Post Type
Regional Housing Element Advocacy
About the Campaign
Under California law, every eight years cities and counties are required to develop local affordable housing action plans called housing elements. Each housing element must identify land where new affordable housing can be built and commit to a concrete program to meet the housing needs of the community. The housing element is designed to make sure that low-income families can find an affordable place to call home in every community. The housing element update process provides local housing justice advocates with a unique opportunity to create policies that will provide stability for low-income communities, such as:
- Tenant protections
- Exclusionary zoning
- Affordable housing funding
- Tenant and Community Opportunities to Purchase
Thanks to a 2018 fair housing law co-sponsored by Public Advocates, cities are required to take proactive steps to remedy exclusionary housing policies and jurisdictions must also adopt comprehensive policies that will advance housing justice for people of color, immigrants, and people with disabilities.
In 2021, Public Advocates successfully advocated for the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), which drives the housing elements, to combat racial segregation and deplacement, and require high-income, largely white jurisdictions to plan for their fair share of housing that is affordable to low-income residents. The final methodology allocated 50,199 low-income units to the region’s 49 most exclusionary jurisdictions and included an equity adjustment that added 3,068 lower income units to 18 exclusionary cities and counties that otherwise would have received disproportionately low allocations.
Despite its diversity, the Bay Area is more segregated today than it was three decades ago. Public Advocates has worked for nearly 20 years to implement, enforce, and strengthen the housing element law. Through state legislative advocacy, precedent-setting litigation, and coalition building, we are committed to making the promise of adequate affordable housing in every community a reality.
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