Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-05-11; Housing Commission; Minutes* c .. 0 HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES MAY 11,2000 PAGE 1 of 12 Minutes of: Time of Meeting: Date of meeting: Place of Meeting: HOUSING COMMISSION 6:s P.M. May 11,2000 CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Latas called the Regular Meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Chairperson Latas asked Commissioner Griff in to lead in the pledge of allegiance. ROLL CALL Present: Commissioners: Rene Houston Doris Ritchie Charles Griiin Ed Scarpelli Chairperson: Roy Latas Absent: None Staff Present: Housing and Redevelopment Director: Debbie Fountain Management Analyst: Craig Ruiz Chairperson Latas confirmed there was full attendance for their new commission at this meeting. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Concerning additions or corrections to the minutes, Chairperson Latas had a question on the second page, in item #7 .- in the veryopening, second line: the letters 'pg", should be deleted and the word should be "of". Commissioner Scarpelli commented the questions he previously raised had been received by letter and a previous discussion put it to rest. He thanked staff for pursuing it further. A motion was made to approve the minutes and was moved by Commissioner Scarpelli and seconded by Commissioner Ritchie. VOTE: 5-04 AYES: Commissioners: Ranae Houston Doris Richie Charles Griiin Ed Scarpelli NOES: None ABSTAIN: None It was a unanimous passage of the minutes. COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE ON ITEMS NOT LISTED ON THE AGENDA There were no comments from the audience. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES MAY 11,2000 PAGE 2 of 12 NEW BUSINESS Chairperson Latas moved ahead to Agenda Item GPA98-04 and gave the floor over to Craig Ruiz. Staff Recommendation Mr. Ruiz announced the Agenda Item GPA98-04 as the 'Housing Element Updates". The 'Housing Element" was before this Commission in September of 1998, which predates three of the five present Commissioners. The Ci right now is going through, as Mr. Ruiz explained, "The General Plan Amendment Update," the purpose being to update and adopt the updates and/or revisions to the "Housing Element of the General Plan" for the 'Housing Elements Cycle" which started July 10 1999 and runs June 30,2004. Once this process has gone through the Housing Commission, Planning Commission, and the City Council it will be submitted to the State of California of the 'Housing and Community Development Apartment" for adoption and certification. The Housing Commission's roll in this process, as in all matters like this, is to provide the City Council with input and recommendations on Amendments to the "General Plan of the Housing Element," which includes the establishment or modifications to different Affordable Housing programs, policies and regulations. The following three main topics were to be discussed regarding the 'Housing Element": 1. Purpose and Intent of the 'Housing Element" 2. The Major Issues in the 'Housing Element" 3. Brief Overview of the 'Housing Element" Mr. Ruiz introduced Mike Grim as his assistant in answering the Commission's questions regarding Agenda Item GPA98-04 -- the 'Housing Element" of which Mr. Grim is the author. 1) PurDose and Intent of the "Housing Element": As far as State Housing Law Requirements, there are two main purposes of this Housing Element Document- 1. identify and analyze the existing and projecting housing needs for the City of Carlsbad during this next housing cycle from 1999 to 2004 and 2. the "Housing Element" document must list the goals, policies, objects, resources and programs for the preservation, improvement and development of housing. 21 The Maior Issues In the "Housing Element": 'Regional Share"- All the cities in the County of San Diego are members of SANDAG-the San Diego Association of Government. It is SANDAG's job to come up with the "Regional Share". SANDAG projects the population increase for the San Diego County Region and divides it among the different agencies within the Cities, coming up with what each City's share of that larger projection should be for that Housing Cycle, giving the total number of units to be accommodated in this Housing Cycle. SANDAG breaks those down into different income categories: the very low income households, low income households, moderate income households and above moderate income households. The 'Regional Share" total for this current Housing Cycle, is 6,412 according to this figure. It is apparent the numbers were transposed in this document and should have been 6,214. The following is of the total Housing Units from 1999 to 2004 broken down by income categories of which the City of Carlsbad needs to provide: 0 0 very low income households ........................................ 1,770 low income households ................................................ 1,417 moderate income households ...................................... 1,463 above moderate income households ........................... 1,591 0 0 0 TOTAL ........................................................................ .6,214 --. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES MAY 11,2000 PAGE 3 of 12 An example for the very low income households, consisting of two-person household which is slightly above 30% of the median income, is $12,900 per year. An individual earning minimum wage and working full time earns just over $1 1 ,OOo. 'Self-Certification"- This process was started in September 1998. We have to go to the State to get the documents certified, making this a long and time-consuming process. The last time we did this was in 1990 and it wasn't until 1993 that we actually got through the process. San Diego County has come up with a pilot program called "Self-Certification" where all the Cities in San Diego County are allowed to do 'Self-Certification". It is San Diego County's special legislation. At our option, the City of Carlsbad can adopt the "Housing Element" without going through the State process by meeting certain criteria. For 'Self-Certification" we now need to provide housing for a new category called 'extremely low income households," which is less than 30% of the area median income. We would need to provide 629 Affordable Units in the following three categories: extremely low income households .................................. 170 very low income households ........................................... 201 0 low income households ................................................... - 258 0 TOTAL ............................................................................ 629 The extremely low income household, because of the low rent level and the low income levels, are going to require an extremely large subsidy to meet that objective. Even though the number looks a lot lower, there is going to be a lot of work to make that happen. It should be a shorter and easier process and less expensive as far as staff time in producing the required 'Self-Certification" document. Under the 'Self-Certification" program we have greater flexibility in the type of housing we can offer that is affordable, whereas under the current system only new construction of affordable units is acceptable. Existing property can be acquired and do acquisition rehab. Then we would restrict the income or do a special needs group for affordable housing, whether it be farm workers or a people with special needs, etc. Though the deeper subsidy concern was given to the Ci Council last year, the Ci Council directed staff to take the steps necessary to try and achieve 'Self-Certification". If for some reason the Ci of Carlsbad doesn't achieve 'Self- Certification," this same process will be taken again in 2004 and the City of Carlsbad will have to prove to the State that we tried to meet that objective, in order to get the Housing Elements certified again. 3) Brief Overview of the "Houslna Element" The Housing Element document presented here is broken down into the following four main sections: Section One- "The Housing Needs and Inventory" This section contains our current population, household make up, housing stock, and an inventory of what the City of Carlsbad needs and what we have. Section Two- The Housing Constraints and Mitigating Opportunities" These are the barriers to providing Affordable HousingGovernment constraints such as our land use regulations, building codes, the environmental regulations and how those affect Affordable Housing. We also look at non- Governmental constraints such as the cost of land, cost of financing, cost of construction and how these can be mitigated. Other non-Governmental constraints are the environmental constraints, such as the endangered species act, water supply, and the topography of the land. Since we don't have rolling hillsides rather than flat land, the land is difficult to develop. