Housing policies and programs are the strategies and laws that cities and counties legally have at their disposal to produce more and preserve existing affordable housing, as well as protect existing residents from getting displaced from their homes and communities.
Local housing policies and programs, as part of a housing element, have significant impacts on a city or county reaching its affordable housing goals. Each additional housing policy has a significant impact on the residents who are most in need of affordable housing. However, the number of policies or programs that a jurisdiction includes in their housing element is not meant to imply how well a city or county is addressing local housing needs since the quality and impact of each will need to be determined as well. Policies and programs listed here from jurisdictions’ Housing Elements are intended to allow readers to review the text themselves and see if a city or county is doing all they can to reach their affordable housing goals.
To further policy innovation and local action, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) contacted all of the region's jurisdictions to track the adoption of key housing policies throughout the nine county Bay Area in four major categories Protect, Preserve, Produce, and Prevent. This data is from ABAG’s Policies and Program list and was last updated in 2018/2019.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development tracks all of the ongoing and completed programs from 2018 onward and can be seen in the table below.
YEAR | PROGRAM NAME | PROGRAM OBJECTIVE | STATUS | ACCOMPLISHED DATE | HOUSING CYCLE |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 | Program I.2.21: Mobilehome Park Rent Stabilization Program | Policies 2.7.4 | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.5: Neighborhood Preservation Program | Policy 2.4.1 | The City’s Code Enforcement officer continues to implement this program | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.24: Facilitate Construction of Housing for Persons with Disabilities | Policies 2.8.1, 2.8.5 | The Valley View affordable Senior housing project will provide handicap accessibility and on-site supportive services. The project received building permits in 2017 and was completed in 2019. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.32: Distribute Fair Housing Information | Policies 2.9.1, 2.9.2 | The City of Napa Housing Authority provides this service on an ongoing basis. Fair Housing posters are displayed at City Hall. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.16: Partner with the Housing Authority | Policy 2.6.6 | The City Council approved a 2-year contract with the City of Napa Housing Authority in June 2022. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.31: Distribute Homeless Shelter Information | Policy 2.8.9 | The City of Napa Housing Authority provides this service on an ongoing basis. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.11: Incentives for Affordable Housing | Policies 2.6.3, 2.6.5 | The City required the Village at Vintage Ranch project increase the affordability term from 10 to 20 years for 8 Very Low and 8 Low income units in exchange for extending the term of their Design Permit approval. The City completed their update to the Density Bonus program to comply with the State's AB2753 Density Bonus Law in February 2019. In 2022, the City provided waivers for the Napa Cove project to reduce required parking, which provided 66 affordable apartment units. The City is currently reviewing a housing development project, the Residences at Napa Junction, that requested waivers for the development of 453 housing units that includes 46 very-low-income units. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.13: Planned Development Process | Policy 2.6.3 | The Village at Vintage Ranch provides 16 units of low and very low income units. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.7: Code Enforcement | Policies 2.5.1, 2.5.2 | The City’s Code Enforcement officer continues to implement this program | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.19: Preserve At-Risk Housing | Policy 2.7.1 | The City of Napa Housing Authority (HACN) worked with the Lodge apartments to encourage presrevation of 11 affordable units that were scheduled to expire in 2016. HACN worked with the property owner to provide financial incentives to tenants of the affordable units that were scheduled to vacate. In 2018, low-income tenants in 9 of the 11 units were vacated. The remaining 2 units to vacated in 2019. The City has ongoing efforts to preserve at-risk housing with the Napa Housing Authority. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.34: Encourage Sustainable Building | Policies 2.10.1, 2.10.3, 2.10.4 | The City adopted a new Electric Vehicle Ordinance that streamlines permit processing for residential projects in 2019. The City adopted the Broadway District Specific Plan in 2019, which requires new development in the 300-acre district to provide 15% more energy reduction than the California Building Code requires. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.6: Residential Rehabilitation Loan Program | Policies 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.3 | A $1 million grant was awarded in 2017. The City applied for a new $1 million CDBG grant, which includes $300,000 for owner-occupied rehabilitation assistance programs in February 2019, but was not awarded. | Apply for funding annually | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.22: Rental Assistance Program | Policy 2.7.1 | The City Housing Authority secured 34 Section 8 vouchers for Homeless Veterans in 2016. The Housing Authority was awarded 11 Mainstream vouchers in 2018 and the City of American Canyon recieved those vouchers in 2019. The City applied for the CDBG Corona Response 1 (CARES grant) in August of 2020 and was awarded $98,000 to provide rental assistance. In 2022, the City signed affordable housing agreements with the Lemos Pointe Apartments for 186 affordable units and the Napa Cove Apartments for 66 affordable units. | Seek funding for rental assistance when available. | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.1: No-Net-Loss Evaluation Procedure | Policies 2.1.1, 2.1.2 | In 2018, one project has been approved on a 5-acre site. The project, HFP Church, utilized 1.5-acres for a new church, which reduces the number of developable housing units on the site by 33. The offset can be made up from the 1253 housing units entitled in the City's Watson Ranch Specific Plan that was approved on November 6, 2018. | Project review is ongoing with annual report to HCD | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.20: Monitor Section 8 Status | Policy 2.7.1 | The City of Napa Housing Authority monitors apartments for Section 8 status. In 2022, the Housing Authority administered 134 housing vouchers, in which 34 of them were for the Valley View Senior Apts. | 2007-2014 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.30: Farmworker Housing | Policy 2.8.6 | The City added web links to farmworker housing resources on the City’s housing website. See https://bit.ly/3rwxmK4 for a link to the web site. | Reach out to developers by 2017 and bi-annually thereafter | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.18: Conduct Nexus Study for Affordable Housing Fees | Policy 2.6.9 | The Nexus Study and Commercial linkage fee was adopted in 2016. | Consider adopting fee in 2015 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.26: Zoning for Small Group Homes | Policy 2.8.8 | The City amended the zoning code in 2017 to classify small group homes, or residential care homes, as permitted uses for all residential zones. | 2016 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.28: Zoning for Single Room Occupancy | Policy 2.8.1 | The City amended the zoning code in 2017 to add Single Room Occupancy facilities (SROs) use classification. The use is permitted in high-density residential zones. | 2016 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Program I.2.2: Maintain Inventory of Developable Sites | Policy 2.1.1 | An inventory of housing sites and the number of permits issued in 2022 is available on the city’s website and front counter for the Planning Division. The City approved the Broadway District Specific Plan (BDSP) in July 2018, which identified a capacity for up to 1,200 new units in the Broadway corridor. The City approved the Oat Hill multifamily project that proposes 291 apartment units on a site outside of the current inventory. The project required a Zone Change and General Plan Amendment. | Update Annually | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |