The League of Women Voters supports a coordinated state-level approach to housing. This requires that individual jurisdictions credibly plan for their fair share of housing across all income levels so they can meet the economic and societal needs of current and future residents.
All local jurisdictions are required to submit housing elements (covering 2023-2031) to the state and to receive approval from the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The public has been urged to participate through outreach meetings, and their voices have been heard. Professional urban planners have been part of each one of our communities’ draft housing element processes.
While the Town Crier’s Jan. 18 editorial comments that “very little” affordable housing will come through housing elements, the draft for Los Altos includes a program to develop a downtown parking plaza into affordable housing, with significant incentives to nonprofit developers. Mountain View’s draft includes reduced parking for affordable housing, provides pilot incentives for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and the state’s Senate Bill 9 projects (allowing duplexes and lot splits in single-family zoned areas) and permits SB 9 duplex units to be sold individually. Such programs encourage the production of additional housing at income levels that would be otherwise shortchanged in the existing development pipeline.
The League also supports state intervention in cases of inadequate progress, recognizing that community zoning regulations can prevent the construction of adequate housing to meet community needs. Therefore, our state League has supported laws making ADUs easier to build, allowing duplexes in single-family zones and reducing parking requirements near transit – among other bills that have been opposed by those defending “local control.”
The housing and homelessness crises demand more of our cities, especially those as jobs and resources rich as ours. The higher housing allocations will, ultimately, mitigate these crises. Despite some questions raised about specific Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) numbers, the cities that have challenged their RHNA numbers have been soundly refuted. HCD has stated that, if anything, the total numbers are a conservative estimate of housing needs.
It is important to remember that adopting a housing element is not the end of the process. It’s just the beginning of the work to implement the plan and the programs outlined in it. This will be a multiyear effort, and each city must do its part to build affordable, accessible and diverse housing, including market-rate, affordable-by-design units such as condos, ADUs and SB 9 projects, as well as 100% affordable housing developments.
We are optimistic that Los Altos adopted a housing element Tuesday (after the Town Crier’s press deadline) that fulfills its obligations to state law and will provide a roadmap for production of much-needed housing by 2031. We are hopeful that Mountain View will make substantial edits, considering the state review of its second draft. Unfortunately, we have not seen Los Altos Hills commit to faithfully following the law. So far, they have failed to provide a draft that reasonably meets their fair-share responsibilities.
Karin Bricker is president of League of Women Voters of the Los Altos-Mountain View Area.
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