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SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL
MEETING DATE: February 16, 2011 AGENDA ITEM: DEPARTMENT: Community Development CITY MANAGER: Dave Anderson
PREPARED BY: Christopher Riordan DIRECTOR: Christopher Riordan
SUBJECT: Santa Clara County Sub-Regional Housing Needs Allocation Process
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Review report and provide direction to staff.
REPORT SUMMARY: The Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) is a state mandated process for establishing fair –
share allocation of needed housing, including affordable housing, among local jurisdictions. State
Housing Law requires the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD)
to prepare regional housing needs determinations, which are then submitted to Councils of Government for allocation to local jurisdictions. The Association of Bay Area Governments
(ABAG) is the Council of Government for the Bay Area and is responsible for the allocations at the
county and local government level.
The RHNA is not only important in determining housing needs in communities, but also plays a critical role in each jurisdiction’s Housing Element. Housing Elements are required to be updated
within time periods identified by HCD, generally called “planning periods”. Housing Elements are
required to meet the jurisdiction’s fair share allocation of regional housing needs during each
planning period. The RHNA must be met in order for HCD to consider certification of a
jurisdiction’s Housing Element.
Housing Element law was modified in 2004 to allow for a sub-regional approach to the RHNA.
Cities and counties were given the option to form a sub-region, or consortium, to develop the
methodology for the allocation of the sub-region’s projected housing need among its members,
rather than receive its allocation directly from ABAG.
Proposed Sub-Regional RHNA Process
During the previous RHNA process Saratoga expressed interest in participating in a sub-regional
process but there were not a sufficient number of geographically appropriate jurisdictions interested
to move it forward.
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In anticipation of the 2013 RHNA allocation there has been discussion to pursue a sub-regional
process for Santa Clara County and all the cities in the County. In November 2010 the Silicon
Valley Leadership Group urged local cities to take this approach (see Attachment #1). City Managers’ Association On January 12, 2011, the City Managers’ Association (CMA) expressed concerns about staffing and available financial resources to develop a sub-regional RHNA methodology under the time
constraints of State law. March 16, 2011 is the deadline for local agencies to advise ABAG of their
intent to form a sub-region.
On February 9, 2011, the CMA considered a recommendation from the Santa Clara County Planning Officials (SCCAPO) that acknowledged the lack of time to form a sub-region prior to the March 16
deadline and encouraged an enhanced collaboration between the 15 cities and the County that would
begin to foster an appropriate structure for a sub-regional process that would be in place prior to the
2020 RHNA allocation. This informal, collaborative process would have many of the benefits of forming a sub-region and would:
• Utilize existing forums for communication and participation (e.g., Cities Association, City
Managers’ Association, SCCAPO, Housing Action Coalition, etc.);
• Include pilot mechanisms for engagement and collaboration;
• Provide an opportunity for a unified voice representing the South Bay at the Housing
Methodology Committee, ABAG Board meetings, and other forums;
• Maintain the ability of contiguous jurisdictions to trade RHNA numbers;
• Utilize the same RHNA distribution methodology as ABAG (SCCAPO did not express a desire
to create its own methodology); and
• Facilitate future collaboration and sharing of Housing Element consultants, analyses and policies, potentially resulting in shared review by the California Housing and Community
Development (HCD) Department.
Cities Association of Santa Clara County
On February 10, 2011, representatives from both CMA and SCCAPO attended the meeting of the Cities Association of Santa Clara County (Cities Association) to present their recommendations on
the sub-regional RHNA process (see Attachment #2). At the meeting the Cities Association agreed
to defer creation of a sub-region at this time, adopted the following five principles as recommended
by SCCAPO, and added a sixth principle, to help guide the informal RHNA process:
1. Ensure a fair share distribution of total housing growth and affordable housing within the
County.
2. Allocate housing growth strategically around major transportation corridors respecting
infrastructure constraints and the unique natural resources of Santa Clara County.
3. Foster collaboration between jurisdictions and provide a framework for resource/housing allocation trade-offs.
4. Facilitate an open dialogue between jurisdictions, the general public, and interested
organizations.
5. Utilize existing forums for discussion (e.g., Cities Association, City Managers’ Association,
SCCAPO, Housing Action Coalition, etc.),
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6. Support legal changes that would allow cities to swap RHNA numbers with other cities in Santa
Clara County which do not share a common geographic boundary.
FISCAL IMPACTS: N/A
CONSEQUENCES OF NOT FOLLOWING THE RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:
N/A
ALTERNATIVE ACTION: N/A
FOLLOW UP ACTION:
This report is informational. No action is required. ADVERTISING, NOTICING AND PUBLIC CONTACT: Pursuant to Government Code 54954.2, this item was properly posted as a City Council agenda item
and was included in the packet made available on the City’s website in advance of the meeting. A
copy of the agenda packet is also made available at the Saratoga Branch Library each Monday in advance of the Council meeting.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Silicon Valley Leadership Group Letter of November 19, 2010
2. Copy of SCCAPO Presentation to the Cities Association of Santa Clara Valley