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES MAY 11,2OOO PAGE 4 of 12 Section Three- "The Housing Goals and Objectives" This discusses how the City of Carlsbad makes different plans and agenda to meet our Affordable Housing Programs. The following are the six different major goals where we break out the different goals and policies we have: 1. preservation of our existing housing stock 2. providing diversity of housing 3. special needs 4. housing and workforce balance 5. resource consenration 6. Fair Housing Opportunities Section Four- "The Appendix Section": 0 Housing Law or Housing Ordinances Various documents that affect Affordable Housing This concluded Mr. Ruiz' presentation. Chairperson Latas opened it up for the Commissioners to have any questions. Commissioner Richie asked if each City has a different percentage of Affordable Housing. She stated Oceanside has 10% Affordable Housing and the Center City Development Corp stated that San Diego has 20% of Affordable Housing available. Mr. Ruiz referred to the City of Oceanside's 10% as their 'Inclusionary Housing Requiremenr and that it is different from our 'Inclusionary Housing Requirement". He further explained the 'Regional Share" number is a formula that is broken out by the percentage of how many extremely low, very low, low income households. But it's just a percentage of 6,214. Those are two different programs and it has nothing to do with the 'Regional Share". Commissioner Griffin had a question concerning the 'Regional Share" and 'Self-Certification" being only 600 and it being labeled as 10%. Mr. Ruiz presented the following information about three distinct groups: 'Regional Share" 'Self-Certification" "Housing Objectives" The "Regional Share" is a needs assessment which comes from SANDAG where we get data which is based on the expected population and employment-based growth. From this information, SANDAG gets an estimate of how many new housing units are going to be needed in the area. Through their seven-series eight models they assign a number of units in each jurisdiction. They also take a look at the existing affordability of all those jurisdictions. Because we have highway cost, are a coastal community, and typically attract affluent builders, Carlsbad does not naturally get the Affordable Housing that El Cajon does with cheaper land costs etc. SANDAG tries to make it so there is no over-concentration of Affordable Housing any where in the County. This means the more affluent Cities get a larger 'Regional Share" needs assessment. The State law says it is ok for any jurisdiction, when they don't have the resources, programs or the ability to produce that kind of housing, to remove as many barriers as possible to allow the development community to build the Affordable Housing units. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES MAY 11,20oO PAGE 5 of 12 The Housing Development analyzes all the vacant land that is developable within the Housing Cycle showing there is plenty of vacant land that is unconstrained by any open space or wildlife constraints and the vacant land already has facilities that are planned for and has the density and the residential zoning. 'Reqional Share" is havinq enouah vacant land to accommodate what SANDAG thinks is aoina to be the qrowth. With the "Self-Certification" program, the objectives goal was to eliminate some of the paper work that gets involved in processing the element. The State processes the paperwork. The 'Self-Certification" objectives address the lowest income group which is less than 30% of average median income. Because Council directed us to try and pursue "Self-Certification" our Housing Objectives are based on the 'Self- Certiiication" numbers-the resources that each City has, whether or not you have a redevelopment area and a variety of other funding mechanism in place, etc. The needs assessment is based on what we think the growth is going to be which has made those numbers so low. "Self-Certification" is based on how many resources the City has to actually provide some housing. It does not have an above-moderate category because this category is market rate housing, which will automatically happen. The City of Carlsbad is aligned toward 'Self-Certification" for the next five years. We have an extremely low income category that has 170 units and a very, very low, a very low and a moderate. We tried to figure out how many we could possibly get with "Self-Certification" by including some of moderate housing even though we don't have any active programs to provide it. Now it looks like the market is starting to provide some moderate housing. The balance of our "Regional Share" allocation we included in our above-moderate. We have no problem having another 4,000 units in Carlsbad over the next five years if our growth rate continues as it has the last couple years. The "Housing Objective" is a blend between "Regional Share" and "Self-certification". Commissioner Scarpelli asked to turn to page 7 in the "Housing Element" document. It states there are some deleted programs. His concern was that Program 1.4 was deleted because there was very little cooperation from the local landlords. He inquired as to what staffs evaluation or conclusion as to why the local landlords did not cooperate with the rental stock monitoring. He also questioned whether Program 1.4 would be assisting in the Section 8 units. Mr. Ruiz clarified Program 1.4 is being recommended for deletion. He reiterated that the 'Housing Element" updated a new document stating how it has been changed and the reasons why. The landlords were concerned the City was gathering rental information so their competition could under bid them and therefore their apartments not be rented. This was only half the reason. Program 1.4 was a tough program to get enough data where the City had a good sample to provide some realistic numbers. This program was actually a complete duplication of an effort that is already being done by the San Diego County Apartments Association, which we used for our data in the "Housing Element". Program 1.4 does not assist in Section 8 units. This program id to keep an on-going monitoring of what our rental rates are. Commissioner Scarpelli was concerned with the deletion of Program 110, Neighborhood lmprovement-because we have a lot of inventory in the City, especially in the North Western Quadrant that needs rehabilitation. He felt it was unacceptable due to burdening restrictions for the homeowner. The implementations of this program came under tremendous public opposition. Commissioner Scarpelli asked if the "Housing Element" is referring to the Barrio situation? If so, his concern was what is the City going to do to replace this? We do have inventory that is really aging and needs replacement which is not a good environment for the people living in that area as well as for the aesthetics of the Ci itself. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES MAY 11,2OOO PAGE 6 of 12 Mr. Ruiz answered that yes, the ‘Housing Elemenr is referring to the Barrio situation. He went on to explain that through the ’Self-Certification” program and our new lnclusionary Housing Ordinance, we now have the ability for a developer to satisfy their Affordable Housing needs by acquiring a dilapidated or an in-need of rehabilitating property, rehabilitating it and making it affordable for people. This shows there are other programs in the element that would provide for a neighborhood improvement with regard to rehabilitation and reconstruction. The Neighborhood Improvement Program was to assist residence in the creation of a neighborhood improvement program under which we would promote an organization directed at fostering neighborhood pride and improvement and provide information on City and other funding resources, etc. It was not necessarily making the physical improvements to the structures themselves. The Neighborhood Improvement Program was actually directed at a couple specific neighborhoods in the Ci. We implemented this (and the Barrio was one of them) and received a very strong opinion that we were trying to segregate that neighborhood from the rest of the City. Thus we decided not to use any other delineation program other than what currently exists, whether it be facility zones, quadrants, master plan areas, etc. There are other programs in the element that will get us better housing. There’s other programs within the General Plan that will keep the facilities going our Capital Improvement Program and our Streets and Maintenance Program. Commissioner Scarpelli inquired about the ‘Paint Lemon Grove” program as to whether the City of Carlsbad has investigated this program. He stated it was presented at Rotary. The City of Lemon Grove went into some blighted areas, under cooperation with Government Agencies and with the service clubs in the area, taking a section of the neighborhood and helped to build that pride, making physical aesthetic changes to that area and the programs have been quite successful. Chairperson Latas commented he thought the Ci of Carlsbad does have programs of that nature. Mr. Ruiz added that the City did this program once and has looked at it. The concern the City has is that the areas proposed are not owner-occupied areas, but are all highly rentals. One of the City‘s concerns is that we are contributing money, time and effort and then the owners toss out the tenants who are in those rentals and raise the rents. That particular area in Lemon Grove was mostly homeowners. That is why it was successful and that is why it is one of the City of Carlsbad‘s biggest concerns. Commissioner Scarpelli was concerned that the absentee ownership is the cause of the neglected property and the environment in which people are living does not meet health and safety