REPORT TO HOUSING AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Make Recommendation to Council on the Draft 2015-2023 Housing Element
Report
BACKGROUND
California law, Government Code 65300-65303.4, requires every city and county to have a general plan to guide physical development of the City. General plans must include at least seven required elements, such as land use, circulation, and the housing element. The housing element is the only one of the general plan elements that must be reviewed and approved by the State in accordance with Government Code 65580-65589.8, the "housing element law." A brief overview of this law is provided in Attachment 1. The intent of housing element law is to ensure that all localities are doing their fair share to provide adequate sites for housing development in order to meet each jurisdiction's share of regional housing needs. These needs are determined by the State and regional Councils of Government, in consultation with local governments.
Cities and counties that fail to adopt state-certified housing elements may be faced with legal challenges pursuant to housing element law and/or fair housing laws. In addition, various state and regional housing, transportation and infrastructure funding programs available to local governments require a certified housing element as one of the eligibility criteria. Sunnyvale has always adopted a housing element on time and has always received State certification.
The housing element sets forth the city's housing policies and demonstrates how the city is able to address local housing needs. It is the only element required to be updated on a regular basis, known as the planning period or cycle. This cycle was extended from the prior five-year period to an eight-year period as part of SB 375, the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, in order to coincide with the same time period in which regional transportation plans are updated. Sunnyvale's current Housing Element was last updated in August 2009, for the July 2009 to June 2014 planning period. The City must update its Housing Element by January 2015 or face the penalty of having to update it every four years instead of every eight. The new planning period will extend from July 2014 to January 2023.
Staff has been working closely with regional and state agency representatives for approximately two years to refine the City's regional housing need allocation (RHNA), the first step of the process, and then to update the city's Housing Element pursuant to the newly created "streamlined update" process. The streamlined update process maintains most of the existing policy framework of the Housing Element, while updating time-sensitive information such as demographic data, housing market data, removing sites that have already been developed from the housing sites inventory, and adding sites previously designated by the City for new housing.
One advantage of this new efficient process is that it also streamlines the State's review process to just one, sixty-day review period, and the State is limited to commenting on only those portions of the element that are new. For that reason, staff has aimed to maintain as much of the existing narrative as possible, and limited changes to those that are critical to maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the document. A timeline of the streamlined update process is provided below:
Table 1: Housing Element Update Timeline
Event |
Date |
HCD issues Regional Housing Needs Determination to ABAG |
Feb. 24, 2012 |
ABAG adopts Draft Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) |
July 19, 2012 |
City appeals RHNA |
Feb. 18, 2013 |
City RHNA appeal granted by ABAG |
May 16, 2013 |
ABAG adopts Final RHNA |
July 18, 2013 |
Presentation to Housing and Human Services Commission (HHSC) |
July 24, 2013 |
Housing Element Public Outreach Meeting: Needs Assessment |
Aug. 28, 2013 |
Housing Element Public Outreach Meeting for Development Stakeholders |
Oct. 9, 2013 |
Joint Study Session with Planning Commission and HHSC |
May 12, 2014 |
HHSC Hearing on Draft Housing Element |
May 28, 2014 |
Planning Commission Hearing on Draft Housing Element |
June 9, 2014 |
Council Hearing on Draft Housing Element |
Aug. 12, 2014 |
Submittal of Draft Housing Element to HCD |
Late Aug. 2014 |
HCD Comments Expected to be Received |
Oct. 2014 |
CEQA review, commission and Council hearings on Revised Draft |
Nov.-Dec. 2014 |
Council Hearing on Adoption of 2015-2023 Housing Element (GPA) |
Late Dec. 2014 |
Submit Adopted Housing Element to HCD for State Approval |
By Jan. 31, 2015 |
Staff has prepared the draft 2015-2023 Housing Element (Attachment 2) following a concerted public outreach effort undertaken in summer and fall of 2013 which focused on soliciting public input regarding current housing needs, opportunities, and any constraints. Residents, area workers, developers, and various stakeholders were encouraged to participate. The feedback received during that outreach process has been incorporated to the extent possible. Additional input will be sought during the final stages of the process, as outlined above. Following Council review and approval in August, the document will be submitted to the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for review and comment prior to being formally adopted by the City as part of a general plan amendment, tentatively planned for December 2014.
EXISTING POLICY
Council Policy 7.3.1 Legislative Management - Goals and Policies
Goal 7.3A: Assess community conditions and make appropriate changes to long-range, mid-range and short-range plans.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
A Negative Declaration has been prepared in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
DISCUSSION
Just as in 2009, the newly updated draft Housing Element does not require any rezoning of City areas from one zone to another because the City already has adequate developable land zoned for residential uses to meet its RHNA for the 2015-2023 housing element cycle under its existing zoning and General Plan, as shown below.
Table 2: 2015-2023 RHNA
Affordability Level |
RHNA |
Sites Available Under Current Zoning/General Plan |
Very Low Income |
1,640 |
1,640 |
Low Income |
906 |
1,052 |
Moderate Income |
932 |
1,183 |
Above Moderate Income |
1,974 |
1,974 |
Total |
5,452 |
5,849 |
It is beneficial that there are slightly more sites available than required by Sunnyvale's RHNA because in case some sites are deemed unlikely to develop or otherwise don't meet HCD's criteria, there will still be enough sites available to meet the RHNA. It is also important to note that the City is not required to develop any housing units, only to make these sites available through its zoning and general plan land use designations.
