Prohousing Designation
Public Hearing Item
Visalia City Council
September 8, 2026
Planning & Housing Divisions
Introduction
• State HCD offers a Prohousing Designation Program to incentivize jurisdictions that go above/beyond & use innovative ways to increase housing opportunities. • Prohousing is completely optional and offers non-competitive funding to be used toward housing development or assistance programs. • Visalia City Council provided direction March 16, 2026, to proceed with application process.
• Staff has completed a draft application, released for a 30-day public comment running August 21 to September 21, 2026.
What is Prohousing ?
The Prohousing Designation Program was created through 2019-2020 Legislature.
Receiving a Designation offers two primary incentives:
1. Gives additional scoring points in many state competitive funding programs, which have supported projects like The Lofts at Fort Visalia, Rancho Colegio & Crescent Meadows.
2. Access to the Prohousing Incentive Program (PIP), a non-competitive funding program to assist jurisdictions with implementing Prohousing Policies.
Funding Available Through PIP
Base Award Amount: $750,000
+
*Bonus Award: up to $500,000, equal to a jurisdiction’s Designation Score x 10,000 =
Maximum Possible: $1,250,000
County of Tulare was awarded $1,106,356 in PIP funds.
Project Activities that can be funded with PIP
• Affordable housing development
• Visalia Navigation Center operational assistance
• Eden House operational assistance
• Warming Center operational assistance
• An emergency shelter development and/or operational assistance • Tenant-based rental assistance
City Activities that can be funded with PIP
• Updates to general plans.
• Updates to zoning ordinances.
• Environmental analyses that eliminate the need for project review. • Local process improvements that expedite local planning & permitting.
Prohousing Application Requirements
• Resolution – To be adopted by Visalia City Council on September 21 following 2nd hearing • Demonstration of Prohousing Policies & Programs with Self-Scoring Sheet • Demonstrates compliance across four categories: Favorable Zoning and Land Use, Acceleration of Housing Production Timeframes, Reduction of Construction and Development Costs, and Providing Financial Subsidies
• Statement of Practices Towards Homeless Encampments
• Two-page summary describes how the City uses best practices related to the treatment of people experiencing homelessness in camps on public property • Public Participation – 30-day diligent public participation process Scoring – Visalia complies with the following Prohousing Policies Category 1: Favorable Zoning and Land Use
1H Zoning or other land use designation methods to allow for residential or mixed uses in one or more non-residential zones.
1I Modification of development standards and other applicable zoning provisions or land use designation methods to promote greater development intensity.
Category 2: Acceleration of Housing Production Timeframes 2A Establishment of ministerial approval processes for multiple housing types, including, for example, single-family, multifamily and mixed-use housing. 2B Acceleration of Housing Production through the establishment of streamlined, program- level CEQA analysis and certification of … specific plans with accompanying EIRs 2C Documented practice of streamlining housing development at the project level, such as by enabling a by-right approval process or by utilizing statutory and categorical exemptions 2D Establishment of permitting processes that take less than four months to complete. Policies under this category must address all approvals necessary to issue building permits.
Category 2: Acceleration of Housing Production Timeframes (continued) 2E Absence or elimination of public hearings for projects consistent with zoning & general plan 2F Priority permit processing / reduced plan check times for homes affordable to Lower-Income Households.
2G Establishment of consolidated permit processes that minimize the levels of review and approval required for projects, for projects consistent with zoning regulations and the general plan 2H Absence, elimination, or replacement of subjective development and design standards with objective development and design standards
2I Establishment of one-stop-shop permitting processes
Category 2: Acceleration of Housing Production Timeframes (continued) 2J Priority permit processing or reduced plan check times for ADUs/JADUs or multifamily housing.
2K Establishment of a standardized application form for all entitlement applications. 2L Publicly posting status updates on project permit approvals on the internet.
Category 3: Reduction of Construction & Development Costs 3A Waiver or significant reduction of development impact fees for residential development with units affordable to Lower-Income Households.
3B Adoption of policies that result in less restrictive requirements than State law to reduce barriers for property owners to create ADUs/JADUs. (e.g., pre-approved ADU designs) 3D Accelerating innovative housing production through innovative housing types that reduce development costs. (e.g., manufactured homes)
3E Measures that reduce costs for transportation-related infrastructure or programs that encourage active modes of transportation or other alternatives to automobiles. 3H Adoption of ordinances that reduce barriers, beyond existing law, for the development of housing affordable to Lower-Income Households.
Category 4: Providing Financial Subsidies
4C Demonstration of regular use or planned regular use of funding (e.g., federal, state, or local) for preserving assisted units at-risk of conversion to market rate uses and conversion of market rate uses to units with affordability restrictions (e.g., acquisition/rehabilitation). 4G Prioritization of local general funds to accelerate the production of housing affordable to Lower-Income Households.
4H Directed residual redevelopment funds to accelerate the production of affordable housing. 4I Development and regular (at least biennial) use of a housing subsidy pool, local or regional trust fund, or other similar funding source sufficient to facilitate and support the development of housing affordable to lower-income households.
Category 4: Providing Financial Subsidies (continued)
4K Providing operating subsidies for Permanent Supportive Housing.4G Prioritization of local general funds to accelerate the production of housing affordable to Lower-Income Households. 4L Providing subsidies for housing affordable to Extremely Low-Income Households. 4M Other policies not previously described that quantifiably promote, develop, or leverage financial resources for housing affordable to Lower-Income Households. • Visalia’s affordable housing developments promote, develop, and leverage financial resources for low-income households, as demonstrated in its Action Plan.
Enhancement Factors
• Enhancement factors increase the point score of Prohousing Policies • Example of an Enhancement Factor:
• Category 1: The policy represents one element of a unified, multi-faceted strategy to promote multiple planning objectives, such as efficient land use, access to public transportation, housing affordable to Lower-Income Households, climate change solutions, and/or hazard mitigation.
Summary
• Visalia complies with 26 Prohousing Policies (38 Points) • Enhancement Categories utilized in 15 of the 26 Prohousing Policies (18 Points) Total Score is 56 Points based on City’s compliance with all preceding Policies & meeting of Enhancement factors
Public Participation
Period to receive public comment on the application runs August 21 - September 21, 2026. The following forms of outreach are being used:
1. Emailed directly to 100+ housing stakeholders and targeted organizations.
2. Informational tables at the Multicultural Festival, Visalia Home EXPO & Farmer’s Market.
3. In-person public meetings to discuss the application and allow for verbal comments, Citizens Advisory Committee (9/2), Planning Commission (9/14), and City Council (9/8 & 9/21).
4. City Press Release and posts on the City’s social media channels.
5. Legal advertisements in the Visalia Times Delta (8/18 & 8/21) in English and Spanish.
NEXT STEPS
• Staff will respond to all comments.
• Any changes to the application will be reposted for
a minimum of 7 days.
• Following submittal, State evaluation &
determination (expected to be 3-6 months)
Questions
&
Discussion