regional housing compliance, and performance-based tracking systems to document the City’s obligations under the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process.
By aligning the Dashboard’s structure with the data tracked in the HE APR, the City is creating a real-time analytical framework that will support informed decision-making, compliance monitoring, and tracking of housing production in the City including the Future Growth Areas (FGAs). These areas are poised for substantial residential development, and the Dashboard will enable the City to distinguish between affordable and market-rate housing production within these strategic zones. Ultimately, this tool will serve as a performance monitor and a policy accountability mechanism.
Dashboard Development Process
Establishing the Analytical Framework
On August 4, 2025, City staff began internal discussions to conceptualize the Housing Production Dashboard and define its operational framework. After evaluating various options, it was unanimously agreed that the HE APR, which includes annual metrics (i.e., entitled projects, permit issuance, unit completions, and affordability levels), would serve as the foundation for Dashboard development. The HE APR provides a standardized and state-mandated method of tracking housing progress and establishes eligibility for State incentives such as funding programs and streamlined permitting under Senate Bill (SB) 35, SB 330, and Assembly Bill (AB) 101. SB 35 is the housing law designed to streamline the approval process for housing development and SB 423 extends SB 35 to 2036 to provide a ministerial approval pathway for residential development. SB 330 was enacted to speed up housing development by locking in the current land use and zoning at the time of application submittal so local jurisdictions cannot make land use changes during the process. AB 101 is the State’s effort to address homelessness and affordable housing shortage.
The HE APR evaluates the jurisdiction's effectiveness in implementing its Housing Element and meeting RHNA targets categorized by income levels. As such, it was considered the optimal instrument to ensure data accuracy, regulatory alignment, and policy transparency in the Dashboard's development. The City identified the 2024 HE APR as the initial reference dataset for the Dashboard’s beta (testing) version.
Data Integration and Technical Implementation
The data integration phase commenced on August 7, 2025, when Community Development Department (CDD) staff transmitted the 2024 APR dataset to the Public Works Department's GIS Team (PW/GIS). The GIS team began mapping the HE APR data fields to the TRAKiT permit tracking software platform, which is City's entitlement and permitting database. By August 8, the team extracted relevant data points from TRAKiT and established a strong correlation between the system’s records and the HE APR fields. The high data accuracy achieved at this step validated the ability to move forward with technical development.
Recognizing the need to capture more detailed data such as income affordability levels, the strategic refinement phase began. On August 15, 2025, a joint meeting was held between Community Development and Public Works teams to establish User Defined Fields (UDFs) in TRAKiT. These fields were designed to allow permit records to be tagged with income categories—Very Low, Low, Moderate, and Above Moderate, in alignment with RHNA reporting requirements. Permits Services Division staff programmed these UDFs into TRAKiT, following a technical schema proposed by GIS to facilitate seamless data extraction and GIS integration.
Prototype Deployment and Initial Testing
A prototype Housing Production Dashboard was tested on August 22, 2025. This early version of the Dashboard features included a geospatial map overlaying housing production data and visualized metrics, including the number of units produced, permits issued, and units completed (via certificates of occupancy). During this phase, CDD Housing staff began manually inputting data from the 2024 HE APR into TRAKiT to validate the Dashboard’s operational accuracy and ensure that the output mirrored State reporting standards. On August 29, 2025 the GIS team confirmed that the newly integrated UDFs were functioning as intended.
Data Validation and System Calibration
As of September 4, 2025, Housing staff manually entered 331 housing permits and development projects from the 2024 APR into TRAKiT. This extensive data migration was necessary to allow GIS staff to test their extraction protocols and validate the Dashboard's ability to reflect accurate housing production metrics. The next phase will involve comparative data analysis. GIS will extract updated data from TRAKiT and match it against the source HE APR to assess discrepancies and guide technical adjustments.
During a systems test on September 23, 2025, City staff identified a data discrepancy involving eight completed units missing from the Dashboard. This discrepancy prompted a targeted debugging process to address and rectify the issue, ensuring all field extractions and calculations function are within the intended parameters. The discrepancy was evaluated and deemed minor and does not compromise the overall operability of the system. The Dashboard release schedule is based on the following sequence 1) proof of concept/prototype where we validate feasibility and explore design functionality, 2) “Alpha” internal testing of early version with basic features, 3) “Beta” continued testing with external testers, and 4) concluding with the ‘Production’ release to the public.
Based on current progress, the "Alpha” testing version is expected to be finalized and released by the end of October 2025 for broader internal testing. The “Beta” test release date is targeted for end of November 2025. The Beta test will be sent to a select number of external users prior to “Production” release to the general public.
Interdepartmental Collaboration and Project Team
The Housing Production Dashboard project is the result of coordinated efforts between the CDD and PW. The collaborative approach and technical contributions have been instrumental in ensuring that the dashboard meets regulatory requirements and serves the city's strategic needs.
Strategic Significance and Forward-Looking Utility
The Housing Dashboard will offer transformative value to the City's housing strategy upon full deployment. First, it will enable real-time, geographically referenced tracking of housing production categorized by affordability level, tenure, and construction status. Second, it will provide a reliable mechanism for monitoring the performance of Future Growth Areas, which are essential to Salinas's long-term housing capacity and infrastructure planning. Third, it will elevate the City's transparency and public accountability, providing stakeholders, developers, and decision-makers with an accessible platform to review housing trends and outcomes.
From a policy perspective, the dashboard enhances the City’s ability to comply with and respond to State mandates, including those under RHNA, SB 35 and AB 101. More broadly, the dashboard strengthens the City's position in pursuing State housing funds and eligibility for regulatory streamlining by demonstrating a robust, data-driven approach to housing production monitoring.
Next Steps
The immediate next step includes conducting final GIS extraction tests and implementing necessary calibration to ensure data integrity. Staff will also prepare procedural documentation for future annual updates and initiate training protocols for internal users. The Dashboard will continue to evolve, with future iterations incorporating data from other housing policy tools such as inclusionary housing programs, density bonus tracking, tracking projects under Senate Bills (SB) such as SB 330 or SB 423, and accessory dwelling unit (ADU) monitoring.
Conclusion
The development of the Housing Production Dashboard marks a significant milestone in the City’s housing policy infrastructure. It leverages interdepartmental collaboration, advanced GIS integration, and regulatory alignment to create a high-value tool that supports compliance, transparency, and strategic planning. Following the successful Beta release staff will return to City Council with an update.
ATTACHMENTS:
None.
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