HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-05-23; City Council; ; Zoning Ordinance Amendments to Implement Housing Element Programs on Alternative Housing and Temporary Housing to Relieve Homelessness (ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 (DEVCA Review ___RK_
Meeting Date: May 23, 2023
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Scott Chadwick, City Manager
Staff Contact: Scott Donnell, Senior Planner
scott.donnell@carlsbadca.gov, 442-339-2618
Subject: Zoning Ordinance Amendments to Implement Housing Element Programs
on Alternative Housing and Temporary Housing to Relieve Homelessness
(ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 (DEV 2023-0040))
District: All
Recommended Action
Hold a public hearing and:
1.Introduce an ordinance approving an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance, Title 21 of
the Carlsbad Municipal Code, to implement a portion of Objective g of Housing Element
Program 1.3 - Alternative Housing and Objective h of Housing Element Program 2.13 -
Housing for Persons Experiencing Homelessness
2.Adopt a resolution approving a Local Coastal Program amendment to update the Local
Coastal Program Implementation Plan (Zoning Ordinance, Title 21 of the Carlsbad
Municipal Code) to implement a portion of Objective g of Housing Element Program 1.3
-Alternative Housing and Objective h of Housing Element Program 2.13 - Housing for
Persons Experiencing Homelessness
Executive Summary
Every city in California is required to have a current Housing Element in its General Plan. The
Housing Element is a plan that provides an analysis of a community’s housing needs for all
income levels, along with strategies to respond to and provide for those housing needs.
Among other things, there are policies, programs and objectives within the Housing Element
that promote and encourage the construction of alternative and temporary housing types.
Specifically, the Housing Element’s Program 1.3 – Alternative Housing and Program 2.13 -
Housing for Persons Experiencing Homelessness include objectives that require the city to
amend its Zoning Ordinance to increase and clarify allowances for special needs housing such as
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 1 of 94
emergency shelters, employee housing, residential care facilities, low barrier navigation
centers,1 and group and boarding homes.
The proposed amendments will bring the Zoning Ordinance in the Municipal Code and the Local
Coastal Program, the planning document for the Coastal Zone, into compliance with these
Housing Element requirements as well as with state law. Amending the Local Coastal Program
would enable the proposed Zoning Ordinance amendments to also apply in the state-defined
Coastal Zone. Because the Zoning Ordinance is part of the Local Coastal Program
Implementation Plan, an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance also constitutes an amendment
to the implementation plan.
These amendments are presented to the City Council because amendments to the Zoning
Ordinance and Local Coastal Program require the City Council’s approval under Carlsbad
Municipal Code Section 21.52.050.
Failure to make these changes to these housing programs may result in HCD decertifying the
city’s Housing Element, which would greatly limit the city’s ability to regulate the type and
location of housing built in the Carlsbad.
Exhibit 1 is an ordinance adopting amendments to the Zoning Ordinance. Exhibit 2 is a
resolution approving the Local Coastal Program Amendment.
Explanation & Analysis
Background
Every eight years each city in California is required to update its General Plan Housing Element.
After a two-year process, on April 6, 2021, the City Council adopted an update to Carlsbad’s
Housing Element, which was later certified by the State Department of Housing & Community
Development (HCD) on July 13, 2021 (Exhibit 5).
The Housing Element includes policies, programs and objectives showing how the city intends
to accommodate its share of housing for the state’s current housing cycle, which is from 2021
to 2029. There are approximately 40 Housing Element programs that are further divided into
nearly 160 objectives. These objectives identify ongoing actions the city must implement
throughout the housing period and specific actions the city must timely accomplish.
The proposed amendments deal with two goals in the Housing Implementation section:
Goal 10-G.1, which requires the city to provide “new housing developed with
diversity of types, price, tenures, densities, and locations” to meet the demand of
anticipated city and regional growth.
Goal 10-G.2, which focuses more on affordable housing and special needs housing
(e.g., housing for seniors or persons with disabilities) and states in part that
“sufficient new, affordable housing opportunities in all quadrants of the city (are
necessary) to meet the needs of current lower- and moderate-income households
and those with special needs”
1 The state defines a low-barrier navigation center as a housing-first, low- barrier, service-enriched shelter focused
on moving people into permanent housing by providing temporary living facilities while case managers connect
individuals experiencing homelessness to income, public benefits, health services, shelter and housing.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 2 of 94
To achieve these goals, the Housing Element identifies two programs, each with specific
objectives:
Program 1.3 - Alternative Housing, Objective g
Requires the city to review and amend its municipal code to make it consistent with state
law and reduce legislative barriers to promote transitional housing and housing for persons
with disabilities. Additionally, the objective requires the city to review and revise
requirements to allow group homes and residential care facilities for seven or more
residents in all residential zones.
Program 2.13 - Housing for Persons Experiencing Homelessness, Objective h
Requires the city to amend its municipal code to be consistent with state law regarding the
regulation of low barrier navigation centers, emergency shelters and supportive housing
provisions2 to comply with recent changes to state law.
