San Francisco Chronicle’s Post

Throughout 2023, the State’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) loomed large in San Francisco land use policy and politics. At the end of the year, the Board of Supervisors passed the Constraints Reduction Ordinance contemplated in the Housing Element, after HCD advised that failure to do so could result in Housing Element de-certification. Read more by Dan Gershwin and Stephanie Straka. #landuselaw #realestatelaw #sanfranciscohousing #coblentzlaw

We’re emboldened to see the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) holding cities to a higher standard this RHNA cycle. With HCD’s recent rejection of Palo Alto’s latest Housing Element draft, add them to the long list of historically anti-housing cities Bay Area that are out-of-compliance with state housing law.

The real estate industry has always been deeply involved in housing policy, Kingsella said. But what has changed, along with the concern over the housing crisis, is the type of advocacy these groups have engaged in. He has found that groups advocating on the local and state levels have “widened their aperture,” going beyond funding issues like Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and community development block grants. Instead, they are looking more at what he calls the “pro-housing agenda” of zoning reform and breaking down barriers to quickly building more homes. #missingmiddle #expandedhousingoptions #upzoning #housinginventory #housingsupply

"Since 2016, the #California Legislature has passed dozens of bills that remove regulatory barriers to #housing production. And since 2016, overall housing production has increased only modestly, according to permitting data from the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). When ADUs are subtracted from the mix, permitting activity has more or less flatlined." "At a certain point, all these special interest handouts end up eating up the value of whatever regulatory relief state law offers. When higher construction and financing costs are already putting serious headwinds on construction, these handouts are proving particularly fatal to new #development ." https://lnkd.in/gjb-WHak

In a breaking story, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has found that #Chicago wrongfully limited the development of much needed affordable units through the abuse of local aldermanic power to veto proposed development, particularly of affordable housing projects, when alderpeople were lobbied by ward constituents to kill these proposals and when constituents would weaponize public zoning hearings to further limit the development of affordable units. As a nation, we are short some 7 million to 7.5 million units of #AffordableHousing. This breaks down to a shortage of about 120,000 units for Chicago. Additionally, there some 200,000 families currently on the waitlist for the housing voucher program in Chicago, which currently is capped at 47,000 vouchers for a city of 3 million. This translates to a wait time for public housing in Chicago ranging from six months to 25 years, according to the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA). TO 25 YEARS. Even worse, these powers were most exercised in predominantly white wards and disproportionally affected minorities who rely on affordable housing programs to gain access into areas with better resources, particularly when seeking better education and to escape the food deserts found in Chicago's south and west sides. While there are many challenges to overcome our national shortage of affordable housing, #NIMBY-ism should not be one of them. These abuses need to be reined in by limiting the powers afforded to alderpeople and by reforming the zoning code to remove the influence of nefarious meddling.

Before delving into the legal aspects, it's important to understand the definition of an ADU in California. As per the California Department of Housing and Community Development's (HCD) ADU Handbook, an Accessory Dwelling Unit is a residential unit offering complete, self-contained living facilities for one or more individuals...

Great article on the changing face of affordable housing and how innovative and inclusive thinking, collaboration between businesses and government, and policy advocacy actually can help ease and ever growing problem (spoiler alert: it's not new and it's very successful). "In the decades since Montgomery County passed the housing ordinance, the idea that developers should provide affordable housing in every kind of building and neighborhood, once regarded as a wild notion pushed by volunteer activists, has spread around the country. It is known as “inclusionary zoning” and has become a staple of many cities’ housing policy." https://lnkd.in/gqbcFWu2

All efforts to build more housing is important and the ability to drive systemic change is paramount. I participated in a recent presentation by UCLA Ziman Center and CSNU that analysis the history the City of LA’s entitlement process. It is clear that recent efforts by Mayor Bass are trying tackle the 1,400 days+ for the entitlement of a mixed use housing development. The Mayor’s emphasis on affordable housing is a key component of the streamlining efforts; however, it’s important to realize where the substantial increase for approved affordable housing is occurring and ask why there not a more equitable distribution throughout the City of Los Angeles. In my view, it appears that time consuming processes are not unique to entitlements. This is an excerpt from the CIFD on the Non-Compliance Timely Requirements - CDBG. City of Los Angeles has a July 1 Program Year Start Date. “When the 60-day test was conducted on May 2, 2022, it was calculated that your community had an adjusted line of credit balance of 2.46 times its annual grant. Accordingly, HUD has determined that your community is in non-compliance with the CDBG program timely performance requirements”. Why does this continue to happen? Could the City benefit from a root cause analysis or technical assistance?