Current Housing Planning Process

The RHNA process refers to the first two steps (Determination and Allocation) of a multi-step process that California governments use to plan for housing needs in each region of the state.

Determination: Calculating the Housing Need in Each Region

HCD is responsible for determining the regional housing need for each region’s planning body known as a “council of governments” (COG), with input from the Department of Finance (DOF). HCD and the COG consult and compare data related to demographic trends and housing conditions in the region. After this consultation, HCD issues the final regional housing need number for the region, which is broken out by income categories. The final housing need determination must be issued at least two years before the next housing element due date.

The determination is required to account for both the existing and projected housing need in each region. Accordingly, in addition to considering DOF data on future population and household growth, HCD also assesses whether additional housing is needed to serve the existing population. For instance, HCD considers data on overcrowding, cost burden, vacancy rates, and jobs-housing imbalances to account for pent-up demand when determining the regional housing need. HCD is also required to consider whether units have recently been lost due to a state of emergency declared by the Governor.

Allocation: Distributing the Need to Cities and Counties

Once HCD has issued the region’s housing need determination figure (the amount of housing that must be planned for), the COG is responsible for allocating the housing need amongst all of the jurisdictions (cities/counties) within that region. The COG must develop a methodology for allocating the regional housing need and submit the methodology to HCD for review. Starting in the 6th cycle, HCD was given the authority to review the draft allocation methodology developed by each COG to determine whether it furthers the five statutory objectives of RHNA. After the methodology is adopted by the COG, they must develop a Regional Housing Need Allocation Plan (RHNA Plan). The RHNA Plan must be adopted by the COG at least one year before the next housing element due date. Learn more: Building Blocks: A Comprehensive Housing-Element Guide.

Statute requires that the COG develop a RHNA allocation methodology that furthers five statutory objectives (Gov. Code Section 65584(d)). Overall, the statutory objectives encourage the development of an allocation plan that promotes more economically and racially integrated communities by allocating housing to high-resource, job-rich areas, while also meeting the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals by encouraging infill development and the protection of environmental resources. Statute also lays out 13 factors that COGs are allowed to consider when creating the allocation methodology, as well as three criteria that cannot be considered. HCD is charged with developing the RHNA Plan for 20 predominantly rural counties across the state that do not have a COG.