HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution - 2248 RESOLUTION NO. 2248
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN
JACINTO OBJECTING TO THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENT'S (SLAG) REGIONAL HOUSING
NEEDS ASSESSMENT (RHNA) PROCESS FOR ESTABLISHING
HOUSING CONSTRUCTION TARGETS
WHEREAS, State housing law requires each local jurisdiction to review and
update the Housing Element of their respective general plans every five (5) years in
order to contribute to the attainment of state housing goals and policies; and,
WHEREAS, the Southern California Association of Governments (SLAG) is
responsible for preparing the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA), which
identifies regional, sub-regional and local targets for the amounts and type of housing
needed during the current planning period (1998-2005); and,
WHEREAS, Jurisdictions must have reliable and timely data upon which to
assess their future housing construction needs, and thereby base constructive local
housing policies and programs; and,
WHEREAS, Jurisdictions must utilize factual and current data to effectively
decide how to allocate their scarce housing resource dollars to meet real housing needs
for affordable homes; and,
WHEREAS, the timing of current RHNA planning period has required SCAG
to use outdated 1990 Census data to make housing needs projections for the year 2005;
and,
WHEREAS, the 1990 Census data is more than ten years old, and does not
reflect current local, housing market or socio-economic conditions nor provide an
adequate basis for projecting future housing construction needs to the year 2005; and,
WHEREAS, SCAG adopted a Draft RIINA in November 1999, with provisions
for local jurisdictions to appeal the existing need assessments or the construction need
allocations by February 1, 2000; and,
WHEREAS, Jurisdictions need to base their future housing needs on
substantially more accurate and timely data in order to successfully address local and
regional needs for affordable homes in a pragmatic and coherent manner; and,
WHEREAS, the WRCOG Subregion did accept RHNA delegation from SCAG;
and,
WHEREAS, the WRCOG jurisdictions of the City of Moreno Valley, City of
Hemet, and County of Riverside all filed appeals of their respective RHNA allocations
based on various factors relating to the growth forecast, vacancy adjustments, and fair
share adjustment: and,
WHEREAS, the WRCOG member jurisdiction appeals have demonstrated flaws
in the RHNA data used by SCAG through objective comparison with more current,
credible, and replicable data from a variety of reputable sources, including those used
by the building industry for market feasibility and other housing studies; and,
WHEREAS, the appeals from western Riverside jurisdictions, in combination,
totaled more than 22,053 housing units; and,
WHEREAS, SCAG staff has acknowledged the legitimacy of the local
jurisdiction appeals with respect to more than 19,858 of those units; and,
WHEREAS, SCAG's in-house technical analysis showed that the WRCOG
subregion was over-allocated by up to 13,255 RHNA units, and that the unincorporated
Riverside County area within WRCOG was also over-allocated by up to 33,400 RHNA
units; and,
WHEREAS, SCAG is recommending disapproval of the remainder of the
RHNA appeals, due in part to a failure to recognize the weak market for housing in
outlying and socio-economically disadvantaged areas where economic recovery has
lagged behind other parts of the Region; and,
WHEREAS, SCAG staff, based on their interpretation of a controversial SCAG
policy that requires maintenance of RHNA control totals for each subregion, has
indicated that acceptance of appeals that are acknowledged to be legitimate may be
conditioned on voluntary acceptance by other jurisdictions of many thousands of
additional units (i.e. reallocation); and,
WHEREAS, pursuant to this process, legitimate appeals may, nonetheless, be
withdrawn to avoid severe and arbitrary impacts of reallocation to neighboring
jurisdictions, despite the knowledge that no market exists in the appealing jurisdictions
for the numbers of units identified by the RHNA; and,
WHEREAS, the `over'-allocation of housing need to the WRCOG Subregion
implies `under'-allocation of housing need to other parts of the region where housing is
clearly needed but is less affordable; and,
WHEREAS, the existing approach to doing RHNAs and housing elements has
failed to accomplish state housing goals and policies or to result in the demonstrable
addition of affordable homes in areas of critical need.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, FOUND, AND DETERMINED by
the City Council of the City of San Jacinto to petition the SCAG Regional Council to:
1. ACCEPT all appeals from the WRCOG subregion consistent with RHNA law,
2. ALLOW technical modification of the subregional control total proposed for the
WRCOG Subregion.
3. ELIMINATE the zero-sum policy limiting, reallocation of inappropriately
attributed need solely to jurisdictions within the WRCOG Subregion.
4. DIRECT SCAG staff, with subregional and State Department of Housing and
Cortununity Development participation, to reconsider the regional growth target
as needed to address the legitimate appeals from WRCOG and other sebregions
and jurisdictions, so as to avoid unwarranted impacts to other jurisdictions
through arbitrary reallocation.
/ BE 1T FURTHER RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of San Jacinto
that:
1) The projected growth poses a dramatic challenge for leaders and communities in
the western Riverside County subregion, in that it will increase the need for all
forms of public and private sector goods and services. These needs and services
could overwhelm public resources if growth is not managed wisely and with
vision. 'These needs include schools, parks, and open spaces, and the provision
of adequate, cost-effective systems of water, sewerage, electricity, and
transportation: among others. Therefore, it is critical that future Regional
Housing Needs Assessments are prepared with full consideration of means by
which the SCAG Region can deliver affordable housing in conjunction with
efficient delivery of the other needs and services that are essential to the
Region's quality of life and economic vitality.
2) CITY OF SAN JAC:INTO does hereby support and request an extension of the
SCAG region RHNA until such time as the federal 2000 Census data is
available.
3) CITY OF SAN JACINTO does hereby support a legislative change in the order
and timing of the regional COG RIINA preparation schedule such that the next
SCAG region RHNA update occurs in a time period that allows use of federal
Census data that is not more than 1-2 years old, in order to better reflect local
housing market and socio-economic conditions and needs.
4) In the intervening time period before the next federal biennial Census data is
available, the City Council of the City of San Jacinto supports a more flexible
use and standard of acceptable alternative data.
5) CITY OF SAN JACINTTO does hereby support a wholesale overhaul and
rethinking of the existing approach to doing RNNAs and housing elements, and
substituting instead an incentive based system coupled with local access to state
housing funding.
ADOPTED, SIGNED and APPROVED this 23rd day of May 2000.
f_ LL
r Patrick A. Williams, Mayor
Attest:
Grace Alvarez, City Cleric
W'
r
State of California)
County of Riverside)ss
City of San Jacinto)
1, Grace Alvarez, duly appointed City Clerk do hereby certify that the foregoing
Resolution No. 2248 was adopted at a special meeting of the City Council of the City of
San Jacinto by the following called votes:
Ayes: Ayres, Carlson Buydos, Connor, Good, and Williams
Noes: None
Abstain: None
Witne,,s ray hand and seal this 23rd day of May 2000.
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Gras a ret, City Clerk