REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Re-Adoption of the 2023-2031 Housing Element with Revisions
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Promote and Enhance Economic, Housing, and Transportation Development
BACKGROUND
The Housing Element, one of the required elements of the City's General Plan, includes policies and programs intended to help the City meet the housing needs of all current and future Santa Clara residents. State law requires that local jurisdictions update their Housing Elements every eight years and that the Housing Element be reviewed by the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). HCD "certifies" Housing Elements that it determines to be in substantial compliance with State housing law. Since the Housing Element Statutes were first enacted, five such cycles of adoption and certification have been completed; a sixth cycle of eight years began on February 1, 2023.
The City has already adopted two versions of the sixth cycle housing element: an initial version on January 31, 2023 and a revised version on June 27, 2023. After HCD provided comments on the January 31 version, staff met with HCD on April 20, 2023 to discuss those comments and again on June 2, 2023 to discuss staff's preliminary draft revisions to the adopted Housing Element to address those comments, followed by the June 27, 2023 Council re-adoption. On October 20, 2023, the City received HCD's comment letter on the June 27 version, which found that the re-adopted Housing Element addressed many of their earlier comments, but that additional revisions would still be necessary for HCD to certify the Housing Element.
From November 2023 through February 2024, City staff met with HCD five times to discuss their October 20, 2023 formal comments on the City's re-adopted Housing Element and on their subsequent informal comments on six preliminary draft revisions to the Housing Element. Staff submitted another preliminary draft revision and met with HCD two additional times...
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