HCD’s certification of the city’s Housing Plan (Exhibit 5) requires that the city “must continue
timely and effective implementation of programs.” Among the programs specifically identified
in the certification letter is Program 1.3 and its provisions regarding group homes. The HCD
letter states:
Group Homes for Seven or More: The element notes that group homes for seven or
more persons (also referred to as large residential care facilities) are permitted
differently than groups homes for six or fewer persons and are conditionally
permitted in only a few zones (pg. 167). Additionally, the element notes that
residential care facilities must provide one parking space for every three beds. HCD
finds the permitting and parking requirements to be constraints for developing and
providing access to housing for persons with disabilities. As such, the City must
implement Program 1.3 (Alternative Housing), objective g: to review and amend the
Carlsbad zoning ordinance to allow group homes of seven or more in the same
manner as group homes of six or fewer; allow group homes in all residential zones;
and remove constraints, including parking constraints, to housing for persons with
disabilities by April 2023.
The city has already partially implemented Objective g Program 1.3 through Zoning Ordinance
Amendment ZCA 2022-0002 and Local Coastal Program Amendment LCPA 2022-0014, which
the City Council approved on Sept. 27, 2022 (Exhibit 6). This prior code amendment, among
other things, revised the definition of “family,” defined “employee housing” and added it as a
2 Supportive housing means housing with no limit on the length of stay that is occupied by the someone in a target
population (as defined in Government Code Section 65582) and that is linked to onsite or offsite services that help
the resident retain the housing, improve their health status and maximize their ability to live and, when possible,
work in the community. Supportive housing is a residential use and is subject to only those restrictions that apply
to other residential uses of the same type in the same zone (Zoning Ordinance Section 21.04.355.1). Section 65582
defines target population as people with low incomes who have one or more disabilities, including mental illness,
HIV or AIDS, substance abuse, or other chronic health condition; or individuals eligible for services provided under
the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (California Welfare and Institutions Code, Division 4.5) This
group may include, among other populations, adults, emancipated minors, families with children, the elderly,
young adults aging out of the foster care system, people exiting from institutional settings, veterans and people
experiencing homelessness.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 3 of 94
permitted use in several zones, and amended the parking standard for residential care facilities.
These changes were made to comply with state law.
Staff bifurcated implementation of Program 1.3 g. to quickly accomplish the program’s simpler
tasks as part of a recurring city effort to make minor edits, correct errors and address state-
mandated changes to city regulations. Local Coastal Program Amendment LCPA 2022-0014 is
now awaiting the California Coastal Commission’s review and approval. (Should the commission
require any changes to that amendment, they would need to be reviewed and approved by the
City Council before they became effective).
Proposed amendments
A summary of some of the more significant changes proposed are highlighted below:
Program 1.3 – Supportive Housing, Objective g.
• Residential care facilities: The Zoning Ordinance currently permits residential care
facilities serving no more than six persons in all zones allowing residential uses. In
three residential zones (R-3, R-P and RD-M), facilities serving seven or more persons
are also permitted, but only upon approval of a Planning Commission-issued
conditional use permit. The proposed changes would conditionally permit (i.e., allow
with a conditional use permit) residential care facilities serving seven or more
persons in all residential zones. This is consistent with state law (e.g., Government
Code sections 65583(a)(5), 65583(c)(3), 65583(c)(5)).
• Group homes: The current Zoning Ordinance does not define or use the term “group
homes.” However, the Zoning Ordinance already permits group homes in the form
of residential care facilities, supportive housing, and transitional housing.3 The
current Zoning Ordinance definition of “family” allows communal living
arrangements, which is also consistent with state law.
o Proposed changes would define group homes and permit or conditionally permit
them in all zones allowing residential uses, consistent with state law, such as
Government Code sections 65583(a)(5), 65583(c)(3), and 65583(c)(5). Group
homes that both serve seven or more persons and require state licensing are
required to obtain a conditional use permit from the city. There is no limit on the
number of persons served in group homes that do not require state licensing.
These changes are allowed by state law.
o The city ‘s current definition of “family” imposes no limit on the number of
people. Moreover, group homes in the form of supportive and transitional
housing are currently permitted in the city’s residential zones with no maximum
number of persons served. For details on state requirements related to group
3 Transitional housing means rental housing operated under program requirements that call for the termination of
assistance and recirculation of the assisted unit to another eligible program recipient at some predetermined
future point in time, which shall be no less than six months. Transitional housing is a residential use and is subject
to only those restrictions that apply to other residential uses of the same type in the same zone (reference: Zoning
Ordinance Section 21.04.362).
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 4 of 94
homes, see Exhibit 10, a December 2022 technical advisory HCD published on
the subject.
Program 2.13 Housing for Persons Experiencing Homelessness, Objective h.
• Low barrier navigation centers, as noted above, are shelters that have additional
requirements and regulations than emergency shelters to provide temporary
housing but include case managers, health services and a focus on moving people
into permanent housing. The Zoning Ordinance currently does not define low barrier
navigation centers.
• As required by state law (Government Code Section 65660), Low barrier navigation
centers must be permitted anywhere an emergency shelter is allowed as well as in
any areas zoned for mixed use and nonresidential zones permitting multifamily uses.
Currently, emergency shelters are permitted (no more than 30 beds) or conditionally
permitted (more than 30 beds) in the city’s industrial zones (M and P-M), an area of
approximately 1,510 acres.
• In the M Zone, Catholic Charities operates La Posada de Guadalupe, a 100-bed
emergency shelter at 2476 Impala Drive. The City Council approved a grant in 2022
to allow Catholic Charities to expand staffing at the shelter so it can better serve
guests as a low barrier navigation center. The city also secured a $2 million grant
from the County of San Diego in December 2022 to expand La Posada de Guadalupe
and serve women and those with children for the first time in the shelter’s history.
Since state law supersedes local land use regulations on this subject, staff are
processing Catholic Charities’ expansion project consistent with Government Code
section 65660 until the proposed Zoning Ordinance amendments are approved.
• The proposed amendments would add a definition for low barrier navigation centers
and allow them without a conditional use permit, regardless of size, in any
residential zone that provides for multi-family residential and in commercial zones
allowing residential uses. Since low barrier navigation centers provide essential
shelter for people experiencing homelessness, allowing them in multiple zones helps
further the city’s capacity to reduce homelessness. Government Code section 65668
states that the provisions related to Low Barrier Navigation Centers remain in effect
until Jan. 1, 2027, unless extended.
• Emergency shelters: As noted, emergency shelters are permitted in the city’s
industrial zones. As state law requires (Government Code section 65583 (a)(4)(C)),
proposed amendments would not change where emergency shelters can locate but
would broaden the Zoning Ordinance’s definition of emergency shelters to allow for
“interim interventions, including, but not limited to, a navigation center, bridge
housing, and respite or recuperative care.”
The proposed code amendments, with the proposed changes highlighted, are provided as
Exhibit 3, while Exhibit 4 provides a description and analysis of each proposed amendment.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 5 of 94
Commission reviews
The proposed amendments were considered by the Planning Commission and the Airport Land
Use Commission.
Planning Commission
The Planning Commission conducted a public hearing on April 5, 2023, and recommended
unanimously to the City Council approval of the amendments to Title 21, the Zoning Ordinance,
and the Local Coastal Program as recommended by city staff. No public comments were
submitted to the city or received at the hearing.
Airport Land Use Commission
The proposed amendments affect land within the Airport Influence Area for the San Diego
County McClellan-Palomar Airport, so they are subject to review by the Airport Land Use
Commission – the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority – to determine consistency with
the McClellan-Palomar Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan. Airport Land Use Commission staff
have found the amendments consistent with the compatibility plan and will recommend their
findings to the Commission on May 4, 2023. (Staff will report the results of the Airport Land Use
Commission’s action as part of this presentation of this report.)
State review and requirements
Assembly Bill 72, which passed in 2017, authorized HCD to review “any action or failure to act”
by a city that it determines “inconsistent” with the city’s adopted housing element or
Government Code section 65583 (part of the Housing Element Law), including any failure to
implement any programs included in the jurisdiction’s housing element. In carrying out this
exercise, HCD may “consult with any local government, public agency, group, or person, and
shall receive and consider any written comments from any public agency, group, or person.”
Once HCD supplies its written findings to the city, a 30-day timeline begins, by the conclusion of
which the city must respond to the findings.
If HCD determines that the city’s action or failure to act does not “substantially comply” with
the state Housing Element law, or the city’s adopted Housing Element as certified by the state,
then HCD may revoke that certification until it determines that the city has come into
compliance. Additionally, HCD may also notify the California Office of the Attorney General that
the city is in violation of state law to take further action. HCD may also decertify a jurisdiction’s
housing element if it finds that a city has taken action/inaction in violation of the state Housing
Accountability Act, known as the No Net Loss Zoning Law, Density Bonus Statute, or the state’s
prohibition on discrimination against affordable housing found in Government Code Section
65008.
Should HCD decertify a city’s housing element, the city is then subject to Government Code
section 65589.5(d)(5), known as the Builder's Remedy. The Builder’s Remedy is a provision of
California's Housing Accountability Act that prevents jurisdictions without a substantially
compliant housing element from denying approval for certain housing projects, even if such
projects do not comply with the jurisdiction's zoning ordinance or general plan.
Community Engagement
The proposed amendments have been posted online since March 24, 2023, as part of a six-
week public review period for the Local Coastal Program amendment that began that date and
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 6 of 94
ended May 5, 2023. A Planning Commission hearing was held on April 5, 2023. Notice was
published before the Planning Commission and this hearing at least 10 days prior to the
meeting dates in accordance with the procedures set forth under Carlsbad Municipal Code
Section 21.54.060.
Staff published a notice of public hearing in the San Diego Union Tribune and Coast News on
May 12, 2023.
No public correspondence has been received on these amendments.
Fiscal Analysis
There is no anticipated fiscal impact from this action.
Next Steps
Following the City Council’s introduction of the ordinance (Exhibit 1), it will be scheduled at the
City Council’s next meeting for adoption. Thirty days following adoption, amendments to Title
21 of the Carlsbad Municipal Code will become effective outside of the Coastal Zone.
Within the Coastal Zone, the amendments to Title 21 will not become effective until the
California Coastal Commission approves the Local Coastal Program amendment. Staff will apply
to the Coastal Commission for its approval of the Local Coastal Program amendment following
the City Council’s adoption of the ordinance.
