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 | Policy Action 4-4.6: Housing Opportunities for Persons
Employed in Saratoga | Explore Opportunities to Encourage Additional Local Workforce Housing
through Community Partnerships | Complete | 2015-11-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-1.3: Encourage Efficient Use of Energy Resources in Residential Development | Increased Energy Efficiency | Complete | 2015-11-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-1.6: Amend Multi-Family Parking Requirements for Affordable Housing Development in
the CN(RHD) district | Amend Multi-Family Parking Requirements for Affordable Housing
Developments in the CN(RHD) district | Complete | 2015-11-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-5.3: Partnerships with Development
Community | Partnerships with Housing Developers | Complete | 2015-11-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-4.4: Housing Opportunities for Persons
Living with Disabilities | Coordinate with the San Andreas
Regional Center to implement an
outreach program for Saratoga families
and provide information on the City's
website | Complete | 2015-11-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-4.3: Reasonable Accomodation | Implement and Promote Reasonable
Accommodation Procedures | Complete | 2015-11-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-4.5: Development of Housing for
Extremely Low-Income Households | Housing for Extremely Low-Income
Households | Complete | 2023-06-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-5.2: Develop a Comprehensive
Community Outreach Strategy for Housing | Comprehensive Housing Outreach Strategy | Complete | 2015-11-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-1.1: Amend Commercial-Neighborhood (Residential High Density Standards) | Amend Commercial-Neighborhood (Residential High Density) C-N(RHD) | Complete | 2015-11-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-4.1: Encourage Development | Review/Revise Second Dwelling Ordinance | Complete | 2015-11-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-4.2: Zoning Code Amendment for
Special Needs Housing | Facilitate Permitting Process for Emergency Shelters, Transitional and Supportive Housing | Complete | 2015-11-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4.4-8: Support Preparation of a
Countywide Nexus Study of Affordable Housing Impact
Fees | Coordinate with other Santa Clara County cites to prepare a joint nexus study to
establish an affordable housing impact
program | Complete | 2015-11-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-1.5: Encourage and Facilitate Lot Consolidation | Encourage and Facilitate Lot Consolidation in Identified Candidate Sites | Complete | 2015-11-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-4.7: Monitoring and Preservation of
Existing Affordable Housing | Monitor and Preserve 170 "At-Risk" Units (Fellowship Plaza and Saratoga Court) | Ongoing | 2023-06-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-1.4: Encourage Green Building Practices in Home Construction | Increased Green Building Practices | Ongoing | 2023-06-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-2.2: Code Enforcement Program | Maintain the existing housing stock | Ongoing | 2023-06-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-2.3: Historic Preservation and Mills Act | Preserve historic structures | Ongoing | 2023-06-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-3.2: Preserve the Saratoga Village | Continue Implementation of Saratoga Village Design Guidelines | Ongoing | 2023-06-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-5.1: Promote Fair Housing Efforts | Continue Support of Fair Housing Efforts | Ongoing | 2023-06-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Policy Action 4-1.2: Continue to Implement Density Bonus Ordinance | Continue Density Bonus Ordinance Implementation | Ongoing | 2023-06-01 00:00:00 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |