RHNA Requirements and Affordable Housing Overlay
April 3, 2019
Dear Foster City,
In this Council Corner, I would like to share an overview regarding the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) and our plan to meet our requirements through 2023 with an Affordable Housing Overlay (AHO). I have pulled information from various staff reports, conversations with our staff and Council Members from other cities, and websites to provide an overview for you here. It is important for you to have a basic level of understanding of these topics as a basis for engaging with staff and City Council when we discuss housing development and the execution of policy decisions the City Council may make this year.
State law requires each local government in California to adopt a Housing Element as part of its General Plan that shows how the community will provide the capacity to meet the existing and projected housing needs of people at all income levels. RHNA is the state-mandated process to identify the total number of housing units, by affordability level, that each jurisdiction must accommodate in its Housing Element. As part of this process, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) identified the total housing need for the San Francisco Bay Area for an eight-year period. The current cycle is from 2015 to 2023.
Local needs allocations are developed by each regional Council of Governments (COG). The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) serves as the COG in the Bay Area. On July 19, 2012, the ABAG Executive Board adopted the final RHNA methodology for the period between 2014 and 2022. The RHNA methodology consists of two major steps: determining a jurisdiction's total RHNA and identifying the share of the jurisdiction's total RHNA in each income category. There are four income categories: Very Low, Low, Moderate, and Above Moderate. The RHNA requirements for the SF Bay Area is 187,990 new housing units. The RHNA requirements for San Mateo County reflect a total allocation of 16,418 new housing units (8.73% of the total allocation for the Bay Area) with the following breakouts: Very Low (4,595), Low (2,507), Moderate (2,830), and Above Moderate (6,486). Foster City was allocated 2.6% of the total affordable units allocation for San Mateo County (430) with the following breakouts: Very Low (148), Low (87), Moderate (76), and Above Moderate (119).
Housing Elements must be updated on a regular cycle, as set forth in State Planning Law. Once a city has received its RHNA numbers and developed a Housing Element, it must submit it to HCD for review and certification. If HCD finds that a draft Housing Element does not substantially comply with statutory requirements, the city must revise the element in accordance with HCD recommendations. If HCD finds that draft in compliance, it will certify the Housing Element. Once HCD certifies the Housing Element, it is presumed valid in any court action. The presumption of validity is important because a defective or invalid Housing Element may prevent approval of tentative subdivision maps or other land use approvals. Case law has established that a finding of consistency with a general plan (which includes the Housing Element) is not valid when the Housing Element is incomplete or inadequate. Accordingly, a city without a valid Housing Element would not be able to approve most development projects. Additionally, eligibility and priority consideration for state or federal funds administered by the State may be affected if our Housing Element isn’t certified. If our Housing Element wasn’t certified, we could have potentially lost access to approximately $1.5M in funding for transportation projects in Fiscal Year 2019/2020.
The 2015 Housing Element adopted by Foster City includes programs to implement an AHO Combining District to encourage the production of additional housing units, including affordable units, and to rezone selected sites with the AHO to encourage redevelopment of existing, older apartments with additional housing in a manner appropriate to the neighborhood and surrounding development. HCD certified the Housing Element in reliance on these programs. In order to comply with State law, Foster City must now implement its Housing Element and proceed with these programs.
When a Housing Element includes a commitment to rezone properties as a means of meeting its RHNA numbers, the City is required to complete the rezoning within 3 years from adoption of the Housing Element. Failure to complete the rezones has two potential consequences under State Housing Law: a housing developer has the right to build an affordable project on the site as if it had been rezoned and any interested party may sue a jurisdiction to enforce compliance. To turn down the application, local governments must make findings that there is a “specific, adverse impact,” and the only “feasible method” to mitigate the impact would be to deny the project.
The current housing crisis in California has prompted a number of legislative actions in the past couple years. In 2017, then Governor Brown signed the 2017 Legislative Housing Package, which consisted of 15 bills. Assembly Bill (AB) 72 became law as part of the package. AB 72 clarified and expanded HCD’s enforcement authority by authorizing HCD to find a jurisdiction out of compliance with State Housing Law at any time, rather than only during Housing Element adoption. HCD may now review local government’s actions and inactions, including program actions committed to within an adopted Housing Element, to determine consistency or inconsistency with State Housing Law. If HCD makes findings of inconsistency, the Housing Element compliance may be revoked, and additional actions may be taken, including referral to the Attorney General’s Office.
In 2018, the legislature went even further and amended the Housing Accountability Act (AB 3194) to entitle developers the density allowed in the general plan without the need to rezone the property if an underlying general plan designation allows more density than a zoning district that overlays the general plan designation.
As of the date of this article, we are short 164 affordable units with the following breakouts: Very Low (64), Low (38), and Moderate (62). The AHO zone will provide greater flexibility in how the units are apportioned, specific design guidelines, and a more stream-lined process. Although the targeted date for the AHO rezones to occur was 2015, when the Housing Element was adopted, the rezones have not been completed. In order to remain compliant with State Law, the City must establish the AHO zoning district and rezone relevant properties.
We are doing our part in Foster City, but the more I dive into the topic of the regional “housing crisis”, the more I believe we must continue to support comprehensive solutions beyond building more housing. Simply building more housing throughout the region without thoughtfully considering the increased demands on all of our resources, specifically transportation and the impact to the quality of public elementary level education our children will receive will only exacerbate our problems. I believe we need a high-speed and affordable public transportation system that intelligently connects the entire Bay Area. We need to enable hard working families to get to and from economic epicenters efficiently while living in communities that are not geographically located right next to where the jobs are being created. And, as a region, we need to work with the private sector to expand the footprints of their campuses to communities that currently do not have a strong underlying economy.
Please feel free to contact me at sgehani@fostercity.org if you have any questions or would like to discuss further.