Environmental Evaluation
In accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act and its implementing regulations,
Section 15168 of the CEQA Guidelines sets the criteria for use of a program environmental
impact report for later activities to determine if an additional environmental document must be
prepared. Section 15168 (c) (2) directs a program EIR to follow the specific process referenced
in CEQA Guidelines sections 15162 through 15164. These sections set forth the criteria for
determining the appropriate additional environmental documentation, if any, to be completed
when there is a previously adopted EIR covering the project for which a subsequent
discretionary action is required (Refer to Exhibit 11 for additional support of this
determination).
Exhibits
1. City Council Ordinance
2. City Council Resolution
3. Proposed amendments to Title 21 with changes shown
4. Analysis table of proposed amendments
5. July 13, 2021, Housing and Community Development letter certifying the City of Carlsbad’s
Housing Element
6. City Council Ordinance CS-432 approved Sept. 27, 2022 (on file in the Office of the City
Clerk)
7. Planning Commission staff report dated April 5, 2023
8. Planning Commission Resolution No. 7476 dated April 5, 2023
9. Planning Commission minutes dated April 5, 2023
10. Group Home Technical Advisory, California Department of Housing and Community
Development, December 2022
11. California Environmental Quality Act determination
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 7 of 94
ORDINANCE NO. CS-448
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA,
APPROVING AN AMENDMENT TO THE ZONING ORDINANCE, TITLE 21 OF THE
CARLSBAD MUNICIPAL CODE, TO IMPLEMENT A PORTION OF OBJECTIVE G OF
HOUSING ELEMENT PROGRAM 1.3 -ALTERNATIVE HOUSING AND OBJECTIVE
H OF HOUSING ELEMENT PROGRAM 2.13 -HOUSING FOR PERSONS
EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS
CASE NAME: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY HOUSING AMENDMENTS 2023
CASE NO: ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 (DEV 2023-0040)
WHEREAS, the City Council adopted an update to the General Plan Housing Element on April 6,
2021;and
WHEREAS, on July 13, 2021, the State Department of Housing and Community Development
certified the city's adopted Housing Element as consistent with state law; and
WHEREAS, the certified Housing Element contains programs, further broken down into objectives,
that identify specific actions the city must implement on an ongoing basis or by specific due dates; and
WHEREAS, to implement Housing Element program objectives 1.3 g., Alternative Housing and 2.13
h., Housing for Persons Experiencing Homelessness, the City Planner has prepared amendments to the
Zoning Ordinance (Title 21 of the Carlsbad Municipal Code) and to the Local Coastal Program (ZCA 2023-
0002/LCPA 2023-0018) pursuant to Chapter 21.52 of the Carlsbad Municipal Code, Section 30514 of the
Public Resources Code, and Section 13551 of California Code of Regulations Title 14, Division 5.5; and
WHEREAS, on April 5, 2023, the Planning Commission held a duly noticed public hearing as
prescribed by law to consider ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018; and
WHEREAS the Planning Commission adopted Planning Commission Resolution No. 7476
recommending to the City Council that ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 be approved; and
WHEREAS, on May 4, 2023, the Airport Land Use Commission reviewed and found that the proposed Zone
Code Amendment is consistent with the adopted McClellan-Palomar Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan;
and
WHEREAS the City Council of the City of Carlsbad held a duly noticed public hearing as prescribed
by law to consider ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018; and
WHEREAS at said public hearing, upon hearing and considering all testimony and arguments, if
any, of all persons desiring to be heard, the City Council considered all factors, including written public
comments, if any, related to ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018; and
Exhibit 1
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 8 of 94
NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Carlsbad, California, ordains as follows that:
1. The above recitations are true and correct.
2. That the findings of the Planning Commission in Planning Commission Resolution No. 7476
shall also constitute the findings of the City Council.
3. That Chapter 21.04 “Definitions” Sections 21.04.055 and 21.04.140.5 of the Carlsbad
Municipal Code is amended as shown below:
21.04.055 Boardinghouse. “Boardinghouse” means a building with more than four guest rooms where
lodging and meals are provided for compensation but does not include rest homes, bed and breakfast
uses, employee housing, convalescent homes, or group homes.
21.04.140.5 Emergency shelter. “Emergency shelter” means year-round housing with minimal
supportive services for homeless persons or families with occupancy limited to six months or less by
homeless persons. An Emergency Shelter can also be inclusive of the interim interventions of navigation
center, bridge housing, and respite or recuperative care (defined in Government Code 65583 (a)(4)(C),
as of January 1, 2023) and as a Low Barrier Navigation Center defined in CMC 21.04.264.
4. That Chapter 21.04 “Definitions” Sections 21.04.163 and 21.04.264 of the Carlsbad
Municipal Code is added to read as follows:
21.04.163 Group Homes. “Group homes” means housing being used as a supportive living environment
shared and used by persons who are considered handicapped under state or federal law. Group Homes
may serve children, the elderly or chronically ill, mentally disabled individuals, or adults recovering from
or being treated for alcohol or drug addiction. A group home operated by a single operator or service
provider (whether licensed or unlicensed) can include residential care facilities, supportive housing,
transitional housing and other similar communal housing facilities but does not include boardinghouses.
