What's a Housing Element? — Napa Sonoma Collaborative

The Housing Element is a chapter in every General Plan.

Every city, town and county has a General Plan guiding all the ways they are planned and managed, from roads and sidewalks to parks and neighborhoods.

One very important chapter of the General Plan is the Housing Element – the plan for all housing needed in a community. Local governments don’t build housing, they do create the rules that shape where housing can be built, what types and how much, and all this lives in the Housing Element. They are required by state law to be updated every 8 years.

The heart of a Housing Element is a suite of policies and programs that address the housing needs of all types of households and income levels, both existing and projected ones.