While there are many things happening on the housing front in the state legislature, one really important thing is taking place at the local level. Every city in our service area will have to update its housing element in the next year. Here are definitions of general plans and housing elements from the California Department of Housing and Community Development:

Since 1969, California has required that all local governments (cities and counties) adequately plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community. California’s local governments meet this requirement by adopting housing plans as part of their “general plan” (also required by the state). General plans serve as the local government’s “blueprint” for how the city and/or county will grow and develop and include seven elements: land use, transportation, conservation, noise, open space, safety, and housing. The law mandating that housing be included as an element of each jurisdiction’s general plan is known as “housing-element law.”

California’s housing-element law acknowledges that, in order for the private market to adequately address the housing needs and demand of Californians, local governments must adopt plans and regulatory systems that provide opportunities for (and do not unduly constrain) housing development. As a result, housing policy in California rests largely on the effective implementation of local general plans and, in particular, local housing elements.

Source: http://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/housing-element/index.shtml

Local planning boards and commissions are required to hold public hearings to gather public input for the development of the new plan. The process usually requires rezoning and can get tied up in NIMBY arguments. Here is a link to a report from the UCLA Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies that discusses overcoming NIMBYism:

On the LWV-PA website you can find a YouTube video of a housing elements forum hosted by several area housing advocacy organizations in January. If you haven’t already watched it, you might find it interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cae3ObBDsT8.

Here is a table of the number of housing units, by income categories, that each city in our service area will be required to accommodate in its housing element. (The County has yet to assign numbers to individual unincorporated areas; therefore, Altadena’s numbers are unknown.) These numbers were from before cities were able to protest the numbers assigned, so they may vary somewhat from actual numbers indicating what ultimately needs to be done. Most of the protests have been denied.

Please find out when hearings will be held in your community and speak up for more affordable housing!

—Anita Mackey, Housing Subcommittee Convener, anita [at] pixelriot.com