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tools to be able to do that. She noted that the City currently has a very low level of renting out so it is a little difficult for the City to justify second units being in an affordable housing category. She further noted that the City is putting more effort into this to be able to count more of these units towards its RHNA numbers. Mr. Dolan noted that in order to count these units, income restrictions may be imposed similar to those for the other units, which makes it a little more complicated. He indicated that there are other communities such as Piedmont that have such limited opportunity to provide any affordable housing that they negotiate during their Housing Element process that this is one of their main sources of affordable housing. He added that this makes it a little easier for them to meet their RHNA numbers with second units. Commissioner O'Connor noted that some of the second units are 500 square feet, or 600 or 700, and just by their sheer size, they are going to be lower cost to rent. He inquired if these units cannot be counted just because of their sizes, even if they were vacant, because it would have to be verified that they have a lower income on those units. Mr. Dolan stated that the City has a RHNA number that it needs to meet, so it has to speculate how many units it needs to meet that number. He noted that the City does not have a great track record with a total of 120 units over several years, such that even if all of them were occupied, it would still be a pretty weak case to count all of these as providing a great source of affordable housing. He added that these second units are actually providing some affordable housing because they are less expensive than renting the house in the front, but while it is a good thing to have, it is hard to prove that to the State. Commissioner O'Connor noted that it appears that some of the other regulations that were brought up here tonight make it difficult to count these second units toward affordable housing; for example, if an owner who has two units but lives in one of them in order to have that second unit rented out, moves away, the two houses could not be rented out, and one cannot be counted as affordable because that is not allowed. He inquired if the entire property would have to be rented out to one family. Ms. Stern said yes. She added that the idea would be to sustain the general, single - family neighborhood character. Commissioner O'Connor stated that it would be nice to know why some of the 120 units are not rented out, if maybe a family member is living there, or it might just also be vacant for whatever reason. Mr. Dolan stated that he thinks it is just a personal choice: they buy a house and say it would be great to have a second unit, to have the au pair live there. He added that when it comes right down to it, they do not want someone else living there. EXCERPT: PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, August 14, 2013 Page 3 of 5