Doing Our Part to Respond to California's Housing Crisis
The evidence of a housing crisis is stark: California's median home price of over $600,000 is the highest of any state in the nation, a significant number of renters pay more than 50 percent of their income on housing, and the number of homeless on the streets in our region has risen significantly in the last few years.
The principal way that local governments are tasked with helping address this statewide problem is through planning and zoning. The guiding document for this work in Elk Grove is the Housing Element of the General Plan. The Housing Element update process is a formal proceeding that combines the need to meet technical requirements of State law with vigorous public participation that resembles town hall gatherings. To meet increasingly stringent State requirements, Elk Grove is going to need to plan for more high-density projects than have been our tradition. But how and where we plan for those projects is up to us as a community to decide.
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Project Status (Spring 2022)
On February 16, 2022, the State Department of Housing and Community Development certified the 2021-2029 Housing Element as meeting the statutory requirements (read HCD's letter). This followed the City Council's initial adoption in May 2021 and subsequent amendments in December 2021. The final version of the Housing Element has been incorporated into the published General Plan.
Housing Sites
One of the roles of the Housing Element is to identify sites that may be developed with housing for a variety of household incomes. The housing need is defined through the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA . The RHNA is distributed among four income categories: very low-income (0-50% of the area median income (AMI)), low-income (51-80% of AMI), moderate-income (81-120% of AMI), and above moderate-income (121%+ of AMI).
The City has met the need for housing through the designation of appropriately zoned land. For example, in general, HCD believes that the most appropriate zoning to facilitate low-income housing is one that allows up to 30 units per acre to be built, and generally at a minimum density of 21 units per acre. Apartment complexes, condominiums, and sometimes townhomes can be built in this density range, so both rental and ownership options are possible.
The Housing Element includes a complete analysis and maps of the selected sites; this summary document also includes the information.
Environmental Review
An Environmental Impact Report was prepared for the Housing Element in 2021. Learn more.
For More Information
The following are other materials or resources that provide background on the Housing Element.
Contact
Send City staff your comments, questions, or concerns about housing issues. We will do our best to provide you with information.