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 | D-17 | Facilitate the development of farmworker housing by encouraging employers to provide housing, encouraging a countywide linkage fee to cover agricultural land uses, encouraging with housing developers to expand the supply of migrant and permanent farmworker housing, and providing planning assistant to interested developers. | Partially completed. City does not have does not have a specific linkage fee for farmworker housing, but the Affordable Housing linkage fee could be used for income-eligible farmworker housing. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | D-20 | Encourage the development of housing designed to accommodate persons with EMF sensitivity. | Incomplete. Need addressed through Reasonable Accommodation ordinance. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | E-2 | Continue to provide nondiscrimination clauses in rental agreements and deed restrictions for housing constructed with City agreements. | Successful. Continued. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | G-9 | Continue to offer reduced setback requirements for detached one-story second units. | Completed. City used to do half of main house setback side/rear.
However, requirements under new State laws are lower, so this program is no longer needed. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | H-2 | Continue to rely on Sonoma County to assist with housing related activities, such as initial certification of income eligibility. | Partially successful. The City continues to partner with Sonoma County and the Community Development Commission. Success of specific activities has varied depending on staff capacity of both the City and the County. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | D-12 | Encourage the Sonoma County CDC-administered Urban County to CDBG and/or HOME funds to Rebuilding Together and/or other local nonprofits to assist disabled residents with home retrofits. | Not initiated at this time. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | D-3 | Consider deferring payment of impact fees until affordable housing units are sold, ready for occupancy or for rentals, or when permanent financing is obtained. | City reviews these requests on a case-by-case basis. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | D-15 | Assist disabled residents with information on housing resources and suitable housing opportunities in the community. | The City refers residents to the County Community Development Commission and provides services through West County Community Services. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | F-2 | Consider design features in future developments to reduce heat island effects, including narrower streets, increased landscaping, green roofs, cool roofs, and cool pavements. | City municipal code 16.40.080 and green building code promotes energy conservation through building methods and solar panel ordinance. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | D-16 | Develop an information sheet describing the City's affordable housing needs and include this information in public noticing for project hearings. | Memorandum in 2017 provides publicly available information regarding housing stock data, local demographics, affordable housing projects, housing development, and housing policy. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | F-3 | Continue to encourage the incorporation of energy-saving principles in the design and planning of new residential developments by providing information to developers and property owners about available energy conservation programs. | Recently started program with BayREN for water conservation. The City of Sebastopol is adopting the new BayREN Water Upgrades $ave program after a vote by the Sebastopol City Council in 2021. Sebastopol was the first Bay Area City to enroll in the program. The new regional water efficiency finance service from the Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) with fiscal sponsorship from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) provides benefits and savings to both municipal water customers and to the municipalities that administer water service.
Through this program, Sebastopol municipal water customers can install indoor and outdoor water efficiency upgrades, such as showerheads, aerators, and high-efficiency toilets. Participants have upgrades installed through vetted contractors with no up-front costs. Upgrade costs will be part of a monthly on-bill charge that is significantly lower than the estimated savings, so water customers will start saving money right away. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | F-4 | Continue to support education programs related to solid waste reduction, reuse, and recycling opportunities. | Successful. City participates in Sonoma County/ City Solid Waste Advisory Group to assess long-term waste management methods and utilizes Sonoma County recycling guide. Educational programs available through “Recology”. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | G-12 | The City will continue to monitor all housing developments to determine whether City regulations and procedures, such as Growth Management and Design Review, result in higher development costs or limit the availability of new units affordable to middle, moderate, and lower income residents. | Incomplete. City/DRB will continue to hear and consider community input while balancing other cost factors in the area, such as fires, inflation and development costs increases. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | F-5 | Continue to encourage improvements that result in conservation of energy, water, and other natural resources in existing residential development, particularly in renter-occupied units. | Successful. The City of Sebastopol is adopting the new BayREN Water Upgrades $ave program after a vote by the Sebastopol City Council in 2021. (See F-3) | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | D-2 | Continue to support affordable housing development by encouraging developers to apply for funding through the Sonoma County-administered Urban County HOME and CDBG program and using other available resources when available, such as in-lieu payments, to finance affordable housing. | Successful. City has utilized the City’s Affordable housing fund to support rehabilitation and development of housing at Park Village, including renovating 2 apartments into family apartments with CDBG funding, and installation of two permanent RV pads and utilities using HEAP reward. Additionally, Sonoma County applied for and received Project Homekey funding to purchase the 31-room Sebastopol Inn, which will provide 31 units of Permanent Supportive Housing, (PSH) (currently providing Covid-vulnerable housing in these units), with the support of the Sebastopol City Council. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | D-18 | Encourage the development of housing for day laborers and undocumented workers by encouraging housing developers to expand the supply of housing for this population and providing planning assistance to interested developers. | Partially completed. City has a project in the approval process that provided housing to income-eligible farmworkers. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | D-19 | In order to encourage the provision of housing for developmentally disabled persons, coordinate with the North Bay Regional Center, North Bay Housing Coalition, and other groups that serve the developmentally disabled population and encourage housing providers and landlords to provide a percentage of housing developments for persons with developmental disabilities. | Incomplete, due to a lack of jurisdiction capacity. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | F-9 | Promote the use of straw bale, rammed-earth, and other energy-efficient types of construction and materials | Successful. 2016 CalGREEN + Tier 1 checklist includes provisions for material conservation and resource efficiency. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | B-1 | Continue to enforce its existing housing codes utilizing all available authorities to compel property owners to correct code violations. | Successful, ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | F-8 | Support project applicants in incorporating cost-effective energy efficiency standards that exceed State standards. | Successful. City adopted SMC 15.72 Photovoltaic Ordinance for new construction to incorporate solar panels in the design. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |