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 | Action 14: Affordable Housing Funding | Explore additional sources of funding for affordable housing, including a commercial linkage fee | The City has adopted an Affordable Housing Ordinance, which includes a commercial linkage fee. The ordinance became effective on February 22, 2018. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Action 16: Shared Housing | Support Shared Living Facilities & Operations | The City encourages shared housing arrangements and group living arrangements for special populations who are very low income. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Action 11: Inclusionary Housing Policy | Inclusionary Housing requirement | The City's has adopted an Affordable Housing Ordinance, which has increased the inclusionary requirement 15% on site provision for for-sale and rental project with 10 units or more (compared to the previous requirement of 10% for only for-sale projects with 10 or more units). RDA subsidies for inclusionary housing were eliminated under the BMP Program in 1997. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Action 12: Affordable Housing Incentives | Develop Incentives for Affordable and Senior Housing Projects | The Zoning Code has been updated to reflect the current State density bonus provisions. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Action 13: Housing Impact Fee Program | Requirement of Housing Impact Fee Studies for the largest projects; Development of a Housing Impact Fee Program | The City has adopted an Affordable Housing Ordinance, consisting of inclusionary on-site requirement for residential projects, impact fees for residential projects with 9 or fewer units, for fractional units and for nonresidential development. These requirements became effective on February 22, 2018. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Action 3: Acquisition of Multi-Family Housing | Multi-Family Housing Acquisition and
Rehabilitation | Status: The City of Santa Clara has worked with Westwood Ambassador Apartments (Charities Housing Development Corporation) to extend the affordable housing requirements for 41 rental units within the project located at 2602 Newhall Street. Charities’ proposal was to finance the renovation by refinancing their current loans. As part of the financing strategy, Charities is proposing to modify the terms of the City’s existing Loan Agreement and to set the affordability term at 30 years, to convert the loan from a residual receipts loan to a hard payment amortizing loan, and to assign all its rights, title and interest and obligations to their affiliate, Sunset Charities Housing Corporation.
Whereas the original City Promissory Note entitled the City to a minimum of 60% of residual cash flow payment, the proposed modification would fully amortize the loan with fixed payments for 30 years. In exchange for the requested modification and for subordination of the City loan and grants, staff requested to extend the affordability covenants maturity date from February 10, 2024 to August 1, 2051, thereby preserving the affordability status of 41 units for an additional 27 years. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Action 1: Neighborhood Conservation Improvement Program | Provide and Promote Low-Income Owner Occupied Rehabilitation Grants and Loans | Status: The Housing and Community Services division increased funding for this program over the past three years (approximately $1 million annually) to assist more low-income and senior homeowners to improve the habitability, use and occupancy of owner-occupied housing. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Action 10: Provision of a variety of Housing Types | Fund Alternative Affordable Housing Types | The City is partnering with the County’s Office of Supportive Housing to increase the supply of housing that is affordable and available to extremely low income and/or special needs households in the City through the use of funds from the 2016 Measure A Affordable Housing Bond. There are four active projects in the pipeline that total over 400 units. 165 of those units are for seniors, 134 of those units are set-aside for formerly homeless households, 15 units are set-aide for individuals who are disabled or have development disabilities, and 13 units are homeownership units. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Action 10: Provision of a variety of Housing Types | Encourage One- and Two-Story Additions | Almost 100% of proposed additions are approved, subject to Architectural Review, where consistent with zoning district standards. Modifications are typically approved for reduced rear yard for single story additions. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Action 6: Zoning Ordinance | Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Update | The City is continuing to work on the comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Update, including the creation of more flexible mixed-use zoning districts that will be applied in the City's Focus Areas, including El Camino, Tasman East and Freedom Circle/Patrick Henry Drive. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Action 15: Economic Displacement | Community Ownership Conversion Tenant Protections. In the case of condominium conversions, landlords are required to provide tenant protections, including advance notice requirements, right of first refusal, and relocation assistance. | Community Ownership Conversion Tenant Protections. In the case of condominium conversions, landlords are required to provide tenant protections, including advance notice requirements, right of first refusal, and relocation assistance. On March 24, 2020, the Santa Clara City Council approved Orinances 2014 and 2015, establishing a temporary eviction moratorium in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The moratorium went into effect immediately, March 24, and the Council subsequently extended the moratorium through August 31, 2020, at which time AB 3088 established a statewide prohibition on residential evictions. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |