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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2023 | 4.1 | Continue the County’s prohibition on condominium conversions unless vacancy rates exceed the limit established in the Condominium Conversion Ordinance. | The condominium conversion prohibition remains in force. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 5.5 | Continue to actively work to retain existing landlords offering units to households with Section 8 vouchers, and seek new potential landlords willing to join the program. | The County Housing Department continues to work with existing, and pursue new, landlords for the Section 8 program. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 3.1 | Evaluate existing neighborhood conditions and consider the needs and desires of existing residents when amending the General Plan and Zoning Regulations. | The County considers these conditions, and neighborhood and community needs and desires, in every General Plan and Zoning Amendment. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 5.4 | Monitor Federal actions and appropriations regarding extension of Section 8 contracts, and actively support additional appropriations. | The County Housing Department continues to monitor these actions. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 8.3 | Continue to monitor mobile home park operation, rents, and closures to ensure compliance with local and state ordinances and with the County’s Mobilehome Park Ordinance. In addition, if there are any potential mobile home park closures affecting mobile home parks using County CDBG/HOME funds, monitor these closures to ensure that both State and federal relocation requirements are met. | The County continues to monitor all of these factors, and has strengthened regulations related to both mobile home rent control, and mobile home park closure. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 8.5 | Continue to use CDBG and/or HOME funds when appropriate to assist with stabilization and preservation of mobile home housing stock. | The County continues to offer such assistance, as appropriate. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 9.1 | Analyze and monitor the potential and actual displacing impacts of programs such as Plan Bay Area/One Bay Area Grants and other funding programs intended to promote development and redevelopment in specifically targeted areas. | While the County monitors displacement in unincorporated communities generally, particularly in relation to new land use regulations and/or areas experiencing increased intensity and density of development, the County has not yet undertaken substantive analysis specifically focused on the potential displacing impacts of these funding sources. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 10.1 | Provide support, including financial assistance when appropriate from sources such as CDBG and/or private foundations, for community-based agencies and organizations working to educate landlords and tenants about their rights and responsibilities and providing referral, mediation and other assistance. | The County Housing Department continues to provide support both financial and non-financial to a variety of agencies and organizations engaged in this work. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 5.2 | Respond to any Federal and/or State notices including Notice of Intent to Pre-Pay, Owner Plans of Action, or Opt-Out Notices filed on assisted projects. Encourage local qualified entities to consider acquiring the at-risk project should the property owner indicate a desire to sell or transfer the property. | There have no such notices in the unincorporated County, but the Housing Department continues to respond to all such relevant inquiries for any projects over which it has authority, or regarding which it receives such notice. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 5.3 | Give high priority to retaining existing FHA and HUD subsidized low-income units through use of CDBG funds, local Housing Trust funds, and other solutions. While most at-risk units are located in incorporated areas, the Department of Housing will collaborate with jurisdictions to forecast capital requirements needed to address affordable housing retention countywide, and will identify potential sources of financing. | While there are few such units in the unincorporated County, the Housing Department does prioritize such subsidized units for funding decisions in both unincorporated and incorporated areas. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 6.2 | Work to ensure that housing units are maintained in adequate condition to reduce the need for demolition due to health and safety concerns, potentially through implementation of inspection and enforcement programs described in HE 2. | The expanded multifamily inspection program is in place, as well as expanded inspection of unpermitted second units, and a second unit rehabilitation assistance program has been implemented. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 8.1 | Regulate the closure of mobile home parks in accordance with Government Code Section 65863.7 or its successor ordinance, by mitigating the impacts of the closure on tenants through provision of relocation assistance and other resources. | The County continues to regulate the closure of mobile home parks, and has adopted a new closure and conversion ordinance that largely limits such closures and/or conversions. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 8.4 | Continue to offer financial assistance to stabilize mobile home affordability and to support new or renewed tenant interest in purchases of mobile home parks should these situations arise. | The County continues to offer such assistance, as appropriate. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 7.1 | Continue administering Section 8 and other rental assistance programs, which are targeted to very low- and extremely low-income individuals and families, including seniors and persons with disabilities. Currently these programs include the Housing Choice Voucher; Project-Based Rental Assistance; Family Unification; Family Self-Sufficiency; Homeownership; Moving To Work Self-Sufficiency; Moving To Work Housing Readiness; Shelter-Plus-Care; Supportive Housing; and Public and County-owned Housing. | The County Housing Department continues to administer these programs. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 8.2 | Regulate any proposed mobile home rent increases in accordance with County’s Mobilehome Park Ordinance | The County continues to regulate rent increases, consistent with the County's mobile home rent control regulations; the County has adopted a new rent control ordinance and reporting system which strengthens the County's mobile home rent controls. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 5.1 | Inventory and monitor the unincorporated County’s entire stock of units with long-term or permanent affordability restrictions (including those resulting from financial subsidies, deed restrictions, inclusionary requirements, density bonuses, and all other types of long-term restrictions). The County, potentially in collaboration with other jurisdictions, will make a complete inventory of the current countywide stock of all restricted below-market-rate (BMR) housing, including for-sale and rental units. The list will be updated as units are added to or removed from affordability restrictions, and all units will be monitored on a periodic basis to ensure that they are not being converted to market rates prior to the expiration of their affordability term. This process may be part of the ongoing implementation of the 21 Elements Collaborative workplan, managed by C/CAG and the County Housing Department, which will coordinate ongoing housing efforts between County jurisdictions. | The County Planning and Building Department is working with the County Housing Department to add all BMR stock to the County's new DAHLIA database for ongoing monitoring. | 2016-2017, and ongoing. The County will explore potential collaboration with other jurisdictions, explore the potential to work with and through the 21 Elements collaborative, and solicit potential consultants by the end of 2012. If feasible, the inventory and updating and monitoring procedures will be established by the end of 2017. | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 2.6 | Establish new monitoring, inspection, and regulation programs to ensure the health and safety of farm labor housing, as described in Policy HE 27.3, based on the outcomes of the County’s Farm Labor Housing Needs Study. | The Farm Labor Housing Needs Study is complete, and the County is implementing policy and programmatic measures to implement the Study's findings. | 2015-2017 | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 11.3 | Coordinate all code enforcement actions that have the potential to result in displacement with the Housing Department. | This policy has been only intermittently implemented, and requires formalization and strengthening. | Ongoing | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 12.2 | Consider creation and adoption of affordable housing overlay zones, which provide a set of incentives for affordable housing production in specifically zoned areas. Overlay zones would be in addition to the County’s existing density bonus ordinance, and would be intended to incentivize creation of additional affordable housing beyond that required by the density bonus provisions. Consider, at minimum, affordable housing overlay zones in North Fair Oaks and Unincorporated Colma, with additional County areas to be considered as appropriate. | The overlay zoning effort is on hold. | Research on best practices and experiences in similar communities in 2016. Identification of appropriate sites in 2016/2017. Changes proposed for adoption by Board of Supervisors by October 2017 | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |
2023 | 6.1 | Study, and consider enacting an ordinance that would: require the County to assess the potential impacts of any demolitions and/or conversions of multi-family residential property to non-residential uses, (including demolition for purposes of conversion, and demolition due to rehabilitation, health and safety, and code compliance issues, including those demolitions initiated by County enforcement action) on the housing need described in the County Housing Element; require some mitigation measures on the part of the property owner to offset the loss of housing stock and increased housing need due to demolition and/or conversion, potentially including in-lieu fees and/or other mitigation, and; require the County to work with property owners, including offering rehabilitation, relocation, and other assistance when feasible, to ensure that any demolition and conversion that would adversely impact the County’s housing need is avoided or mitigated to the maximum possible extent. | The County has created a relocation mitigation assistance program which requires landlords to provide assistance for evictions caused by code enforcement issues. Regarding a broader demolition/conversion assessment and assistance program, this effort is on hold. | Study in 2016-2017; return to the Board with program options, if feasible and desirable, in late 2017. Adopt as appropriate. | 6th cycle, 2023 to 2031 |