PC 042711 - Laserfiche WebLink

Level of effort to overcome infrastructure constraints to affordable housing: There are a few areas in the City where investments in infrastructure improvement will need to be made in order to serve new, multi-family housing. For example, traffic impact is reduced when office use is changed to multi-family residential use; however, periods of peak sewer requirements are not accounted for in office use and this is an infrastructure constraint that will need to be addressed in moving forward with multi-family housing. Housing needs such as new rental units for one-person households: Demographic changes seen in the last census study include a lot of one-person households of both renters and homeowners. There is a need for housing for large families as well as for smaller units such as studios. General Plan land use designations reflecting 30+ units per acre and 23+ units per acre: The existing high-density residential land use designation is 8+ units per acre. The HCD will most probably come out with a new designation that specifies the minimum density requirement of 30+ and 23+ units per acre, and staff will need to add text in the General Plan and the Housing Element that will help adopt this. SB 2: Emergency housing, transitional, and supportive housing: This relates to new legislation passed prior to the new Housing Element and a need to designate a zoning district where emergency shelters are a permitted use, not for catastrophic emergencies but for people who need emergency housing. It also requires that transitional and supportive housing constitute a residential use and be treated as such in local regulations. Transitional housing is for those who need temporary housing for up to six months or more, after which they will need to move on to permanent housing. Supportive housing is for persons with particular mental health or physical or health needs where housing is provided in conjunction with services. This would be provided within neighborhoods in the form of group homes with a limit of six beds. Anything larger would require a Use Permit and would be located outside of the residential area. Ms. Stern stated that a few programs will need to be created relating to the Settlement Agreement. These programs include: Special need housing not being met in existing housing: Within the language of the Settlement Agreement, Housing Commissions need to identify the level of need for special needs housing in the community that is not being met in existing housing. These special needs could be housing related to large families and persons with disabilities and other special needs. The City Council will need to consider the appropriate steps to address these identified needs. PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MINUTES, April 27, 2011 Page 37 of 40