standards. He shared that the City must become stronger and enforce the health and safety standards that are on the books in these particular cases. He says it isn’t going to happen unless there is some strong leadership from the City on taking care of inventory and old stock within the Ci then reviving and rebuilding it. Mr. Ruiz added he thinks it has been the City’s policy to have a guarantee that the invested money is going to presenre Affordability or restrict some type of deed or covenant if there is a public benefit. Again Mr. Ruiz confirmed that the City could have a more proactive system with code enforcement if that is what the Council wanted. But it is possible that these units are not esthetically pleasing units, being in need of paint, etc. and they do not have a problem yet with meeting the level of safety, but are merely run down and old. Commissioner Scarpelli restated his concerns about proactive measures regarding the fact that the Neighborhood Improvement Program 1-10 was being deleted and he didn’t know what was being substituted for it. He continued with his concern for the builders (under the new program who will have the ability to go in and pick up some of this property) will not have burdensome regulations and fee structures that will make it physically impossible to move forward with such a project. He asked if the City has looked at that element of it, because often times it sounds great at the Commission’s level, but when the builders get involved they get tied up with red tape, regulations and fees. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES MAY 11,2000 PAGE 7 of 12 Mr. Ruiz agreed with Commissioner Scarpelli regarding constraints and mitigating opportunities. The development community wants to know upfront what these actions on their project are going to be so when they design their Performa they can budget those in. What really kills the developers is if they are about ready to go to the Planning Commission or City Council and they are tokl they need to put in a sewer reach that the City didn’t realize, etc. Thus, a lot of the City of Carlsbad programs, like the Growth Management Program, are labeled “overlay zoned“ to warn people about sensitive development areas. These are red flags that we as the Planning Department help the development community with. The City warns the developer they are going to need certain roads, facilities, etc. The City can tell from the Growth Management Program, before the developers even apply, what those are. Ms. Fountain assured Commissioner Scarpelli that there are still several programs in the Housing Element that allow for rehabilitation. She added that Commissioner Scarpelli could make a motion to recommend that the City Council aggressively and proactiely pursue code enforcement. Commissioner Scarpelli shared an example of his further concern on how difficult it is because of the new building code standards for earthquake, etc. that it becomes even more difficult to make Affordable Housing affordable. He acknowledged that it is State law, so we can’t do anything about it, but by applying new standards onto new housing is mitigating the City’s abilii to move forward with Affordable Housing. His apprehension was if the City is lowering the standard of housing to meet the structures for the new code which is the cost concern. Mr. Ruiz replied there are a lot of requirements passed down by State-UBC has changed, we’ve adopted the newer UBC. We’ll even have projects that are in Plan Check where the developer has to retract their plans and then redraw them. That happen with all development regardless of whether it is affordable or not. Commissioner Scarpelli concluded his question was satisfactorily answered and that it is not anything the Ci can do. He noted page 65 on Section 3, the Cost of Construction is where the problem exists. Mr. Ruiz noted Commissioner Scarpelli to be correct in his conclusion, but that even though the City cannot do manufactured housing, there are other alternatives. Council’s direction has been that no Affordable Housing Project should look like anything less of quali than a market rate project. If you drive through Villa Loma, being our flagship in the Ci, looks a lot nicer than a lot of the half-million dollar condos on 4,000 square foot lots within the Ci of Carlsbad. Despite Growth Management, the BIA, etc. the City was able to make this project work well between the City, the developer and the non-profit element by building low and very low income units that are very attractive. It is a very successful project. Giving them a density bonus is what really helped. By showing these successful projects we can encourage developers that it still can be done by rolling out a plan and have the fees in order at the start. Max and others are doing it in several areas now. Commissioner Scarpelli asked if it is going to be possible to continue through 2004 under the present plan to duplicate Villa Loma and Laurel Tree (which were approved by the City five - six years ago) with all the changes that are going on including construction constraints, land-use constraints, etc. Mr. Ruiz expressed he thought it was absolutely possible. Mr. Ruiz gave an example, which he is currently processing, that is going forward to the Planning Cornmission on June 21s‘ . This example includes 24 for sale condominium affordable units. He says the Ci’s lnclusionary Program is working very, very well. He stated that he had some local housing advocates actually use our lnclusionary Housing Program as an example to other communities to say, “If you want to do lnclusionary Housing correctly, look at Carlsbad.” HOUSING COMMISSION MlNb i tS MAY 11,2000 PAGE8of 12 Commissioner Rene had a question regarding the new homes being built on Melrose-six bedrooms, 7,000 square feet with small granny quarters. She asked if the granny quarters are a second dwelling and if so, does it go toward this count of Affordable Housing? The second part of her question included the fact that landlords do not like to provide certain information, so is there a possible credit or a financial incentive to get the landlords to participate in the Affordable Housing process? Mr. Ruiz commented with regard to the second dwelling units, we just went forward with an lnclusionary Housing Ordinance change. The original element in 1990, which this is revising, had second dwelling units as a great way to provide Affordable Housing. A large percentage of the units provided were second dwelling units which is included in Appendix B of the Housing Element document which reviews our lnclusionary Program and how many units were built for each project. The Ci was told unless we rent-restrict those second dwelling units and the Ci qualifies the individual going in there, it is not going to count toward Affordable Housing. The essential extra paper work on the part of the landlord may be a disincentive to provide second dwelling units in future projects. The City has another program called ‘Rehabilitation”. The City’s lnclusionary Program allows developers to go in and acquire apartments and rent-restrict those units, if they wanted to do that in lieu of providing housing else where. In answer to Commissioner Rene’s question as to the incentive of credit or some kind of reward for landlords to provide information, Mr. Ruiz concluded that the City of Carlsbad is deleting that program because the San Diego Apartment Association is already providing the.City of Carlsbad with that information. Therefore, it would be a needless effort to be striving to duplicate that information. Commissioner Rene also wanted to share on that particular issue in the Rancho Carrillo Master Plan that as part of the Ci’s Affordable Housing Agreement for Rancho Carrillo, fifty of their units in their master plan area are being provided to meet their Affordable Housing obligation for the master plan. So they are being counted currently. And in the future they are going to have to be different to be counted for Affordable Housing. But they do have units in there that would be available for rent which was to meet the lnclusionary Housing Element. That whole master pian has an apartment project that was just recently completed which is the Rancho Carrillo Family Apartments which is 116 units. They also are going to be building condos. So they had a mixture in how they were going to meet their Affordable Housing. But generally, how we’ve been going about providing Affordable Housing is through the lnclusionary Housing Requirement. So their incentive is the approval of being able to build the houses they want to build there. Commissioner Doris had a question about the mixed use of Residential Development in the Commercial Areas. She recalled that Carlsbad frowned on this and asked if this was a new concept or if anything had been done regarding this? Mr. Ruiz replied that in general, in the Redevelopment Area there are certain areas that the City would encourage or be open-minded about mixed use because it is an urban village. Part of this includes the mixed use and under-utilized areas. Another part strives to overwhelmingly show the State and Local Agencies that the City of Carlsbad has plenty of room to accommodate what our “Regional Share” would be. The City doesn’t even have to do it necessarily with new construction if we want to go out and start acquiring. There are other areas, for instance, the beach areas such as Garfield, which is one of the highest density areas the City of Carlsbad has. These are all singlefamily homes. Theoretically, even when the Ci does reach built out and there is no more vacant land left, Urban Theory says, that some of those areas would get higher density which is how the City would accommodate growth. The Housing Element lists all the potential growth areas so it is clear as to what possibly could happen. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES MAY 11,2OOO PAGE 9 of 12 Poinsettia Properties, which is over by the transit station, is building Affordable Apartments. Bordering Poinsettia Properties is an area in the Master Plan that has the option to do living units above first floor commercial retail. They haven’t sold that property or come in with a developer, but the plans allow for it. There are developers looking at it. Commissioner Doris asked if the Ci of Carlsbad has encouraged the larger agriculture business to do anything about farm worker housing and if the City has any idea how many farm workers are born in Carlsbad that would use this type of housing. Mr. Ruiz explained that when Erin Letsch (now Risk Manager) was with the Planning Department she conducted a study of farmland and found that, unfortunately, agriculture is a waning industry in Carlsbad. In order for them to provide housing they would have to show to whomever they would be getting the money from, that they would be able to keep producing agriculture for another 30 years, which shows some of the financial constraints the farm worker housing situation has in Carlsbad. It is the extremely low income units the farm worker housing would have-single room occupancy-which is the type of housing that is provided for people with under 30% median income. Mike Grim explained that there were surveys done in the past regional task force for the homeless .who conducted a survey with a lot of the homeless individuals who are referred to as the rural homeless individuals living in the intra land of Encinitas. The survey checked to see how much money these people would be willing to withstand, just pennies on the dollar, to get housing. The vast majority said they would rather live in the inter land and send all their money to their relatives down south in Central America than spend any money up here to be more comfortable and they were perfectly suited with that. The only real issue was that a property owner would complain. Here you are trying to house people. It is the same with the homeless. You can’t really house the homeless unless they say they want to be housed. You can provide the programs for them and you can provide it as soon as it is possible. Commissioner Scarpelli requested to talk about the Accessibility Program, on the topic of persons with disabilities whether this would increase cost of construction by a considerable amount to accommodate this. He suggested that the City look at subsidizing close to 100% of this above and beyond the normal cost of construction. Mr. Ruiz explained that the recent State Accessibility Requirements requires every builder, including commercial, residential and industrial, to follow. The purpose of this program was to recognize these new standards of which one of our housing programs does now provide for accessibility for disabled persons. This is a Special Needs Group and we didn’t have any programs that tied our goals to what the State requirements or any other local requirements were. So this isn’t adding any requirements to any development that doesn’t already exist because of Title 24. Commissioner Scarpelli repeated his concern about the high expense of following this new requirement and that the City should be doing something to keep the units affordable to low median or median to very low or extremely very low now, that we have to look at that high cost area and think about subsidizing it up to 100% in those areas. Mr. Ruiz agreed with Commissioner Scarpelli regarding the high cost of construction where State Requirements play into affect in the Special Needs Group areas; therefore the City has to be flexible in what we are willing to provide to allow this type of affordable housing to go up. Commissioner Scarpelli gave the following example of making a two story building accessible to a disabled person. He stated that an elevator would be necessary. And so even a small structure it may cost as much as $45,000-$5O,OOO to put that elevator in. Or consider a standard bathroom verses a bathroom for people with disabilities4 is twice the area and much larger fMures. It is these little elements that start raising these costs that make it less affordable. Chairman Latas went on to ask for a vote since the discussion was resolved. Commissioner Richie had an additional question before voting. She questioned how Housing and Redevelopment Department will keep track of the units remaining affordable for a period of 30 years as it states on page 85. These units must remain affordable for a period of 30 years.” HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES MAY 11,2000 PAGE 10 of 12 Ms. Fountain informed Commissioner Richie that the new Ordinance is now 55 years for which the units have to remain affordable and this will be accomplished through Agreements. There is a Deed Restriction against the property and Agreements with the property owners. Mike Grim explained that this direction comes from a program, and that implementing it is done through an Ordinance which is even more restrictive than the program. This Ordinance keeps the City of Carlsbad above and beyond the goals of the program. Chairperson Latas asked for other questions or comments. There were none and he went on to briefly conclude that with the new "Self-Certification" requirements the Ci of Carlsbad is going to be serving a much broader segment of the low-income community and so the City will need to do extra work to fulfill the needed process, by approving a much larger amount of funds to assist with Affordable Housing where State Requirements come into affect. Chairperson asked for comments from the public and since there were no comments from the public, Chairperson Latas called for a motion. ACTION: Motion by Commissioner Scarpelli, and seconded by Commissioner Richie, for the Housing Commission to adopt Housing Commission Resolution No. 2000-002 recornmending approval to the Planning Commission and City Council of the City of Carlsbad, a General Plan Amendment, GPA98-04 based upon the findings. VOTE: 5-0-0 AYES: Commissioners: Rene Houston Doris Richie Charles Griffin Ed Scarpelli NOES None ABSTAIN: None Chairperson Latas confirmed that Resolution No. 2000-002 had been recommended for approval and sent to the Carlsbad City Council and immediately went on to the Director's Report. Ms. Fountain began with introducing Miss Houston, formally welcoming her to the Commission Board and asked if she would like to share about herself. Commissioner Houston graciously took over and shared that she works for a State Agency, the Employment Development Department, as a Career Counselor, serving a cross section of population and placing them in the workforce. Ms Fountain shared that the Housing Department does regular on-going discussions with the School District this Department has met the School District's new business manager. The working relationship between the City and the School District is improving compared to where it was several years ago, even though the fees obviously are not going to go down. Ms. Fountain the following regarding the Status Report, which is included in this Cornmission Meeting, on where the Ci is in terms of Affordable Housing. She shared that the 92 unit apartment project, the Poinsettia Properties Project, is moving pretty quickly to construction and that they are hoping to start getting leased units pretty soon. Laurel Tree is moving ahead. They have moved in 18 families already even though they have not finished construction. This Quarterly Status Report, which informs you of the status on the other project, shows how many have been done in second dwelling units and apartments, etc. HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES MAY 11,2000 PAGE 11 of 12 Ms. Fountain also pointed out that the other report, included with the Quarterly Status Report, is related to the Section 8 Program. At the last meeting there was a request to find out some information on this. She explained if the Commission Board had any questions regarding this Section 8 Program Report that they could call Bobie Nun in the Housing and Redevelopment Department. The Section 8 Program does have a huge waiting list in part because of the limited number of Certificates and vouchers that are available approximately a little over 500. The Housing Department has to get new certificates and vouchers from the Federal Government before we can help people off this waiting list. There hasn't been a lot of these certificates and vouchers available in the last few years. According to Ms. Fountain, the City is applying for those certificates and vouchers as they are available. She pointed out that this is an ongoing problem with almost every city that has a Section 8 Rental Systems Program. This waiting list is a very low income group, proving that this group has a serious standing need. Commissioner Scarpelli commented that now is our opportunity to move as quickly as we can in taking advantage of everything of the fact that there is so much money in the Federal Government Treasuries right now. Chairman Latas added that the statistics report on the Section 8 waiting list shows the City has about 1600 people and at least 50% of those would actually fit into the extremely low category, the under 30% which is the hardest sector for find housing. In the Chairman's Report, his main concern was that he found the Section 8 waiting list information lacking in the income levels because the 30% is set at $900 a month and he knows several people in the Section 8 that are around $600 a month, which is the extremely low income bracket, not the low income bracket. This would make it a problem to get "Self-Certified". Chairperson Latas asked if there was any other business. Chairperson Houston asked Chairperson Latas if this statistics report was of the City of Carlsbad's participation at this time and Chairperson Latas assured her it was and it also was a nice breakdown, but that it did not have the incomes as of yet. Mr. Ruiz veriiied that the incomes do not show until someone comes on the program itself rather than just being on the waiting list, which shows the number of applicants under a certain amount of income who want to be in the program but are not at this time. Commissioner Richie asked who actually applies for the vouchers. Ms. Fountain replied that to get additional vouchers, it is actually the Housing Department that does the application and applies to the Federal Government. Whenever we're notified that there are some vouchers available, we apply for them. It is a competitive process, so there are no guarantees. Sometimes they are restricted to certain groups. The City has received some additional vouchers for persons with disabilities. Sometimes the Federal Government will have specific groups they are trying to focus on and sometimes they will be general certificates or vouchers. We do apply for the general certificates and vouchers whenever they are available. These are not made available very often. It depends on what the budget is doing at the Federal level and to what it has been funded toward. Sometimes they become available a couple times a year. Sometimes it will be several years in between before they become available. Commissioner Scarpelli asked who interfaces with our Federal Representatives in the House and in the Senate, whether each City can say, She Section 8 program is not getting enough funds in that program." Do we talk directly to our representative at the Federal Level? HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES MAY 11,2OOO PAGE 12 of 12 Ms. Fountain explained that the City has a legislative platform the Council approves every year and it has on it that more funding is needed for this program or a position on legislation that might come up. The City has a lobbyist who works for the City including the City Council. The City Council often will go to Washington D.C. or to the State to ask for specific things. Chairperson Latas shared more concerning Section 8 and the long waiting lists, pointing out that there are not sufficient funds nor sufficient units. Ms. Fountain confirmed that the Ci does have difficulty getting landlords to participate. She said that in some cases when the economy is bad, we don’t have a problem with participation, and when it’s good they can rent the units for basically whatever they want to. They don’t need us and so, they are less likely to participate. But there are caps on the rent because the Federal Government sets fair market rents However, with the voucher program, the household can pay more than 30% of their income on rent if they choose to do so. On the other hand, in the Certificate Program you are limited to a rent amount and limited to that person cannot pay more than 30% of their rent and still be affordable. The Federal Government has a lot of regulations. There is a lot of paperwork and it can be too paper intensive for some landlords who have the market such as it is right now where in Carlsbad there is less than 1% vacancy. They don’t have a need to work with us. So we have to do all sorts of things to get landlords. Bobbie Nun does a very good job working with landlords to work with the Affordable Housing Program. But we’re always looking for more landlords and so that is a constant problem in Carlsbad, just having the inventory that we need in addition to the funding that we need. So the Federal Government is continuing to fund the program and even at that it is still not meeting the need that is out there. We encourage everybody to wriie letters the Congressman to encourage more funding. Commissioner Houston asked if a person gets on the Section 8 waiting list in Carlsbad, can they go over to Oceanside, Vista or Escondido and get on the list over there as well, causing duplications of list with other cities? Ms. Fountain replied that, yes, a person could be on several lists at one time, causing some duplications, but each Ci sets some priorities. For instance, the City of Carlsbad’s, that if a person is already a resident in Carlsbad, they would be put above the person who is not a citizen of Carlsbad rather than both of them be put on the bottom of the list. Chairperson Latas commented that though a person worked in the City of Carlsbad but does not live in the City of Carlsbad theoretically that person would never reach the top. Mr. Ruiz confirmed that he could get on their list, but that person may never get to the top of list. ADJOURNMENT By proper motion, the Regular meeting of May 11,2000 was adjourned at 7:s p.m. Respectfully submitted, DEBBIE FOUNTAIN Housing and Redevelopment Director JUDY KIRSCH Minutes Clerk MINUTES ARE ALSO TAPED AND KEPT ON FILE UNTIL THE WRlllEN MINUTES ARE APPROVED. tie T~E CiTy of Cadsbad Housirq AN^ REdwElopMErn DEPARTMENT A REPORT TO T~E HousiNc, COMMiSSiON STAff: CRAic, Ruiz ITEM NO. 1 DATE: MAY 11,2000 SUBJECT: GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE- Request for a General Plan Amendment to adopt the updates and revisions to the Housing Element of the General Plan for the 1999-2004 Housing Element cycle as required by the California Government Code. I. RECOMMENDATION That the Housing Commission ADOPT Housing Commission Resolution No. 2000- 002, recommending APPROVAL to the Planning Commission and City Council of the City of Carlsbad of General Plan Amendment GPA 98-04, based upon the findings contained therein. I II. PROJECT BACKGROUND The City is processing a General Plan Amendment to update and revise the Housing Element, as required periodically by State Law. The current update is for the 1999- 2004 Housing Element cycle. It is the Housing Commission’s role in this process to provide the City Council with input and recommendations on amendments to the General Plan Housing Element, including the establishment or amendment of affordable housing programs, policies, strategies and regulations. 111. DISCUSSION The following discussion is divided into five sections. Section A discusses the State Law requirements and the details of Housing Element preparation. Section B discusses the previous Housing Element overhaul in the early 1990’s that set most of the City’s current housing policies. Section C discusses the current Housing Element revision process and content, including new and revisited programs. Section D discusses San Diego County’s Self-Certification program and Section E details the City’s quantified housing objectives for the 1999-2004 housing cycle and its ability to accommodate the Regional Share Housing Needs Assessment. . Income Group GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE MAY 11, 2000 PAGE 2 Annual Household Income A. Housing Element BackgroundlState Law Requirements Of all of the required General Plan elements, the Housing Element is the only element that must be certified in accordance with California State Law on a regular basis. The requirements for Housing Elements (California Government Code Section 65580) dictate the process and timing for element preparation and adoption as well as the minimum element content. More specifically, the law requires that each jurisdiction in California: 1) identify and analyze the existing and projected housing needs, and 2) list goals, policies, objectives, resources and programs for the preservation, improvement and development of housing. Current housing element law and processing requirements include a system of rotating “housing element cycles” throughout the state. Every five years different areas of the state, typically divided by Council of Governments (COGs) like SANDAG, are required to determine their share of the statewide housing need and then allocate that anticipated need among their member jurisdictions. each jurisdiction is required to update their local Housing Element to address the new housing allocations and certify that the element is in accordance with State Law. The assessed need is known as the Regional Share Housing Needs Assessment (Regional Share) and is broken into four income categories, as shown in Table 1 - “Income Groups Definitions by Annual Household Income“ below. II TABLE I - INCOME GROUPS DEFINITIONS BY ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD I INCOME