Assessment: Calculating the Housing Need in Each Region
In order to create a housing element that shows a jurisdiction could meet the local housing need, the jurisdiction must first know how much housing it must plan for (and estimate how much will be needed at a variety of affordability levels in order to match the needs of the people who will live there). This is determined by a process called the regional housing needs assessment.
HCD is responsible for determining the regional housing needs assessment (segmented by income levels) for each region’s planning body known as a “council of governments” (COG). HCD starts with demographic population information from the California Department of Finance and uses a formula to calculate a figure for each region/COG.
Each COG uses its own demographic figures to calculate what it believes the regional housing needs are.
Each COG then coordinates with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) — taking into account factors not captured in the calculations — to arrive at a final figure. This final figure is the regional housing needs assessment.
Allocation: Divvying up the Need Amongst Cities and Counties
Once HCD and the COG have agreed to the region’s assessment figure (the amount of housing that must be planned for), the COG takes over and is responsible for divvying up (allocating) the housing need amongst all of the jurisdictions (cities/counties) within that region. The COG does this in a Regional Housing Need Allocation Plan (RHNA Plan).
The RHNA Plan is required to promote the following objectives:
- Increase the housing supply and the mix of housing types, tenure (rental or ownership), and affordability in all cities and counties within the region in an equitable manner.
- Promote infill development and socioeconomic equity, the protection of environmental and agricultural resources, and the encouragement of efficient development patterns.
- Promote an improved intraregional relationship between jobs and housing.
Housing-element law requires local governments to be accountable for ensuring that projected housing needs reflected by the RHNA Plan can be accommodated. The process maintains local control over where and what type of development should occur in local communities, while providing the opportunity for the private sector to meet market demand. Housing-element law recognizes the most critical decisions regarding housing development occur at the local level, within the context of the periodically updated general plan. The RHNA Plan component of the general plan requires local governments to balance the need for growth, including the need for new housing, against other competing local interests. The process of creating the RHNA Plan promotes the state's interest in encouraging open markets and providing opportunities for the private sector to address the state's housing demand, while leaving the ultimate decision about how and where to plan for growth at the regional and local levels. While land-use planning is fundamentally a local issue, the availability of housing is a matter of statewide importance.