A group home that does not require state licensing or does require state licensing but serves six or fewer
persons, is a residential use and is subject to only those restrictions that apply to other residential uses of
the same type in the same zone.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 9 of 94
21.04.264 Low Barrier Navigation Center. “Low Barrier Navigation Center” means any housing first
shelter focused on moving people into permanent housing that provides temporary living facilities as
outlined in Government Code 65660 as of January 1, 2023.
5. The permitted use tables in each of the following sections for zones R-A, R-E, R-1, R-2, R-3,
R-P, R-T, R-W, RD-M and RMHP is amended by the addition of the following use listing:
21.08.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.09.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.10.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.12.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.16.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.18.020 Permitted uses when the R-P Zone implements the “RMH” or “RH” General Plan Land Use
Designations, Table B.
21.20.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.22.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.24.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.37.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
Use P CUP Acc
Group homes (serving six or fewer persons and requiring state licensing)
(defined: Section 21.04.163) X
Group homes (state licensing not required)
(defined: Section 21.04.163) X
Group homes (serving seven or more persons and requiring state
licensing) (defined: Section 21.04.163) X
6. The permitted use tables in each of the following sections for zones C-1, C-2 and C-3 are
amended by the addition of the following use listing:
21.26.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.28.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.31.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
Use P CUP Acc
Group homes (serving seven or more persons and requiring state
licensing) (defined: Section 21.04.163) X
7. The permitted use tables in each of the following sections for zones R-2, R-3, R-P, R-T, RD-
M and RMHP are amended by the addition of the following use listing:
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 10 of 94
I I
Section 21.12.020 Permitted uses, Table A
Section 21.16.020 Permitted uses, Table A
Section 21.18.020 Permitted uses when the R-P Zone implements the “RMH” or “RH” General Plan Land
Use Designations, Table B
Section 21.20.020 Permitted uses, Table A
Section 21.24.020 Permitted uses, Table A
Section 21.37.020 Permitted uses, Table A
Use P CUP Acc
Low Barrier Navigation Center (defined: section 21.04.264) X
8. The permitted use tables in each of the following sections for zones R-A, R-E, R-1, R-2, R-3,
R-P, R-T, R-W, RD-M and RMHP, are amended by the addition of the new use listing as
shown below:
21.08.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.09.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.10.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.12.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.16.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.18.020 Permitted uses when the R-P Zone implements the “RMH” or “RH” General Plan Land Use
Designations, Table B.
21.20.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.22.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.24.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.37.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
Use P CUP Acc
Residential care facilities (serving seven or more persons)
(defined: Section 21.04.300) X
9. That Section 21.26.015 (Residential uses in the C-1 Neighborhood Commercial Zone)
subsection D is amended to read follows:
21.26.015 Residential uses.
D. Residential uses shall include low barrier navigation centers, group homes serving six or fewer persons
and require state licensing including, but not limited to, residential care facilities (serving six or fewer
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 11 of 94
I I I I
persons), and group homes that do not require state licensing including, but limited to, supportive housing
and transitional housing.
10. That Section 21.28.015 (Residential uses in the C-2 General Commercial Zone) subsection
D is amended to read follows:
21.28.015 Residential uses.
D. Residential uses shall include low barrier navigation centers, group homes serving six or fewer persons
and require state licensing including, but not limited to, residential care facilities (serving six or fewer
persons), and group homes that do not require state licensing including, but limited to, supportive housing
and transitional housing.
11. That Section 21.31.015 (Residential uses in the C-L Local Shopping Center Zone) subsection
D is amended to read follows:
21.31.065 Residential uses.
D. Residential uses shall include low barrier navigation centers, group homes serving six or fewer persons
and require state licensing including, but not limited to, residential care facilities (serving six or fewer
persons), and group homes that do not require state licensing including, but limited to, supportive housing
and transitional housing.
12. That Section 21.42.140 (Development standards and special regulations for Minor
Conditional Use Permits and Conditional Use Permits) is amended by the addition of the
following development standards for group homes:
Section 21.42.140 (71) Group Homes (providing services to seven or more persons and requiring state
licensing)
a. Facilities shall comply with all the rules, regulations and standards required by the State
Department of Social Services.
b. Facilities shall meet current California Code of Regulations (Title 24) for occupancy, as defined.
c. Facilities shall provide off-street parking as required in Chapter 21.44 of this title.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 12 of 94
d. Additional requirements and restrictions may be imposed as determined necessary by the decision-
making authority to ensure facilities meet the findings stated in Section 21.42.030. These
requirements and restrictions may include provisions regarding but not limited to the following items:
i. Hours of operation, such as for deliveries and other services;
ii. Noise;
iii. Lighting;
iv. Location and screening of parking, service, and other outdoor areas;
v. Security; and/or
vi. Loitering.
13. Table A of Section 21.44.020 (Number of off-street parking spaces required) is amended
by the following parking standards for the new use listing:
Use Number of Off-Street Parking Spaces
Residential Uses
Group homes (that: 1.
do not require state
licensing, or 2. require
state licensing to
provide services to six
or fewer persons)
Two Spaces per unit, provided as
either:
*A Two-car garage (minimum interior 20 feet x 20 feet);
or
*Two Separate one-car garages (minimum interior 12
feet x 20 feet each)
Group homes (serving
seven or more persons
and requiring state
licensing)
The number of required parking spaces shall be
determined by the city planner and shall be based on
the operating characteristics of a specific proposal,
including, but not limited to, number of: 1. Employees,
2. Beds, and 3. Service deliveries
Residential care
facilities (serving six or
fewer persons)
Two spaces per unit, provided as either:
A two-car garage (minimum interior 20 feet x 20 feet);
or
Two separate one-car garages (minimum interior 12
feet x 20 feet each)
Residential care
facilities (serving seven
or more persons)
The number of required parking spaces shall be
determined by the city planner and shall be based on
the operating characteristics of a specific proposal,
including, but not limited to, number of, 1. Employees,
2. Beds, and 3. Service deliveries
EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ORDINANCE APPLICABLE TO PROPERTIES OUTSIDE THE COASTAL ZONE:
This ordinance shall be effective thirty days after its adoption; and the City Clerk shall certify the adoption
of this ordinance and cause the full text of the ordinance or a summary of the ordinance prepared by the
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 13 of 94
City Attorney to be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the City.of Carlsbad
within fifteen days after its adoption.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ORDINANCE APPLICABLE TO PROPERTIES INSIDE THE COASTAL ZONE:
This ordinance shall be effective thirty days after its adoption or upon Coastal Commission approval of
LCPA 2023-0018, whichever occurs later; and the City Clerk shall certify the adoption of this ordinance
and cause the full text of the ordinance or a summary of the ordinance prepared by the City Attorney to
be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Carlsbad within fifteen days
after its adoption.
INTRODUCED AND FIRST READ at a Regular Meeting of the Carlsbad City Council on the 23rd
day of May, 2023, and thereafter
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED at a Regular Meeting of the City Council of the City of Carlsbad
on the_ day of ___ _, 2023, by the following vote, to wit:
AYES:
NAYS:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY:
CINDIE K. McMAHON, City Attorney
KEITH BLACKBURN, Mayor
SHERRY FREISINGER, City Clerk
(SEAL)
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 14 of 94
RESOLUTION NO. 2023-139
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARLSBAD,
CALIFORNIA, APPROVING A LOCAL COASTAL PROGRAM AMENDMENT TO
UPDATE THE LOCAL COASTAL PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION PLAN (ZONING
ORDINANCE, TITLE 21 OF THE CARLSBAD MUNICIPAL CODE), TO
IMPLEMENT A PORTION OF OBJECTIVE G OF HOUSING ELEMENT PROGRAM
1.3 -ALTERNATIVE HOUSING AND OBJECTIVE H OF HOUSING ELEMENT
PROGRAM 2.13 -HOUSING FOR PERSONS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS
CASE NAME: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY HOUSING AMENDMENTS
CASE NO.: ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 (DEV 2023-0040)
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Carlsbad, California has determined that pursuant to
the provisions of the Municipal Code, the Planning Commission did, on April 5, 2023, hold a duly noticed
public hearing as prescribed by law to consider Planning Commission Resolution 7476, recommending
approval of Local Coastal Program Amendment LCPA 2023-0018; and the Planning Commission
adopted Planning Commission Resolution 7476 recommending to the City Council that LCPA 2023-0018
be approved; and
WHEREAS, the City Council, on May 9, 2022, held a duly noticed public hearing to consider LCPA
2023-0018 as recommended by the Planning Commission; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to California Coastal Commission regulations, a six-week public review
period for LCPA 2023-0018 began on March 24, 2023, and ended on May 5, 2023; comments received,
if any, were presented to the City Council at said public hearing; and
WHEREAS, at said public hearing, upon hearing and considering all testimony and arguments, if
any, of all persons desiring to be heard, the City Council considered all factors relating to LCPA 2023-
0018.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Carlsbad, California, as
follows:
1.That the above recitations are true and correct.
2.That the recommendation of the Planning Commission for approval of LCPA 2023-0018
to amend the Carlsbad Local Coastal Program Implementation Plan is approved, and the
findings of the Planning Commission contained in Planning Commission Resolution
7476, on file with the City Clerk and incorporated herein by reference, are the findings
of the City Council.
Exhibit 2
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 15 of 94
3.This action is final the date this resolution is adopted by the City Council. The provisions
of Chapter 1.16 of the Carlsbad Municipal Code, "Time Limits for Judicial Review," shall
apply:
"NOTICE"
The time within which judicial review of this decision must be sought is governed by
Code of Civil Procedure, Section 1094.6, which has been made applicable in the City of
Carlsbad by Carlsbad Municipal Code Chanter 1.16. Any petition or other paper seeking
review must be filed in the appropriate court not later than the 90th day following the
date on which this decision becomes final; however, if within 10 days after the decision
becomes final a request for the record is filed with a deposit in an amount sufficient to
cover the estimated cost of preparation of such record, the time within which such
petition may be filed in court is extended to not later than the 30th day following the
date on which the record is either personally delivered or mailed to the party, or the
party's attorney of record, if the party has one. A written request for the preparation of
the record of proceedings shall be filed with the Office of the City Clerk, 1200 Carlsbad
Village Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED at a Regular Meeting of the City Council of the City of
Carlsbad on the 23rd day of May, 2023, by the following vote, to wit:
AYES:
NAYS:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
Blackburn, Bhat-Patel, Acosta, Burkholder, Luna.