Above Moderate Income Over 120 percent of area median income 2000 San Diego area median income for a four-person family = $58,00Oa The timing of the five-year housing cycles is different for different COGs, therefore several COGs are undergoing this element ,revision process each year. The first housing cycle for the SANDAG jurisdictions ended on June 30, 1985 and the second cycle ended on June 30, 1990. The third housing cycle for the SANDAG jurisdictions was extended through several legislative actions to June 30, 1999. The City’s fourth housing cycle, the subject of this Housing Element, runs from July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2004. GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE MAY 11,2000 PAGE 3 Income Group Very low income (31 - 50 percent of A.M.I.) The Regional Share for the City of Carlsbad for the 1999-2004 housing cycle is as follows: Housing Units 1,770 TABLE 2 - REGIONAL SHARE HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT I FOR CARLSBAD FOR THE 1999 - 2004 HOUSING CYCLE Moderate income (81 - 120 percent of A.M.I.) Above-moderate income (over 120 percent of A.M.I.) 1,436 1,591 I Low income (51 - 80 percent of A.M.I.) I 1,417 I Total Regional Share Housing Needs Assessment 1 A.M.I. = San Diego County area median income 6,214 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~____ In addition to establishing the procedure for distributing housing needs for the region, Housing Element law also contains very specific requirements for the content of Housing Elements. A list of required sections is contained in Section iii of the I999 Housing Element. A summary of those sections and their required contents are listed below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. A housing needs assessment and inventory of constraints and resources. The assessment must also demonstrate that there are adequate sites within the jurisdiction that have the appropriate zoning, development standards and public facility availability to accommodate the growth estimated by the Regional Share and for persons with special needs, most notably the homeless. A statement of goals, quantified objectives and policies to provide housing; A five-year housing program that demonstrates: adequate sites to accommodate the anticipated housing needs, assistance in the development of affordable housing, removal of governmental constraints, conservation of existing housing stock, promotion of equal access to housing for all persons, and the preservation of assisted housing; Public participation program in the preparation of the draft housing element; and The Regional Share Housing Needs Assessment. GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE MAY 11, 2000 PAGE 4 As mentioned in item number 4, the City is required to conduct a public participation program in order to ascertain any housing needs or opportunities not contained in the demographic data or the preliminary draft element. Once a City has prepared a draft element, it must be submitted to the California State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for review. Provided that HCD returns positive comments, the City then makes the necessary revisions to the element and takes it through the local approval process. Once approved locally, the City submits the final element to HCD for official certification that the element is in substantial compliance with State Housing Law (unless that jurisdiction is eligible to self-certify in accordance with Section 65585.1 of the California Government Code - see Section D below). B. Previous Housing Element Update The 1990 Housing Element update represented the most comprehensive revision of the Housing Element in the City’s history. Pre-1990 Housing Elements were extremely vague. There were no quantified housing objectives and no clear programs or policies to create affordable housing opportunities. In the late 1980’s and early 19903, however, State housing law was significantly augmented, requiring all jurisdictions to submit their Housing Elements to the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for certification. As a result of these changes to housing law and the comments from HCD, the City undertook a three-year rewrite of the Housing Element and related ordinances, resulting in the following: - Six goals covering specific areas of concern; Detailed and expanded housing programs to support these goals; New ordinances that assist in the production of affordable housing; - - The new ordinances created included the lnclusionary Housing Ordinance, Second Dwelling Unit Ordinance, and the Residential Density Bonus Or In-Lieu Incentives Ordinance. These ordinances have been responsible for the vast majority of housing affordable to lower-income households produced in Carlsbad over the last nine years. A detailed summary of this affordable housing production is contained in Appendix B - “Review of lnclusionary Housing Program” of the 1999 Housing Element. Listed below is a condensed summary of housing production for the 1990-1999 housing cycle, by income group, as compared to the City’s Regional Share Housing Needs Assessment for the same housing cycle. The affordability of some units was undeterminable, therefore they are listed as income unknown. -- Total Units Constructed GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE MAY 11,2000 PAGE 5 Regional Share Housing Needs Assessment TABLE 3 - TOTAL HOUSING CONSTRUCTED BY INCOME GROUP - 1990 - 1999 Very low-income Low-income Income Group 247 1,443 195 1,066 “Other” income income unknown 3,580 2,447 730 --- Moderate-income I 297 I 1,317 I Total Units 4,890 6,273 In addition to the actual housing production, there were several affordable housing projects that began construction in the 1990-1999 housing cycle, namely the Laurel Tree, Poinsettia Station and Rancho Carrillo Apartments, Cherry Tree Walk and Calavera Hill Village L-I. Once completed, these projects will add nearly 300 affordable units (both for sale and rental) to the City’s housing stock. C. Current Housing Element Update The goal of the 1999 Housing Element Update is to continue the success of the currently active programs (such as the lnclusionary Housing Program) in providing a mixture of housing types and affordability and to preserve other programs that may be needed to accomplish Self-certification or take advantage of changing housing opportunities. The structure of the 1999 Housing Element is revised from the 1990 element and follows the format detailed below: 1999 HOUSING ELEMENT CONTENTS 1. Housing Needs and Inventory (including potential growth and quantified objectives) The housing needs section contains an evaluation of the trends in population and household characteristics and an evaluation of persons with special needs (e.g. elderly, person with disabilities, large households, etc.). Also included in this section is a map indicating potential areas of the City for future emergency or transitional homeless shelters. GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE MAY 11,2000 PAGE 6 The housing inventory portion of this section details the state of the existing housing stock. The housing inventory also evaluates the future housing stock by analyzing the vacant residential land, underutilized areas, and non- residential zones. In addition, the section also contains the summary of residential potential for the 1999-2004 housing cycle (to demonstrate adequate sites to accommodate the Regional Share Housing Needs Assessment) and the City’s quantified housing objectives. 2. 3. 4. Housing Constraints and Mitigating Opportunities This section contains a discussion of the governmental, non-governmental and environmental constraints to the production of housing, and ways in which these constraints could be mitigated to reduce their impact to housing. Examples of constraints include regulatory land use controls, open space preservation, cost of land, financing, water supply and topography. Housing Goals, Objectives, Policies and Programs This section contains the goals and programs that will guide residential development towards the quantified housing objectives. Appendices The appendices contain a review of the I990 Housing Element and a summary of the housing production and fee collection associated with the lnclusionary Housing Program, as well as several pertinent attachments - maps, applicable City ordinances and zoning regulations, State Housing Law, SANDAG’s Self- Certification Report, the City’s 1999 Consolidated Funding Plan, the City’s 1998-1 999 Annual Housing Report, a development fee schedule, and copies of the public notices and mailing lists for the Housing Element public outreach program. State Housing Law also requires public participation in the preparation of the draft Housing Element and a review of that draft by HCD prior to local adoption. The City conducted its public outreach program early in the process in order to maximize the benefit of any public comment in draft element preparation. Staff held a public workshop on April 8, 1999 that was attended by representatives from HCD, SANDAG, the Building Industry Association, League of Women Voters, local builders and developers, local and regional housing advocates, and interested citizens. In addition to the workshop, staff made survey forms available and collected written public comments through