title
PC - Draft 2021-2029 Housing Element Update Review Before California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) 60-Day Review.
body
Meeting Date: July 28, 2021
Contact Person/Dept: Ashley Hefner/CDD/Advance Planning
Phone Number: (310) 253-5744
Fiscal Impact: Yes [] No [X] General Fund: Yes [] No [X]
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [] Attachments: [X]
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X] Date:
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - Planning Commission; Notify Me - General Plan Update; (Posted) City website (7/23/2021)
Department Approval: Sol Blumenfeld, Community Development Director (07/21/2021)
_____________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Planning Commission review and provide input on the Draft 2021-2029 Housing Element update before the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) 60-day review.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
The Housing Element of the City's General Plan is the primary planning guide to meet the housing needs of everyone in Culver City. It outlines goals, policies, and programs to meet these needs while balancing other community objectives and resources. Housing Elements are intended to support various housing types for all income groups, help develop lower and moderate-income housing, remove constraints to housing, conserve and improve existing housing, and promote fair housing opportunities.
Every eight years, the State of California requires local agencies (e.g., cities and counties) to update their Housing Elements following HCD’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA). The City prepared the Draft 2021-2029 Housing Element (Attachment 1) for the GPU project to meet HCD's mandated adoption deadline. It will supersede the 2013-2021 Housing Element (Attachment 2).
To create a Housing Element that meets community needs, communities must know how much housing and at what income levels it needs to plan. The RHNA, which is mandated by California housing law, quantifies the need for housing across all income levels in every community. Every community must plan for RHNA in its Housing Element to ensure there are enough sites and adequate zoning to accommodate the RHNA.
The sixth Housing Element update cycle (2021-2029) represents a new paradigm in housing production planning across California and includes more substantial penalties for non-compliance. It also allocates more housing units to communities, especially in urban areas, to address California's housing crisis.
During the last Housing Element cycle, the overall lack of housing production resulted in communities falling short of meeting their RHNA goals across the state. For example, while Culver City exceeded the allocation for above moderate-income levels in the fifth cycle, the City only met about 13% of units allocated for the moderate-, low-, and very low-income categories. Factors that added to the housing crisis in past cycles include insufficient administrative and financial resources to support affordable housing production and a lack of penalties to compel local agencies to meet their allocations.
The sixth Housing Element update cycle increases allocations and adds stricter penalties for cities' non-compliance. Specific to Culver City, the increased allocation in the sixth cycle totals 3,341 units compared to the fifth cycle allocation of 185 units. New penalties include HCD's mandate that if a housing element is adopted after the 120-day grace period ending February 12, 2022, it must be updated in four years instead of eight. Assembly Bill 725 (AB 725) also added a new penalty, mandating that any housing element adopted on or after January 1, 2022, must allocate 25% of its RHNA share for moderate- and above moderate-income housing to sites zoned to support at least four on-site multi-family housing units.
Housing is also considered in other General Plan elements, such as land use, mobility, and environmental justice. For example, a new requirement enacted since the 5th Housing Element update cycle is Senate Bill 1000 (SB 1000). SB 1000 requires policies to ensure healthy and safe housing, such as addressing the presence of lead-based building materials, which has shown to be a factor in Culver City's SB 1000 priority neighborhoods (portions of Clarkdale and Culver/West). This will be addressed in the General Plan's Environmental Justice Element and be consistent with the Housing Element. SB 1000 and related topics will be covered at a workshop later this fall.
On June 14, 2021, the GPU Deliverables and Engagement Summary and Work Plan detailing past engagement and deliverables, including the Housing Element, was presented to City Council (Attachment 3). While most engagement activities relate to and inform housing, those most recent and closely related to the Housing Element, are summarized below.
The GPAC has recently received presentations on and discussed Culver City's existing conditions, issues, opportunities, and alternatives related to housing (Attachment 4). Past meetings include:
• August 13, 2020: Housing, land use, and community design
• September 10, 2020: Land use and community design
• October 8, 2020: Land use and community design
• November 12, 2020: Transportation and mobility
• December 10, 2020: Sustainability and climate change
• February 11, 2021: Parks, recreation, and open spaces
• March 13, 2021: Community health and environmental justice
• April 8, 2021: Proposed land use alternatives
• May 13, 2021: Proposed mobility alternatives
• June 10, 2021: Proposed land use alternatives
The Housing Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has received presentations on and discussed Culver City's existing conditions, issues, opportunities, housing programs, and land use alternatives related to housing. Past meetings include:
• December 8, 2020: Identify housing issues and opportunities
• March 11, 2021: Innovative housing programs, initiatives, tools
• April 20, 2021: Land use strategies, models for change, and land use alternatives
• July 28, 2021: Draft Housing Element review
On January 27, 2021, a community workshop and joint City Council/Planning Commission session were held on land use scenarios. On April 29 and May 5, 2021, community workshops were held on the land use alternatives, including residential land uses, and a land use survey was circulated.
On April 12, 2021, City Council adopted a set of Housing Element Guiding Principles (Attachment 5) to inform the adoption and implementation of the Housing Element update, with the intention to aim higher than the state requirements and guidelines. A summary of how the draft Housing Element meets the Guiding Principles can be found in Attachment 6.
On May 12, 2021, the Planning Commission met for its Housing Element kickoff and discussed Housing Element basics, such as minimum requirements, contents, RHNA, past accomplishments, and process and timeline.
On June 23, 2021, the City Council and Planning Commission had a discussion of single-family zoning and addressing exclusionary practices. The meeting was highly attended and with several hours of public comment, and much debate around whether to increase housing opportunity and affordability in single-family areas. City Council directed City staff to study and evaluate for feasibility the following, programs and how these translate to housing production in Culver City: 100% affordable housing overlay zone, transit-oriented community incentive programs, affordable housing partnership opportunities and funding sources, and an urgency measure for housing entitlement streamlining. The Draft Housing Element programs reflect the study of these tools. City staff will move forward with studies and present the findings to City Council at a future meeting.
On June 28, 2021, the Planning Commission recommended, and City Council directed on the GPU's preferred land use map and 2045 growth projections. The discussion was continued from June 23 due to high attendance and several hours of public comment. Council directed staff to study a preferred land use map illustrated by Figures 2 plus 5 (Option 3) in the associated report memo (Attachment 6). The preferred land use map was used in the Housing Element sites inventory analysis.
On July 22, 2021, the General Plan Advisory Committee met to review the Draft Housing Element. Input from the Committee, the Housing TAC, and community members will be summarized and presented to the Planning Commission.
Several ongoing efforts may impact the contents of the Housing Element after adoption. These include further efforts to satisfy the City's Housing Element Guiding Principles, the results of City staff's study of affordable housing tools based on Council's June 23 direction, and the results of the Westside Cities Council of Governments' Regional Early Action Planning Grant project (intent is to develop a comprehensive subregional approach to accelerate housing production to accommodate critically needed affordable housing within the Westside subregion). Therefore, if needed, the City may choose to amend the Housing Element when the remainder of the GPU elements are adopted, and these additional studies are completed.
Veronica Tam, from Veronica Tam and Associates (GPU housing subconsultant), and staff will lead the Commission through a review and discussion of the Draft Housing Element. No action is being sought on the Housing Element Update at this meeting, and discussions do not have a legally binding effect on future discretionary actions. Further information on all the above can be found at pictureculvercity.com/faq, /housing-element, and /alternatives.
NEXT STEPS
• September/October: HCD draft housing element 60-day review and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) circulation
• November 10: Planning Commission review of HCD comments and Housing Element adoption and CEQA determination recommendation to City Council
• December 13: City Council Housing Element adoption and CEQA determination
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
Environmental review will be conducted per the California Environmental Quality Act. It is anticipated that an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration will be prepared and circulated for environmental documentation. The environmental documentation will be presented to the Planning Commission in November 2021 when they review the Draft Housing Element for recommendation to the City Council. In December 2021, the City Council will consider an environmental determination for the Housing Element when it is considered for adoption.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
There is no fiscal impact associated with this item.
ATTACHMENTS
1. 2021-07-22_ATT_Draft 2021-2029 Housing Element
2. 2021-07-22_ATT_Existing 2013-2021 Housing Element
3. 2021-07-22_ATT_06-14-2021 City Council Report
4. 2021-07-22_ATT_2019 Housing Existing Conditions Report & Summary Video
5. 2021-07-22_ATT_2021-2029 Housing Element Guiding Principles
6. 2021-07-22_ATT_2021-2029 Housing Element Guiding Principles Compliance Summary
7. 2021-07-22_ATT_06-28-2021 Joint Session Report
MOTION
None.