Changes to Housing Element Process Push Marin to Change
TO ADDRESS ITS HOUSING SHORTAGE, California implemented a Housing Element process over 50 years ago. The process requires each local city and county to adopt a Housing Element that must be updated and certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) every 8 years (an 8-year “Housing Cycle”). So far, this program has failed to improve housing availability and affordability.
The 6th Housing Cycle promises change. For the first time, the Housing Element law has teeth. It will now hold jurisdictions accountable, require changes at the local level and allocate more housing close to jobs and transit. As a result, all Marin jurisdictions have seen significant increases in the housing goals imposed upon them through the process, and there are consequences if they fail to achieve the goal (called their “Regional Housing Needs Allocation” or “RHNA”) assigned to them.
Many Marinites have felt that these increases are neither fair nor achievable. Ten of our 12 jurisdictions appealed their 6th cycle RHNAs. Yet, our RHNAs are in line with our population, and even the increased RHNAs assigned to Marin are insufficient to meet our true housing needs. The Marin County-wide RHNA of 14,405 housing units represents about 3% of the total 441,176 units required in the Bay Area. There are credible estimates that we need another 9,000 units of affordable housing in Marin to meet demand.
How did we get here?
Marin has spent years opposing nearly all housing construction. Meeting our 6th cycle RHNAs will require changes. Only 7 of the 12 Marin jurisdictions met their 5th cycle housing their goals. Belvedere, Ross, San Rafael, Sausalito and Tiburon all fell short, and are now subject to SB 35, which reduces local jurisdictions’ ability to deny housing projects if they meet objective criteria. To its credit, San Rafael recognized that it needed to make change, and has implemented its Downtown Precise Plan, which is showing results. Marin County residents’ responses on the 5th cycle housing element overwhelmingly noted that “limited availability of affordable units” is the number one barrier to housing in Marin. (Marin Housing Element: Housing Survey Summary Results) Even jurisdictions that met their 5th cycle RHNAs will all need to increase housing production to meet 6th cycle goals.
Marin is largely out of compliance so far in the 6th cycle
So far, Marin jurisdictions, like most Bay Area jurisdictions, are struggling to develop 6th cycle Housing Elements that are both politically palatable and which will pass HCD review. Only 16 of 109 Bay Area jurisdictions have a certified Housing Element, despite the law requiring a “substantially compliant” Housing Element to be in place by January 31, 2023. To the surprise of MEHC and many housing advocates, HCD just certified Sausalito’s housing element. The only other jurisdiction that appears close to certification is unincorporated Marin County.
In other words, all Marin jurisdictions except Sausalito are now out of compliance with housing law, although Belvedere, Novato and, arguably, unincorporated Marin have each prematurely adopted their housing elements, claiming that they are now in compliance even though none has received its required HCD certification. (Although there is a pending lawsuit regarding Sausalito’s Housing Element, HCD did not address these legal issues). This suggests that all Marin jurisdictions, except Sausalito, are subject to the “Builder’s Remedy,” an untested California law that allows developers the right to build housing projects with affordable housing at heights and densities beyond those allowed by local zoning laws. To date, only one developer in Fairfax has tested this option, and Fairfax has responded by assessing a $50,000 application fee.
What’s next?
Yimby Law (“Yes In My Back Yard”) and Californians for Home Ownership, activist pro-housing groups in California, have lodged suits against Fairfax, Sausalito, Belvedere and Novato over their Housing Elements, requesting that the jurisdictions proactively agree that they will accept “Builder’s Remedy” projects. (Image courtesy CA YIMBY, by Alfred Twu)
The housing element struggle Marin and the Bay Area are experiencing is solvable. Despite the cries that “we are full,” we have plenty of room. In WWII, the population of Sausalito was 30,000. Now it is 7,000. We could add all of Marin’s 14,405 RHNA units to Sausalito and still be well below our wartime population. Marin has had the lowest rate of housing production in the Bay Area for the past 20 years, and has the lowest population density in the Bay Area.
Yes, we can
We can build the housing we need. Building housing does not require us to encroach on open space. MEHC advocates for increased density, an environmentally superior option. Denser housing is more energy- and water-efficient. It facilitates walkable and bikeable neighborhoods, encouraging use of public transportation and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions from car trips. Denser housing doesn’t have to be high-rises, but it does mean that we need to move away from the classic suburban single family detached home model. Marin, we can do it.
RESOURCES
Video with a quick primer on Housing Elements (made by Carlsbad, but equally applicable to Marin)
Article: Only 15% of Bay Area cities have met California’s housing plan deadline. What are the consequences?
HOUSING ELEMENTS FOR MARIN JURISDICTIONS
Belvedere
Corte Madera
Fairfax
Larkspur
Marin County
Mill Valley
Novato
Ross
San Anselmo
San Rafael
Sausalito
Tiburon (search Housing Element)