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5.20 How to Count Units Towards the Housing Cap? The Pleasanton General Plan and Municipal Code do not have a specific definition of the term housing unit for purposes of determining which units are counted towards the housing cap. In practice, each new single family home (including each duet, townhome, condominium, and mobile home), as well as each unit in an apartment complex, have been counted as housing units for purposes of calculating the housing cap. However, second units are not counted, nor are rooms at nursing homes, in assisted living facilities, or at extended stay hotels. The application of the Initiative's definition of a housing unit to a single family home, duet, townhome, condominium and each unit in an apartment complex are consistent with the City's current practice. Similarly, a nursing home, where patients' rooms typically do not have their own "kitchen" and "bathroom", would not be defined as a housing unit by the Initiative, nor has the City's practice been to count such residences towards the housing cap. This is also consistent with the Census Bureau categorizing a nursing home as institutional "group quarters" in terms of type of housing unit. While a second unit is a residence with a "kitchen" and "bathroom", and therefore a housing unit as defined by the Initiative, State law specifically provides that second units shall not be counted towards any local growth control limitation.35 Therefore, the City's current practice is consistent with State law, and second units cannot be counted towards the City's housing cap, even if the Initiative is adopted. Less certain is the application of the Initiative's definition of a housing unit to units/rooms in an assisted living facility or an extended stay hotel. In both of those situations, each unit could be said to be a "residence" with its own "kitchen" and "bathroom". However, the Census Bureau's definition of housing unit emphasizes separate living by providing that: "... separate living quarters ... in which the occupants live separately from any other persons in the building ...". Similarly, the California Building Code also uses the language "independent living facilities". In the case of an assisted living facility, which typically provides residents with a shared meal plan, personal services, emergency alert response system, housekeeping, memory care, transportation services, etc., it would be a question whether such persons "live separately" and are "independent". This might depend upon the services offered at the facility, and therefore be decided on a case-by-case basis whether each unit in such a facility counts as a separate housing unit for purposes of the housing cap, or if the facility more accurately provides group quarters, as defined by the Census Bureau.36 35 See Government Code §65852.2(a)(2). 36 In a telephone call between City staff and the Census Bureau regarding the 2010 census, when the Parkview Assisted Living Facility was discussed, City staff were advised such an assisted living facility would likely be classified as Group Quarters, and not as individual housing units. 23