Because adequate sites are available and no land use changes are required, the changes made to the Element from the 2009 version consist of updating demographic and housing market data, and updating the constraints section to describe changes made to residential development requirements since 2009. These changes include a number of streamlining efforts undertaken in the last several years, some of which were listed as implementation programs in the 2009 Housing Element, including: modified parking standards; new standards for development of emergency shelters, transitional and supportive housing; reasonable accommodations procedures; and streamlined processing of multi-family projects.
The inventory of adequate sites (Appendix B) has also been updated, primarily to remove sites that have been developed since 2009, and to add new sites that were not included in the 2009 inventory because they were not needed to meet the RHNA at that time, such as mixed use sites along El Camino Real, and/or a few sites that have been recently rezoned and designated for residential uses, such as the East Weddell housing sites.
The Goals and Policies within the Draft have not been changed as they are quite comprehensive and are still considered valid and appropriate. The Implementation Program sets forth a number of actions the City intends to take during the upcoming cycle to ensure that it can meet the goals and "quantified objectives" it has set for the planning period. Many of these objectives are ongoing programs continued from the 2009 Housing Element and still considered valid and appropriate.
The new objectives included in the Implementation Program are mainly for specific types of new housing projects, similar to those included in the current Housing Element, such as to develop 100 units of affordable rental housing. Staff has also added an objective to develop a new policy regarding residential displacement to address demolition or major renovation of large rental properties, such as those consisting of 10 or more units, to respond to the concerns expressed during the public outreach phase and in general about displacement due to these types of projects. Staff has addressed the concern about a shortage of housing for developmentally disabled adults by adding an objective to the Implementation Plan to create additional units for this population during the planning period. Most of these actions will require further public hearings, funding commitments, code amendments, and/or review by commissions and/or Council prior to implementation.
If the Commission would like to suggest new policies or changes to the existing policies to further address these concerns, it may recommend such policies as part of Alternative 2.
The City Council is scheduled to consider this item on August 12, 2014.
FISCAL IMPACT
No fiscal impact is anticipated due to the recommended action; however, failure to approve a compliant housing element by the deadline could negatively impact the City by causing it to be ineligible for certain types of state funds.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made through posting of the Housing and Human Services commission agenda on the City's official-notice bulletin board, on the City's website, and the availability of the agenda and report in the Office of the City Clerk.
In addition to the initial public outreach meetings held in mid-2013, staff conducted a public survey online and in hard copy between July and October 2013. Paper surveys were made available at the One-Stop Permit Center, at Sunnyvale Community Services (SCS), and at the Community Development Department's booth at the State of the City event. The online survey was publicized on the City's website, in the Housing e-Newsletter, and through the Housing Division's Below Market Rate Housing interest list. The surveys were also distributed to various non-profit agencies serving Sunnyvale residents for distribution to their clients, as well as to attendees of Commission meetings, Housing Element outreach meetings, First Time Homebuyer presentations, and several neighborhood association and mobile home park community meetings held during this time. The surveys were available in English and Spanish, and were even translated into Chinese by SCS. Nearly 450 survey responses were received. Of those, 152 were submitted on paper and entered into the database by Housing interns, and the balance were submitted online through Survey Monkey.
Most of the survey responses fell into two basic positions: people very concerned about rising rents and home prices, and people concerned about the perceived impacts of new development such as traffic and impacts on schools. Some respondents were concerned about both types of issues. One rather unexpected theme noted numerous times in the survey was a concern about the stalled Sunnyvale Town Center project, which includes residential uses as well as a major retail center. One of the more focused concerns expressed was about a shortage of housing for adults with developmental disabilities. Other concerns expressed during public outreach meetings and/or in the survey included: making it easier to develop secondary dwelling units; considering smaller minimum lot sizes to allow more compact development in older neighborhoods; and making new housing developments more walkable and more accessible to shopping, amenities, jobs, and schools.
ALTERNATIVES
1. Recommend that Council approve the draft Housing Element as presented in Attachment 2 for submittal to HCD for review.
2. Recommend that Council approve the draft Housing Element with modifications for submittal to HCD for review.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Alternative 1: Recommend that Council approve the draft Housing Element as presented in Attachment 2 for submittal to HCD for review.
Staff recommends Alternative 1. The draft Housing Element has been prepared to comply with current state law following the streamlined update process. Staff has consulted with HCD prior to finalizing the draft and believes it meets all state requirements. Furthermore, the goals and quantified objectives provided in the draft Housing Element are a minimum, not a maximum, number of units the City may choose to assist and/or facilitate in the future to address local housing needs. By keeping the goals realistic, the City will be more likely to be able to achieve them, which will in turn make it easier to gain state approval for the next update at the end of the coming planning period (in 2023).
Staff
Prepared by: Suzanne Isé, Housing Officer
Reviewed by: Hanson Hom, Director, Community Development
Approved by: Robert A. Walker, Interim City Manager
Attachments
ATTACHMENTS
1. State Housing Element Law Overview
2. Draft 2015-2023 Housing Element Update