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 | Retention of Affordable Units | Inventory and monitor 35 at-risk affordable units in unincorporated area of county on an ongoing basis. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Promote Available Housing Sites | Continue to publish a list of housing sites and provide site-specific constraints information | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Funding Preference to Non-profits | Promote unit affordability by giving discretionary funding preference to nonprofit developers when it is practicable to do so. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Community Land Trust Model | Create perpetually affordable housing units using the community land trust (CLT) model. | Ongoing Consider on case-by-case basis | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | County Employee Housing Assistance Programs | Continue to offer these programs, and to increase them as opportunities permit. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Inter-Jurisdictional Housing Committee | Support an interjurisdictional housing coordinating committee to facilitate affordable and special needs housing projects. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Density Bonus Programs | Continue County Supplemental Density Bonus Program. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Density Bonus Programs | Continue Type C Housing Opportunity Program | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Fair Housing Information & Referrals | Make information available to customers at a wide range of public locations throughout the County. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Energy & Water Conservation & Efficiency | Provide a variety of materials related to energy and water conservation, energy efficiency, green building, and recycling. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Information about Affordable Housing | Provide, maintain and distribute informational materials about its affordable housing programs, as well as materials to educate the public about the need for affordable housing and the importance of good design for housing and conservation. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Permanent Affordable Housing Stock | Consider increasing the 20 percent set-aside. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Homeless Survey | Participate with other jurisdictions in funding a comprehensive survey of the homeless in Sonoma County. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Density Bonus Programs | Continue State Density Bonus Program. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Density Bonus Programs | Continue Type A Housing Opportunity Program | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Staff for Housing Implementation & Processing | Provide fast-track processing for affordable housing projects. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Utility Providers Responsibility to Prioritize Service | Encourage providers to retain adequate water and/or sewer service capacities to serve developments which provide affordable units. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Permanent Affordable Housing Stock | Fund rehabilitation assistance to single-family and mobile homes that are owned and occupied by low- and moderate-income households to enable them to retain safe and affordable housing. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Funding for Fair Housing Program | Fund operation of a fair housing program. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
| 2022 | Retention of Affordable Units | Assist qualified entities and developers with the acquisition of these properties or the extension of affordability restrictions using CDBG, HOME, CFH, and RDA funds. | Ongoing | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |