Month: April 2021

What does RHNA mean for all Cities?  What are the plans for the City of Chino to implement RHNA and positive change for all the residents?

The Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) is mandated by California State Housing Law as part of the periodic process of updating local housing elements of the General Plan. RHNA quantifies the need for housing within each jurisdiction during specified planning periods. SCAG adopted the 6th cycle RHNA allocation plan which covers the planning period October 2021 through October 2029.

The City of Chino is required to use RHNA in land use planning, prioritizing local resource allocation, and in deciding how to address identified existing and future housing needs resulting from population, employment, and household growth. RHNA has the collective objective for the region and subregion to grow in ways that enhances quality of life, improves access to jobs, promotes transportation mobility, and addresses social equity and fair share housing needs.

To meet the RHNA requirements the City of Chino needs to update their Housing Elements and local zoning to show how they will accommodate their share of the RHNA allocation over the 2021-29-time frame.

Responsibility of the City of Chino with respect to RHNA are:

• Specify goals, policies, quantified objectives, financial resources, and constraints for the preservation, improvement, and development of housing for all income levels.
• Identify sites for housing and provide an inventory of land suitable and available for residential development, including vacant sites and sites having potential for redevelopment.
• Analyze special housing needs, such as those of the elderly; persons with disabilities, including a developmental disability; large families; farmworkers; families with female heads of households; and families and persons in need of emergency shelter.
• Demonstrate local efforts to remove governmental and nongovernmental constraints that hinder locality from meeting the need for housing for persons with disabilities, supportive housing, transitional housing, and emergency shelters.
• Analyze existing affordable units at risk of converting to market-rate due to expiring subsidies or affordability contracts.
• Assess existing fair housing issues and strategies for affirmatively furthering fair housing.

So, what are the consequences of a community not meeting RHNA requirements:

• State Housing Element Law requires that jurisdictions plan for all types of housing based on the allocations they receive from the RHNA process by planning, in the form of having a compliant housing element, and submitting housing element annual progress reports, as a threshold or points-related requirement for certain funding programs (SB 1 Sustainable Community Planning Grants, SB 2 Planning Grants and Permanent Local Housing Allocation, etc.). Late submission of a housing element can result in a jurisdiction being required to submit a four-year update to their housing element.
• HCD may refer jurisdictions to the Attorney General if they do not have a compliant housing element, fail to comply with their HCD-approved housing element, or violate housing element law, the housing accountability act, density bonus law, no net loss law, or land use discrimination law. The consequences of those cases brought by the Attorney General are up to the courts but can include financial penalties.
• In addition, as the housing element is one of the required components of the general plan, a jurisdiction without a compliant housing element, may risk legal challenges to their general plan from interested parties outside of HCD.
• Local governments must also implement their commitments from the housing element, and the statute has several consequences for the lack of implementation. For example, failure to rezone in a timely manner may impact a local government’s land use authority and result in a carryover of RHNA to the next cycle. Failure to implement programs can also influence future housing element updates and requirements, such as program timing. HCD may investigate any action or lack of action in the housing element.
• For jurisdictions that did not issue permits for enough housing to keep pace consistent with RHNA building goals, a developer can elect to use a ministerial process to get project approval for residential projects that meet certain conditions. This, in effect, makes it easier to build housing in places that are not on target to meet their building goals.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=GOV&division=1.&title=7.&part=&chapter=3.&article=10.6.

GOVERNMENT CODE – GOV

TITLE 7. PLANNING AND LAND USE [65000 – 66499.58] (Heading of Title 7 amended by Stats. 1974, Ch. 1536.)

DIVISION 1. PLANNING AND ZONING [65000 – 66301] (Heading of Division 1 added by Stats. 1974, Ch. 1536.)

CHAPTER 3. Local Planning [65100 – 65763] (Chapter 3 repealed and added by Stats. 1965, Ch. 1880.)

ARTICLE 10.6. Housing Elements [65580 – 65589.11] (Article 10.6 added by Stats. 1980, Ch. 1143.)

Early attainment of goals 

• time is of the essence
• Is there a shortage of housing in California?
• Special attention to low- and moderate-income households

Availability of housing: 

• decent housing, 
• suitable living environment, 
• for all economic levels

Local government focus:

Local and state governments have a responsibility to use the powers vested in them to facilitate the improvement and development of housing to make adequate provision for the housing needs of all economic segments of the community

each local government also has the responsibility to consider economic, environmental, and fiscal factors and community goals set forth in the general plan and to cooperate with other local governments and the state in addressing regional housing needs

Designating and maintaining a supply of land and adequate sites suitable, feasible, and available for the development of housing sufficient to meet the locality’s housing need for all income levels is essential to achieving the state’s housing goals and the purposes of this blog.

What are the mandated housing laws? What is the cost to cities that do not follow the mandated housing laws?

Only 3% of California’s cities and counties are fully on track to meet state goals to build sufficient housing —and 30% are failing to issue permits at all for affordable housing. 

The Southern California News Group used that data to create its second annual housing permit report card for all 539 cities and counties in the state.  Only 33 were doing well enough to earn an A, while 96 got an F.  The average grade was a C-.  Of the more than 116,000 permits that jurisdictions reported issuing in 2019, the year cover by the most recent state data, 78% were for above-moderate income housing. A mere 13% were for moderate-income housing and 9% for low and very-low-income housing.  Chino needs to build 6974 affordable dwellings.

Here are the RHNA numbers for Chino and Chino Hills:

Total: 6974                            

Very Low-Income, Low-Income, Moderate-Income, Above-Moderate Income

Chino 2113   1284  1203 2378 

Chino Hills 3729   1388   821  789  731

Each jurisdiction’s total is divided into four categories:

–Very-low-income housing that would be affordable for people making less than half of the area’s median income

–Low-income housing for people making 51-80% of median income

–Moderate-income housing for people making 81-120% of median income

–Above-moderate-income housing for people making more than 120%of median income

The low and very low categories are what the state considers “affordable housing”

All Cities and Counties are required by law to adopt land use plans and zone enough land to accommodate their RHNA goals, but not to ensure homes are built—that’s up to developers.

Many cities lack the political motivation to build affordable housing, and residents like the way their hometowns are already like.  The residents argue, “We do not want those kinds of people in our city.  Or we do not want our city to look like South Chicago.  Some residents go on to say, “The character of our city will change if we let Asians, Blacks, and more illegals into our city, we need to stop allowing those people from moving into our city, we need to close our city border”.  City councilmembers, likewise, openly state that their city does not want those people moving into the city”.  This is clearly against the law and un-American.

The lack of requirements to ensure affordable housing is built makes it easy for city councilmembers “to take the easy way out and deny development that might cause community concerns and their seat on the council, votes. Just pass the Buck and Blame, Blame, Blame!

Affordable housing, as part of a full spectrum of housing opportunities, helps support the local economics and workers—there’s no city that shouldn’t be concerned with nurturing their local economy, especially after COVID-19, and housing should be a part of that.

The city of Chino received a C- in fulfilling its RHNA obligations.  And still with no plan.  The entire city council seems to blame everyone including Santa Claus.  The City Councilmember of Chino needs to work with the State and developers and look at their outdated zoning for the City to make changes.  Chino is planning to build affordable housing on the borderlines of the City limits, like the saying goes, “Out of sight…Out of Mind”.  The question arises, “Where will our children live?”  Many individuals, between 18 and 41, young and old cannot afford rent and are living with their parents.  I believe the city of Chino needs to embrace the 21^st century and collaborate with the experts.  The housing crisis is real according to the NLC (National League of Cities), LOCC (League of California Cities, National Core, and other organizations.

In a recent SOI (Sphere of Influence) meeting residents were given facts and figures from the city’s consultant and planning division.  But not once did the city council mention any of the mandated affordable housing laws. 

Now let us look at the San Bernardino County RHNA numbers:

What do the numbers tell us?  If the City of Chino cannot annex county land, what happens to the SOI (Sphere of Influence), and Protect Chino group? Will the SOI and Protect Chino group tell the county what to do? Will the city of Chino tell the county what to build or what not to build? 

Yes, the county of San Bernardino has its own obligation to meet RHNA. In my next blog, I will discuss these questions.  Stay tuned. 

SCAG 6TH CYCLE DRAFT RHNA ALLOCATION BASED ON FINAL RHNA METHODOLOGY & FINAL CONNECT SOCAL
9/3/20
County         Total                Very-low     Low income      Moderate       Above
                                           income                              income       moderate
                                                                                                      income
San Bernardino 137,786          35,575          21,855          24,087          56,269
Unincorporated    8,813             2,174           1,357            1,520            3,762