April 23, 1999. All comments received were considered when establishing the goals, objectives, policies and programs for housing in the 1999-2004 housing cycle. GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE MAY 11,2000 PAGE 7 After concluding the initial public participation process, the draft Housing Element was submitted to HCD in May 1999. After receiving initial comments from HCD and making the appropriate revisions, the draft was resubmitted to the State in January 2000. With the exception of two minor additions of data, HCD determined the draft Housing Element to be in compliance with State Law. The final step involves adoption of the Housing Element Update by the City Council and resubmittal to the State for final Housing Element certification, With regard to the goals, objectives, policies and programs, Carlsbad has experienced great success in housing production over the last housing cycle. Therefore, virtually all of the programs contained in the 1990 Housing Element are being repeated for this housing cycle. Some of these programs were modified to reflect their status as an ongoing program, rather than a new program while others were significantly modified or deleted to reflect new opportunities. The deletion of these programs caused a renumbering of subsequent programs, therefore some programs may have new numbers without changing the actual text. Listed below are the significant changes to the City’s housing programs: Deleted Programs: Program 7.4 - Renfal Stock Monitoring - There was very little cooperation from local landlords, therefore the data gathered did not represent an adequate population for statistical evaluation. The data of interest is already gathered by the San Diego County Apartment Association and available to the City for rental stock monitoring. Program 7.70 - Neighborhood Improvement - Implementation of this program came under tremendous public opposition, as it was perceived as discriminatory by ethnically categorizing neighborhoods and separating them from surrounding areas through special consideration. Funds are still available for any area of the City to perform neighborhood improvements, however the actual housing program is being deleted. Program 3.6b - This program calls for the creation of an inclusionary housing program for all residential subdivisions. Since the City’s inclusionary program has been created, this program was deleted. Program 3.7j - Implementation of New Ordinances - This program was designed to incorporate the then proposed ordinances dealing with inclusionary housing, density bonuses and other incentives and alternative housing types. Ordinances have been adopted and are currently in use, therefore this program is no longer applicable. GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE MAY 11, 2000 PAGE 8 Program 3.10~ - Moderate lnclusionary - This program was designed to require five (5) percent of all new housing units to be affordable to moderate income households as part of the City’s lnclusionary Housing Program. After considering the other requirements of the lnclusionary Housing Program and resurgence of moderate-income housing production by the free market, this program was not implemented. Revised Programs: Program 3.3a - Homeless - This program has been updated to include the possible strategies being discussed on a sub-regional and regional level with regard to the provision of shelter for homeless individuals and families. The program now lists as possible remedies: participation in sub-regional or regional summits to coordinate efforts and resources for the provision of homeless shelters, continuing to provide funding for local shelters and case management service organizations, reviewing local zoning controls to alleviate barriers to the feasible provision of housing for the homeless, and a continuation of assistance to local providers in site location, acquisition and permit processing for homeless shelters. Program 3.10b - Lending Programs - The City has further developed its strategy to provide homebuyer assistance to moderate-income households. The City is currently drafting a more specific program that uses funds from the Housing Trust Fund and Redevelopment Set-aside Fund to provide moderate- income homebuyer assistance, especially to first-time homebuyers. This program was revised to reflect this new program. New Program: Program 3.16 - Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities - The City has added an objective and program to link the housing programs with the State Accessibility Requirements, as found in Title 24 of the State Building Code. This program requires the provision of access for persons with disabilities for all newly constructed and significantly renovated multifamily dwellings. Carry-Over Programs: Program 3.7.b - Alternative Housing - This program was designed to encourage the use of alternative housing types to facilitate the provision of affordable housing, especially for the very low and extremely low income households. Two ordinances were written to implement this program: the Second Dwelling Unit Ordinance and the Managed Living Unit Ordinance. The former ordinance has been adopted and has served to provide housing affordable to lower-income households. The latter ordinance was prepared but GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE MAY 11,2000 PAGE 9 not considered during the 1990 - 1999 Housing Element cycle. In order to achieve the City’s quantified housing objectives for very low and extremely low- income households for the 1999 - 2004 housing cycle, it is likely that continued implementation of this program would be necessary. Program 4.1 - Housing lmpact Fee - This program was designed to address the housing-jobs-work force balance through the implementation of a non- residential housing linkage fee. This fee would augment the other affordable housing fund sources and would assist in the provision of needed affordable housing for the Carlsbad work force. Staff conducted an economic nexus study and prepared a theoretical housing linkage fee. However, the fee was not considered. Since the City has already shown its ability to implement the lnclusionary Housing Program, the next step is to implement additional programs in the element to continue to provide a diverse stock of housing affordable to lower-income households and to persons with special needs. It is likely that, during the 1999-2004 housing cycle, staff will bring forward the mechanisms to implement some of the programs listed above. D. San Diego County Self-Certification Program As discussed above, the Housing Element requires review and certification by HCD. In 1995, SANDAG sponsored Assembly Bill AB 1715 to allow the San Diego region jurisdictions to conduct a pilot program for self-certification of their Housing Elements. Under this program, each SANDAG member jurisdiction has the option of reviewing its own Housing Elements and certifying that its elements are in substantial compliance with state law, provided certain criteria are met. Alternatively, the jurisdiction may choose to follow the path of State certification rather than pursue self- certification. The City Council has directed staff to pursue Self-Certification. The self-certification program is detailed in SANDAG’s “Housing Element - Self- Certification Report: Implementation of Pilot Program for the San Diego Region”, dated June 1998 (Housing Element Appendix G) and contains the self-certification criteria and performance objectives. These criteria and objectives were derived from cooperation between the local jurisdictions, housing advocacy groups and housing providers and are intended to provide more flexibility in the provision of affordable housing. In order to self-certify, the decision-maker of the jurisdiction (i.e. the City Council) must make the following findings: 1. The Housing Element substantially complies with the requirements of State Law, both with respect to content and preparation; and GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE MAY 11, 2000 PAGE 10 - Extremely low income (less than 30 percent of A.M.I.) Very low income (31 to 50 percent of A.M.I.) Low income (51 to 80 percent of A.M.I.) Total Housing Performance Objectives Under Self- Certification 2. The Housing Element and programs address the dispersion of affordable housing throughout the jurisdiction; and 170 units 201 units 258 units 629 units 3. The jurisdiction has met their self-certification housing performance objectives. The housing performance objectives for the self-certification process were derived using a different process than the Regional Share Housing Needs Assessment (Table -3 below). As opposed to assigning housing goals based purely upon expected need, the self-certification performance objectives take into account the individual City’s resources for housing production (e.g. if tax increment is collected through a Redevelopment Agency). Also, whereas the Regional Share Housing Needs Assessment can only be addressed by new construction, the self-certification performance objectives can be satisfied through a broader range of housing opportunities such as acquisition of existing housing, rent/purchase subsidies, rehabilitation and others. - The self-certification process also includes an income group not included through the State certification process: the