REPORT TO HOUSING AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Recommend Adoption of 2015-2023 Housing Element (General Plan Amendment)
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 (COG), in consultation with local governments. For the San Francisco Bay Area, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is the COG.
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 wi...
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