Every city and town in the region needs to plan for more housing, of all types and sizes.
In 2023, all jurisdictions in the North Bay – including cities, towns, and the unincorporated county – are updating the Housing Element, a plan for the housing needed in every community.
You can help us shape the future of housing in the places you live, work, and love.
Let's Talk Housing is focused on getting community feedback that will shape Housing Elements (a housing plan that is part of every jurisdiction’s General Plan) in Napa and Sonoma.
The Bay Area is a great place to live. But throughout the region, there just isn’t enough housing, which has made costs go up.
While the number of people living here has steadily grown over the past 30 years, the amount of housing to meet this need has not kept pace. As a result, a lot of communities are experiencing a housing shortage.
Purchasing a home is increasingly out of reach for working families who face rising rents.
Teachers, firefighters, health care, and other essential workers are traveling long distances to work or being forced to relocate to other cities.
Young adults and students - including your children and grandchildren - are unable to purchase homes or even live in the communities they grew up in once they leave their childhood homes.
Communities of color and non-English speakers are being priced out of communities where they work, worship, and go to school, and often must resort to overcrowded and unsafe conditions.
A diversity of homes at all income levels creates opportunities for everyone – across all ages, races, backgrounds and abilities – to have a safe, healthy and affordable home where they can live and thrive.
The shortage of homes impacts all of us. That’s why now is the time to participate in conversations and plan together for current and future housing needs in all our communities.
What is the Housing Element that we are part of shaping?
Things are the way they are in our communities because of policies and decisions made in the past. The Housing Element update is an opportunity to address what’s happened before and change course, based on what a community needs and values now.
WHAT
Housing Elements are a chapter of every General Plan, which guides how each city, town and county is planned and managed – from our roads and sidewalks to our parks and neighborhoods.
With an update required every eight years by the State of California, this Housing Element update will create a plan for the types and number of homes needed by 2031. The plan doesn’t build homes, but it ensures that rules are updated and programs are created so they can be built.
HOW
The state provides a target for how many homes to plan for that is required by state law. They look at several factors like how many jobs and people exist and how many jobs and people are expected, then assign each region a number called the Regional Housing Needs Allocation or RHNA (pronounced ‘ree-nah’).
It is then up to the region, and in our case, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), to decide how much each city, town and county is responsible for based on their size, jobs and how they are expected to grow by 2050, according to Plan Bay Area. To learn more about how they did this, visit here. Almost all cities in the Bay Area have a significantly higher target this RHNA cycle than in the past, and Napa and Sonoma Counties have a proportional share.
OUR RESPONSIBILITY
Over the next year, staff will seek a lot of input from the community while they work on studies to understand housing needs. There will also be new considerations for fair housing and environmental justice. All this will go into developing programs and policies, the heart of every Housing Element.
Once a Draft Housing Element is ready, it will be released for public review and discussed at community, Council, and Commission meetings. Once a final Housing Element is ready, it will be adopted locally and submitted to the state for certification in compliance with state housing laws.
THE PLAN
After the Housing Element has been certified by the state it will then be a part of the General Plan – informing the housing policy and programs in your community over the next 8 years.
While a certified Housing Element plans to meet the target RHNA number, there is no guarantee all the housing planned for will be built. That will be up to the market and the actions of local communities. However, the Housing Element will ensure it is possible and create a path forward for housing to be built.
More housing options will support the diverse and resilient communities we are known for.