extremely low-income group, with household incomes below 30 percent of the San Diego region median ($16,100 per year for a family of four). It is presumed that providing housing for this extremely low-income group will require heavier subsidies and/or City participation than for higher income groups, therefore the performance objectives for the other income categories are reduced accordingly. Listed below are Carlsbad’s performance objectives for the 1999 - 2004 housing cycle under self-certification: TABLE 3 - SELF-CERTIFICATION PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES FOR THE 1999-2004 HOUSING CYCLE I Income Group I Housing Units *- Income Group Extremely low Very low Low Moderate Above Moderate Unspecified Total units GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE MAY 11,2000 PAGE 11 Regional Self-Certification 1990-1 999 1999-2004 Share Performance Production Objectives Housing Objectives Needs NIA 170 0 170 1,304 20 1 247 21 0 1,057 258 195 260 1,430 NIA 297 630 2,423 NIA 3,580 4,955 NIA NIA 694 NIA 6,214 629 5,013 6,225 E. Quantified Housing Objectives and Adequate Sites Identification The programs and policies contained in this Housing Element Update are intended to allow residential growth in Carlsbad for households of all income groups and special needs. Due to economic conditions and other unforeseen circumstances, it is difficult to predict the housing production during a particular housing cycle. Section 65583(b) of the California Government Code nonetheless requires quantified objectives relative to the maintenance, preservation, improvement and development of housing. The quantified‘ objectives for the 1999 - 2004 housing cycle were determined based upon past housing production and the City’s goal to self-certify the Housing Element in the 2004 - 2009 housing cycle. Table 4 below compares the assessed regional share housing needs, the self- certification housing performance objectives, the City’s housing production during the 1990 - 1999 housing cycle, and the City’s quantified objectives for housing production in the 1999 - 2004 housing cycle. TABLE 4 - COMPARISON OF HOUSING NEEDSlPERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES AND QUANTIFIED OBJECTIVES - HOUSING UNITS BY INCOME GROUP While State Law allows for these quantified objectives to differ from the Regional Share Housing Needs Assessment, each iurisdiction must prove that there are adequate sites available to accommodate their Regional Share Housing Needs Assessment. In order for a site to be considered adequate, it must be available for development within the five-year housing cycle and must be as free of constraints as GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE MAY 11,2000 PAGE 12 General Plan Designation RL - Residential Low possible. In order for any property within Carlsbad to develop within the 1999-2004 housing cycle, it must be located within an approved Local Facilities Management Zone. It must also be considered developable, that is, free of steep slopes, major easements or significant biological resources. Total Unit Yield at Unit Yield at Vacant Growth General Plan Acreage Control Point Maximum 676 676 1,014 There are approximately 650 acres of developable residential land within the City that is not covered by an approved Local Facilities Management Zone. Deducting this acreage from the overall developable land, the estimate of residential development potential for the 1999-2004 housing cycle is 24,694 housing units. As demonstrated in Table 5 below, there is plenty of developable land within the City to accommodate the Regional Share Housing Needs Assessment of 6,214 housing units. RM - Residential Medium RMH - Residential Medium High RH - Residential High 1,144 6,864 9,152 172 1,978 2,580 52 780 988 10,960 81768 1 RLM - Residential Low I 2,740 1 Medium TOTALS 4,784 acres 19,066 units 24,694 units Another part of the adequate sites identification involves the provision of emergency and transitional shelters for the homeless. Since the vast majority of the City’s homeless individuals live in the rural areas, the issues of farm worker housing and homeless in Carlsbad are inextricably tied. The City plans on continuing its four-tiered approach to the homeless during the next housing cycle. This approach involves: continued financial assistance to local shelters and case management services; continued cooperation with providers in site location, acquisition and permitting (as with Catholic Charities and La Posada de Guadalupe); continued participation in the sub-regional programs (such as the hotel voucher program); and furthered discussions with neighboring jurisdictions about regional and/or sub-regional solutions to the shared homeless needs. I L GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE MAY 11, 2000 PAGE 13 With regard to physically and administratively accommodating future homeless shelters, the City’s existing zoning designations of Neighborhood Commercial (C-I ), General Commercial (C-2) and Planned Industrial (P-M) all would allow homeless emergency and transitional shelters with approval of a Conditional Use Permit. Most of these zones are located near retail and transportation services and are adequately separated from residential areas to make them politically acceptable to the community (Map G - “Potential Areas for Emergency and Transitional Housing” located in Appendix C of the 1999 Housing Element). V. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW The potential environmental impacts associated with the goals, policies, objectives and programs of the updated Housing Element were reviewed in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act The element does not propose any changes to the City’s Land Use Element therefore no impacts to the City’s buildout of the General Plan will occur. The element does not actually produce development, therefore all potential site-specific impacts will be reviewed at the time of development of the I- specific project. As demonstrated above, the proposed 1999 Housing Element Update is consistent with all applicable land use policies and documents, including the General Plan and Local Coastal Program. No land use conflicts or significant negative environmental impacts to land use will occur due to implementation of the Housing Element programs. Based upon this analysis, the Planning Director determined that the Housing Element Update would not have a significant impact on the environment and, therefore, issued a Negative Declaration on April 14, 2000 for public review. No comments were received on the environmental review or Negative Declaration. EXHIBITS I. 2. Housing Commission Resolution No. 2000-002 Exhibit “A”, “1 999 Housing Element and Appendices”, dated May 11, 2000 (distributed previously under separate cover) , I. , . . .. I 1 , b L C E 7 e 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 - HOUSING COMMISSION RESOLUTION NO. 2000-002 A RESOLUTION OF THE HOUSING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA, RECOMMENDING APPROVAL OF AN AMENDMENT TO THE HOUSING ELEMENT OF THE GENERAL PLAN TO 2004 HOUSING CYCLE. CASE NAME: HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE ADOPT THE REVISIONS AND UPDATES FOR THE 1999- CASE NO: GPA 98-04 WHEREAS, a verified application regarding the periodic update to the City’s Housing Element of the General Plan has been filed with the City of Carlsbad; and WHEREAS, said verified application constitutes a request for a General Plan Amendment as shown on Exhibit “A dated May 17, 2000, on file in the Carlsbad Planning Department GPA 98-04 - HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE as provided in Government Code Section 65350 et seq. and Section 21.52.160 of the Carlsbad Municipal Code; and WHEREAS, the Housing Commission did, on the Ilth day of May 2000, hold a public meeting as prescribed by law to consider said request; WHEREAS, at said public meeting, upon hearing and considering all testimony and arguments, if any, of all persons desiring to be heard, said Commission considered all factors relating to the General Plan Amendment. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED by the Housing Commission of the City of Carlsbad, California, as follows: 1. The above recitations are true and correct. 2. The amendment to the General Plan Housing Element is consistent with the goals and objectives of the City of Carlsbad’s Housing Element, the Consolidated Plan, the lnclusionary Housing Ordinance, and the Carlsbad General Plan. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - a 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 - - 3. That based on the information provided within the Housing Commission Staff Report and testimony presented during the public meeting of the Housing Commission on May 11, 2000, the Housing Commission hereby ADOPTS Resolution No. 2000-002, recommending APPROVAL to the Planning Commission and City Council to amend the Housing Element of the Carlsbad General Plan GPA98-04. PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the Housing Commission of the City of Carlsbad, California, held on the 1 1 th day of May, 2000, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: ROY LATAS, CHAIRPERSON CARLSBAD HOUSING COMMISSION DEBORAH K. FOUNTAIN HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR HC RESO. NO. 2000-002 PAGE 2