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E-Mail Forum – 2023 |
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Richmond Remains Out of Compliance With State Housing Law
May 25, 2023 |
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| Dozens of Bay Area cities are poised to miss the state's second housing deadline — and face more penalties
San Jose, pictured, is among the cities that has not had its housing element approved by the state and does not currently have a housing element under review. That positions the city for a new set of consequences.
ANDREI STANESCU/GETTY IMAGES
By Sarah Klearman – Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times
Updated May 22, 2023, 2:33pm PDT
The vast majority of the Bay Area appears poised to miss another crucial housing deadline, a milestone that would subject delinquent jurisdictions to an escalating set of state-imposed consequences.
Bay Area cities and counties that fail to adopt a state-approved housing element by May 31 will be handed a shortened timeline for implementing the rezoning outlined by their housing elements, the blueprints cities draw up every eight years to demonstrate their ability to meet California's housing production goals. Housing elements essentially map out where, in a given jurisdiction, new housing could go; rezoning, in which local zoning codes are modified to allow the quantity and kinds of homes proposed by the housing element, opens the door for that housing to become a reality.
Jurisdictions that adopt an approved housing element before May 31 will have three years to conduct their rezonings, but jurisdictions that miss the deadline will have just eight months — they face a deadline of Jan. 31.
They will not be considered compliant with state housing law until they complete the required rezoning, a state Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD) representative confirmed May 17. That means they will continue be subject to punitive measures such as the so-called builder's remedy as well as being ineligible for state funding for things like affordable housing, transportation and other infrastructure.
Rezoning is a complex process that requires public hearings and discretionary approval, usually from multiple city bodies, as well as analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act. It's not clear if an eight-month timeline would be a feasible one for all of the jurisdictions poised to miss the May 31 deadline — and there are many.
More than 80% of Bay Area jurisdictions are currently out of compliance with state housing law; as of May 22, just 20 of the 109 comprising the Bay Area have adopted an approved housing element, with one more poised to join their ranks this week. Thirty jurisdictions have a housing element under review by the HCD; if the agency approves the plans and the jurisdictions manage to adopt them before May 31, they could make the deadline.
Fifty-three jurisdictions, including San Jose, Walnut Creek and Hayward, have submitted an initial draft to the state but do not have it approved, nor do they have an updated plan currently under review. An additional five — Alameda County, Martinez, Daly City, Half Moon Bay and Vallejo — have not submitted any plan to the state, according to an HCD representative.
Even with those rough numbers, the Bay Area is in better shape than was Southern California in February of last year, when all but six of the 197 jurisdictions missed both the first and second deadlines in that region for adoption. Southern California is on a different housing element schedule than Northern California.
Many Southern California cities, including Los Angeles, said the expedited timeline for rezoning would be impossible, the Orange County Register reported at the time. It took legislative intervention to save them: Last July the state legislature, with sign-off from Gov. Gavin Newsom, granted jurisdictions in Southern California as well as in San Diego and around Sacramento three-year extensions for their rezonings, with the condition that they adopt approved housing elements by a new set of predetermined deadlines. |
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