Guidelines Released for $405 Million Round of State Planning Grants
The Strategic Growth Council (SGC) adopted the Round 6 Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (AHSC) Guidelines at its public meeting on February 24, 2021, following a process that incorporated feedback received through three public comment periods, multiple Council meetings, and stakeholder meetings. AHSC is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing GHG emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities. SGC’s AHSC program implementation partner, the California Department of Housing and Community Development will soon release the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) with a value of approximately $405 million, thereby opening the Round 6 application period. Soon thereafter, the AHSC program will release its application. The application period will remain open until June 2021, and SGC expects to make awards decisions in October of this year. (See related CP&DR coverage.)
Increases in Auto Emissions Threaten State Climate Goals
An audit of California's climate change program criticized state officials for over-reliance on reducing car emissions as a means of meeting emissions goals by 2030. Emissions from transportation have increased since 2013. The California Air Resources Board has overstated the effects of its incentive clean-care rebates and other voucher programs, and doesn't collect enough data to determine whether the majority of its programs led people to buy cleaner vehicles, the audit reported. California lawmakers have doled out more than $2 billion of cap and trade income to fund the clean transportation programs since the 2013-2014 fiscal year. But income from the carbon trading program is variable and is expected to dwindle as the state's polluters clean up emissions. The state needs more accurate program measurements to meet its greenhouse gas goals, the audit said. Meanwhile, an analysis of the most recently available data, conducted by nonpartisan think tank Next-10 and the consulting firm Beacon Economics, found that greenhouse gas emissions from 2018 rose for the first time since 2012. The authors attribute the 0.2 percent increase to commercial facilities that use refrigeration and power plants. To get back on track to meeting climate goals mandated by SB 32, California will need to reduce emissions by 4.9 percent yearly over the next decade. (See related CP&DR coverage.)
Sacramento Establishes New Rules, Programs for Homeless
The city of Sacramento will allow small sanctioned homeless encampments to open in vacant lots across the city, a move homeless activists have been pushing for for years. The so-called "Safe Grounds" have basic bathroom facilities, and allow people to sleep in tents, vehicles, or tiny homes without fear of being harassed by the city. The sites come at a much lower cost to the city than traditional homeless shelters. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is also pushing for over 60 tiny homes in as many days. The projected upfront cost of $300,000 to start and another $24,000 and $600,000 in ongoing costs are much lower than the $5 million to $10 million it costs the city to open and operate large shelters for two years. City councilmembers, who have largely been on board, will decide where the sites are allocated around the city. The council has already passed an ordinance that allows Safe Grounds to open on properties zoned for assembly use, and would allow them to open on industrial or commercial-zoned properties with a buffer zone for schools, child care facilities, parks, and museums.
CP&DR Coverage: Cities Lose Bids to Reduce Housing Allocations
Essentially all of the Southern California Association of Governments’ 198 jurisdictions received significantly higher RHNA allocations — by factors of two and three, in some cases — than in past cycles. Many cities welcomed their allocations, and many were resigned. But a handful of largely suburban cities, clustered in Orange County, filed appeals, hoping for SCAG to reduce their allocations. Because metropolitan planning organizations such as SCAGs have no power to reduce their state-mandated regional RHNA numbers, reduction in any city’s allocation would have required an increase in other cities’ allocations. The agreed-upon allocation, known as the “coastal plan,” resulted from intense negotiations last year that SCAG would have been loathe to undo.
Quick Hits & Updates
Landlords are suing the City of Santa Monica for a law adopted late last year that banned short term leases in a stated effort to increase rental housing stock for Santa Monica residents. The plaintiffs--32 limited liability companies--allege the ban violates the U.S. Constitution and the California Coastal Act.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria plans to revive regulations for sidewalk pushcart vendors that were dropped by his predecessor, Mayor Faulconer, after backlash. Faulconer's proposal would have banned pushcarts in high-traffic tourist areas, near ballparks on game days, and near a convention center on days when a convention is being held.
The Port of San Diego advanced to Phase 4 of 5 of its Port Master Plan Update, a major milestone since launching the Integrated Planning effort in 2013. Next, staff will complete the Draft Program Environmental Impact Report, which they expect to circulate in mid-2021; then the plan will go to the California Coastal Commission for certification.
San Francisco's rents are dropping and vacancies are climbing. Since the beginning of the pandemic, median two-bedroom monthly rents have fallen from over $3000 to $2,305. The vacancy rate is harder to pinpoint, but one survey of landlords who collectively owned 4,741 units found that those property owners had a 16.3 percent vacant rate. While rental prices are down in many cities across the nation, San Jose's lead the pack with rental prices down 13.7 percent in December over the previous year, according to a new report. San Francisco saw the third-biggest decline, 9.4 percent, after New York City. Conversely, the Inland Empire and Sacramento led the nation in metro areas where prices went up the most.
Long Beach will allow property owners to legalize unpermitted units with no penalty if owners make the units affordable and bring them into compliance with safety codes. Density restrictions, parking requirements, and other planning standards will be waived if owners agree to rent the unit at an affordable level for low- or moderate-income tenants for a minimum of 10 years.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it will remove 3.4 million acres of critical habitat protections for the northern spotted owl in Oregon, Washington, and California. Conservation groups have already filed lawsuits, including the Center for Biological Diversity. They will also look to Democratic U.S. Senate and House members to apply the Congressional Review Act to overturn the decision with a simple majority vote.
As part of an organized effort by tenant activists in March, families have seized a number of vacant homes in El Sereno. Many of the families have been granted occupancy rights by the L.A. Housing Authority, which is now collecting rent from them.. Caltrans, which acquired the properties for a now-axed plan to expand the 710 Freeway, had let many of the homes fall into disrepair as they lay vacant for years.
Caltrans has issued new guidance that directs developers to consider street safety for everyone--not just drivers. Changes in the way car traffic is treated under the California Environmental Quality have spurred the changes in guidance to agencies that will now need to consider the safety of and access for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders.
