City Council Makes Changes to Draft Housing Element Update
June 16, 2021 2:51 PM
The Santa Monica City Council at its meeting last night provided input and direction on the draft Housing Element update, which will guide housing production over the next eight years once adopted in October. The Council directed staff to transmit to the California Department of Housing and Community Development a draft Housing Element that complies with the State requirement that the City build 8,895 units, of which 69% must be affordable, over the eight-year cycle of the plan. Council adopted changes to the draft Housing Element, some of which were recommended by the Planning Commission, as outlined below.
“Our City Council has embraced the concept of 100% affordable housing on city-owned land, a concept that can be a foundation for robust affordable housing production for all communities, particularly those with high land costs,” said Mayor Sue Himmelrich. “This Council understands that our community is more diverse because of our leadership in the production of affordable housing, and our direction is intended to help make that possible while also complying with state mandates on housing production overall.”
After significant community engagement, previous feedback from the Council, and direction from the Planning Commission, Housing Commission, and Rent Control Board, the following four key principles were selected to guide the plan:
- Housing Production – provide incentives to increase housing production, especially affordable housing production
- Housing Stability – ensure that existing residents are protected from displacement
- Location – incentivize and locate housing close to daily services and amenities like parks and schools in addition to places around the city that have historically not accommodated housing, especially affordable housing
- Equitable Housing Access – expand access to housing opportunities and overcome patterns of segregation by planning for housing, including affordable housing, in areas that historically excluded diverse housing opportunities
The goals and programs around these principles are summarized in a chart on page 15 of the draft plan. Council directed staff to make the following changes, among others, to these programs:
- Remove the up to 80% AMI citywide 100% affordable housing overlay but support the moderate-income (up to 120% AMI) 100% affordable housing overlay in targeted areas of the City such as Downtown area, Bergamot area, and the immediate ½-mile area around the 17th Street station.
- Require a minimum of 15% affordable units in housing projects with the affordable units provided equally among all affordable income levels.
- Stipulate that City-owned land be committed for 100% affordable housing with consideration for community-serving purposes including green space, placemaking, and/or community-serving commercial.
- Remove the program to rezone selected portions of R-1 neighborhoods to increase density and replace with a commitment to continue a more expansive community conversation around how to address past exclusionary zoning practices in future land use decisions.
- Allow one additional ADU on single-unit dwelling parcels to provide additional rental housing opportunities in single-unit residential districts, an area of the City with high housing costs that has largely been unaffordable to many.
- Encourage and incentivize the adaptive reuse of existing commercial tenant space for residential use and also allow an adaptive reuse of existing ground floor commercial space for artists and live-work use.
- Ensure that local regulations encourage sustainable construction to the extent feasible, environmental justice that protects public health, and open space and expansion of the tree canopy.
- Consider amending the Municipal Code to adopt local requirements that make permanent and potentially expand upon the anti-displacement requirements of Senate Bill 330 to ensure that protected units proposed to be demolished in order to construct a new housing development project are replaced.
- Enhance Code Enforcement response to housing-related violations.
- Adopt standards that support the production of affordable housing on surface parking lots owned by religious congregations including allowing some, but not more than 50%, market-rate units to support affordable units.
- Continue to explore and identify new funding sources that support rental assistance programs, including emergency rental assistance to the extent possible.
The next step in the process is for the California Department of Housing and Community Development to review and comment on the draft update. The comments will return to City Council for a final review with adoption before October 15, 2021. The Housing Element Update is available at www.santamonica.gov/housing-element-update.
###
Media Contact
Constance Farrell
Communications & Public Information Manager
Constance.Farrell@santamonica.gov