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 | Transitional Housing, Supportive Housing, and Residential Care Homes | Strive to create permanent supportive housing for the Town's share of sonoma County's homeless and disabled population. | The Town, County of Sonoma, and the cities of Cloverdale, Cotati, Healdsburg, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol and Sonoma continue to participate in a joint powers agreement (JPA) for housing and community development. The JPA allows the communities to qualify as a HUD-designated “Urban County” which entitles the participating communities to receive an annual allocation of federal CDBG, ESG and HOME funding as an entitlement jurisdiction. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Windsor Efficiency Pays | Allow residents to use utility bill savings to finance efficiency updates. | The PAYS program hasn't accepted applications the past few years, including 2022 as the program is not active for new participants at this time. The Town is looking for a fiscal agent partner before it re-engages in the PAYS program. Residents were able to obtain a discount for a rebate program for irrigation in 2022. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | CDBG Housing and Mobile Home Rehabilitation Program | Encourage residents to participate in the Sonoma county Community Development Commission Housing Rehabilitation program and publicize availability of funding. | The Town pursues CDBG funding annually. The Town has been focusing CDBG funding on ADA compliance programs. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Mobile Home Park Rent Stabilization | Continue to provide for administration and enforcement of the Mobile Home Park Rent Stabilization Ordinance. | In 2022, the Town placed adopted an urgency and regular ordinance placing a limit on rental increase of 100% CPI or 3%, which either is less. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Residential Land Supply | Monitor residential land supply to ensure adequate residential land to comply with projected RHNA needs through October 31, 2022. | The 2040 General Plan designated enough land for residential development to accommodate the Town's anticipated 2040 population. The housing needed to house this population exceeds the 2022 RHNA needs. The 2040 General Plan increased the amount of land identfied for mixed-use development, including areas along Old Redwood Highway that have a mixed-use land use designation that allows 16-32 units per acre. In 2022, the Town approved Old Redwood Villages, which is zoned mixed-use. Two affordable housing projects received their entitlements on parcels zoned Boulevard Commercial, Redwood Glen and Shiloh Crossing. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Mortgage Credit Certification Program | Continue participation in the Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) Program and publicize program on the Town['s website and in brochures. | The Town annually renews its membership in the MCC program. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Section 8 Rental Housing Subsidies | Make Section 8 rental housing subsidies available to Windsor residents whenever available. | The Housing Authority provided rental assistance to 112 households in
Windsor in 2022, 6 of which were new voucher recipients. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Water Smart Home Program | Continue to offer residents free water use assessments. | The Town continues to offer free in-home residential water use assessments as requested, or as required for participation in water conservation rebate incentive programs. The assessment includes performance checks of water using fixtures, a whole-house leak check, and an irrigation system inspection with scheduling recommendations. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Preservation of Assisted Housing Stock | Work with other governmental and non-profit organizations to preserve or replace existing affordable housing stock. | None of the Town's affordable housing stock is in jeopardy of converting to market rate due to 45 year restrictions. Individual units with deed restrictions are in jeopardy and with the loss of Redevelopment funding, the Town would be unable to repurchase units in jeopardy of converting. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Homeless Services | Provide financial support for homeless services at the Town and/or regional level. | Since 1999, the Town has provided funding through the Town’s Non-Profit Grant Program to the non-profit Interfaith Shelter Network to provide services to homeless people from Windsor. The funding is used to provide transitional and permanent housing to homeless people from Windsor using the “Housing First” approach. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Mobile Home Park Conversion Ordinance | Continue to contract with the Sonoma County Community Development Commission (CDC) to administer the Town's ordinance. | The Town's agreements with the CDC for administration was renewed in 2022 for the ongoing administration of the Town's ordinance. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Monitoring of Rental Unit Conversion and Affordable Unit Supply | Monitor local trends to determine if a condominium conversion ordinance should be considered in order to preserve the supply of rental units. | The Town had no requests to convert existing rental units to condominiums in 2022. The Council approved Richardson Street, a mixed-use project from the initially approved 30 rental apartment units to condominiums. | Ongoing | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Inclusionary Housing Ordinance | Continue to implement the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, conduct a nexus study to determine an appropriate in lieu fee, and establish a dedicated inclusionary housing fee fund. | The Town has an existing in-lieu fee and dedicated fund for those fees collected. In August 2021, Town Council rceived a preserntation from staff on options for amending the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance and directed staff to include recommended revisions in the Zoning Ordinance Update, which is currently underway. | 2017 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Station Area/Downtown Inclusionary Housing Ordinance | Explore amending the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance to include higher affordablility requirements wihtin the Station Area Plan. | The Town has an existing in-lieu fee and dedicated fund for those fees collected. In August 2021, Town Council rceived a preserntation from staff on options for amending the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance and directed staff to include recommended revisions in the Zoning Ordinance Update, which is currently underway and expected to be completed in Fall 2022. | 2018 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Zoning Ordinance Consistency | Amend the Zoning Ordinance to be consistent with the 2040 General Plan and current State Density Bonus Law. | In 2020, the Town applied for, and received an award of State LEAP grant funding to cover the costs of the needed Zoning Ordinance Update. The project is currently underway and expected to be completed in 2023. The project will include updating the Zoning Ordinance to be consistent with current State Housing laws, including State Density Bonus Law, as well as other changes aimed at streamlining housing development. The Zoning Ordinance Update will also include amendments to the Town's Inclusionary Housing Ordinance. | 2018 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Design Review Process | Evaluate the Town's Design Review Standards to streamline the process and consider fast-track permit procedures to encourage affordable housing projects. | The Town Council adopted the Town's 2040 General Plan in April 2018. The implementation programs include updates to the Town's Zoning Ordinance and Design Guidelines. Objective Development and Design Standards for multi-family projects were approved in 2021 and funded by an SB2 grant. They provide a ministerial review process for multi-family projects that comply with the requirements. The Zoning Ordinance Update process started in early 2021 and will include a review of the Town's Site Plan and Design Review process to determine how to streamline this process. | 2017 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Agricultural Woker Housing | 10 units of farmworker housing | In 2022, no developers approached the Town with a request to develop farmworker housing. | Biannually | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Zoninng for Agricultural Worker Housing | Amend the Zoning Ordinance to comply with State law requirements for agricultural worker housing. | The Town is undertaking a Zoning Ordinance update to implement the newly adopted 2040 General Plan. As part of the Zoning Ordinance update, the Town will update its Zoning Ordinance to comply with State law requirements for agricultural worker housing. The Town does not have an agricultural zoning district. However, crop production and horticulture are permitted uses (no use permit required) in the Light Industrial (LI) and Heavy Industrial (HI) zoning districts. Farmworker housing is also a permitted use in the LI and HI zoning districts. To date, no farmworker housing projects have been proposed. | 2018 as part of Zoning Ordinance Update | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Parking Requirements | Evaluate the Town's parking requirements for multi-family, affordable, homeless, and farmworker housing to determine feasibility of reducing parking requirements which results in reduced development costs. | The Town is undergoing a Zoning Ordinance update to implement the newly adopted 2040 General Plan. As part of the Zoning Ordinance update, the Town will review its parking requirements as they relate to housing and the streamlining of housing development. The Zoning Ordinance currently allows a reduction in the required number of parking spaces with approval of a Minor Use Permit. Residential development projects have used this process to reduce the required number of parking spaces. | 2016 | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |
2022 | Support the Development of Rental Housing and Housing Affordable to Extremely-Low Income Households | Prioritize the use of in lieu housing funds for development of housing affordable to extremely low income households. | The Town received $2 million in in-lieu fees in winter 2022 and intends to issue a NOFA in April of 2023. The Town's previous in-lieu fees were awarded to three projects: 1) Windsor Veterans Village ($500,000), which completed construction and occupancy in 2021; 2) Heritage Park ($565,000), which submitted builing permits in 2021 and is expected to receive building permits and begin construction in 2023; and 3) Duncan Village project ($556,000). The Duncan Village developer, Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County (HHSC) stopped development projects due to financial issues and is currently in discussions with a potemtial partner for construction of the project. The Town also has a policy and practice that prioritizes the review and processing of applications for affordable housing projects. | Research and seek funding opportunities biannually | 5th cycle, 2013 to 2022 |