None.
None.
None.
KEITH BLACKBURN, Mayor
SHERRY FREISINGER, City Clerk
(SEAL)
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 16 of 94
Exhibit 3
ZCA2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 (DEV2023-0040) - ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY
HOUSING AMENDMENTS 2023
Draft revisions to the Carlsbad Municipal Code 21 (Zone Code)
Proposed amendments to Title 21 of the Carlsbad Municipal Code
1.Chapter 21.04 “definitions” Sections 21.04.055 and 21.04.140.5, are proposed to be
amended as follows:
21.04.055 Boardinghouse. “Boardinghouse” means a building with more than four guest
rooms where lodging and meals are provided for compensation but does not include rest
homes, bed and breakfast uses, employee housing, convalescent homes, or group homes.
21.04.140.5 Emergency shelter. “Emergency shelter” means year-round housing with minimal
supportive services for homeless persons or families with occupancy limited to six months or
less by homeless persons. An Emergency Shelter can also be inclusive of the interim
interventions of navigation center, bridge housing, and respite or recuperative care (defined
in Government Code 65583 (a)(4)(C), as of January 1, 2023) and as a Low Barrier Navigation
Center defined in CMC 21.04.264.
2.Chapter 21.04 “definitions” Sections 21.04.163 and 21.04.264 are proposed to be added
as follows:
CMC 21.04.163 Group Homes. “Group homes” means housing being used as a supportive
living environment shared and used by persons who are considered handicapped under state
or federal law. Group Homes may serve children, the elderly or chronically ill, mentally
disabled individuals, or adults recovering from or being treated for alcohol or drug addiction.
A group home operated by a single operator or service provider (whether licensed or
unlicensed) can include residential care facilities, supportive housing, transitional housing and
other similar communal housing facilities but does not include boardinghouses. A group home
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 17 of 94
that does not require state licensing or does require state licensing but serves six or fewer
persons, is a residential use and is subject to only those restrictions that apply to other
residential uses of the same type in the same zone.
21.04.264 Low Barrier Navigation Center. “Low Barrier Navigation Center” means any housing
first shelter focused on moving people into permanent housing that provides temporary living
facilities as outlined in Government Code 65660 as of January 1, 2023.
3. The permitted use tables in each of the following sections for zones R-A, R-E, R-1, R-2, R-
3, R-P, R-T, R-W, RD-M and RMHP are proposed to be amended by the addition of group
homes use as listed in the table below:
21.08.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.09.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.10.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.12.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.16.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.18.020 Permitted uses when the R-P Zone implements the “RMH” or “RH” General Plan
Land Use Designations, Table B.
21.20.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.22.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.24.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.37.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
Use P CUP Acc
Group homes (serving six or fewer persons and requiring state licensing)
(defined: Section 21.04.163) X
Group homes (state licensing not required)
(defined: Section 21.04.163) X
Group homes (serving seven or more persons and requiring state
licensing) (defined: Section 21.04.163) X
4. The permitted use tables in each of the following sections for zones C-1, C-2 and C-3 are
proposed to be amended by the addition of the group homes (serving 7 or more persons
and requiring state licensing) use listing:
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 18 of 94
21.26.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.28.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.31.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
Use P CUP Acc
Group homes (serving seven or more persons and requiring state
licensing) (defined: Section 21.04.163) X
5. The permitted use tables in each of the following sections for zones R-2, R-3, R-P, R-T, RD-
M and RMHP are proposed to be amended by the addition of the Low Barrier Navigation
Center use listing:
Section 21.12.020 Permitted uses, Table A
Section 21.16.020 Permitted uses, Table A
Section 21.18.020 Permitted uses when the R-P Zone implements the “RMH” or “RH” General
Plan Land Use Designations, Table B
Section 21.20.020 Permitted uses, Table A
Section 21.24.020 Permitted uses, Table A
Section 21.37.020 Permitted uses, Table A
Use P CUP Acc
Low Barrier Navigation Center (defined: section 21.04.264) X
6. The permitted use tables in each of the following sections for zones R-A, R-E, R-1, R-2, R-
3, R-P, R-T, R-W, RD-M and RMHP, are proposed to be amended by the addition of the
Residential care facilities (serving seven or more persons) use listing:
21.08.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.09.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.10.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.12.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.16.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.18.020 Permitted uses when the R-P Zone implements the “RMH” or “RH” General Plan
Land Use Designations, Table B.
21.20.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.22.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.24.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.37.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 19 of 94
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Use P CUP Acc
Residential care facilities (serving seven or more persons)
(defined: Section 21.04.300) X
7. That Section 21.26.015 (Residential uses in the C-1 Neighborhood Commercial Zone)
subsection D is proposed to be amended to read follows:
21.26.015 Residential uses.
D. Residential uses shall include low barrier navigation centers, group homes serving six or
fewer persons and require state licensing including, but not limited to, residential care
facilities (serving six or fewer persons), and group homes that do not require state licensing
including, but limited to, supportive housing and transitional housing.
8. That Section 21.28.015 (Residential uses in the C-2 General Commercial Zone) subsection
D is proposed to be amended to read follows:
21.28.015 Residential uses.
D. Residential uses shall include low barrier navigation centers, group homes serving six or
fewer persons and require state licensing including, but not limited to, residential care
facilities (serving six or fewer persons), and group homes that do not require state licensing
including, but limited to, supportive housing and transitional housing.
9. That Section 21.31.015 (Residential uses in the C-L Local Shopping Center Zone)
subsection D is proposed to be amended to read follows:
21.31.065 Residential uses.
D. Residential uses shall include low barrier navigation centers, group homes serving six or
fewer persons and require state licensing including, but not limited to, residential care
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 20 of 94
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facilities (serving six or fewer persons), and group homes that do not require state licensing
including, but limited to, supportive housing and transitional housing.
10. That Section 21.42.140 (Development standards and special regulations for Minor
Conditional Use Permits and Conditional Use Permits) is proposed to be amended by the
addition of the following development standards for Group Homes:
Section 21.42.140 (71) Group Homes (providing services to seven or more persons and
requiring state licensing)
a. Facilities shall comply with all the rules, regulations and standards required by the State
Department of Social Services.
b. Facilities shall meet current California Code of Regulations (Title 24) for occupancy, as
defined.
c. Facilities shall provide off-street parking as required in Chapter 21.44 of this title.
d. Additional requirements and restrictions may be imposed as determined necessary by the
decision-making authority to ensure facilities meet the findings stated in Section
21.42.030. These requirements and restrictions may include provisions regarding but not
limited to the following items:
i. Hours of operation, such as for deliveries and other services;
ii. Noise;
iii. Lighting;
iv. Location and screening of parking, service, and other outdoor areas;
v. Security; and/or
vi. Loitering.
11. Table A of Section 21.44.020 (Number of off-street parking spaces required) is
proposed to be amended by the following parking standards for the new use listing:
Use Number of Off-Street Parking Spaces
Residential Uses
Group homes (that: 1.
do not require state
licensing, or 2. require
state licensing to
provide services to six
or fewer persons)
Two Spaces per unit, provided as either:
*A Two-car garage (minimum interior 20 feet x 20 feet);
or
*Two Separate one-car garages (minimum interior 12
feet x 20 feet each)
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 21 of 94
Group homes (serving
seven or more persons
and requiring state
licensing)
The number of required parking spaces shall be
determined by the city planner and shall be based on
the operating characteristics of a specific proposal,
including, but not limited to, number of: 1. Employees,
2. Beds, and 3. Service deliveries
Residential care
facilities (serving six or
fewer persons)
Two spaces per unit, provided as either:
A two-car garage (minimum interior 20 feet x 20 feet);
or
Two separate one-car garages (minimum interior 12
feet x 20 feet each)
Residential care
facilities (serving seven
or more persons)
The number of required parking spaces shall be
determined by the city planner and shall be based on
the operating characteristics of a specific proposal,
including, but not limited to, number of, 1. Employees,
2. Beds, and 3. Service deliveries
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 22 of 94
RECOMMENDED CMC TEXT CHANGES CMC REGULATIONS ANALYSIS
Housing Element Program 1.3g
Review and amend the Carlsbad Zoning Ordinance to review and amend definitions and allowances of uses for the definition of: family, Employee Housing,
Residential care facilities, Group Homes and/or Boardinghouses…to review regulations to be consistent with California Law for six or fewer residents including
but not limited to Health and Safety Code Sections 17021.5 and 17021.6. Additionally, review and revise, as appropriate, requirements to allow group homes
and residential care facilities in all residential zones for seven or more residents and ensure no constraint to housing for persons with disabilities.
FAMILY
NONE PROPOSED. Existing Definition:
CMC Section 21.04.145 Family. "Family" means one or more persons living
together in a dwelling unit, with common access to, and common use of all
living, kitchen, and eating areas within the dwelling unit. Residents and
operators of a residential care facility or employee housing serving six or
fewer persons shall be considered a family for purposes of any zoning
regulation relating to residential use of such facilities.
State Law Requirement/Guidance:
The state advises local jurisdictions to avoid restrictive definitions of single
housekeeping units or single-family homes that impermissibly constrain
group homes from locating in single-family zones. This includes, for example,
avoiding definitions that equate group homes with boardinghouses, require
all residents to share a common deed or lease, overly scrutinize residents’
living arrangements, or automatically exclude group homes that are owned
by for-profit businesses or pay staff to help manage a home’s operations (pp.
24-25). (Group Home Technical Advisory)
Recommendation:
No changes to the family definition are required. While the definition does
state “Residents and operators of a residential care facility or employee
housing serving six fewer persons shall be considered a family…” this
language is used to ensure that these uses do not require additional
regulations or restrictions other than those required of a single-family
residence (i.e. additional state licensing, permits and/or permit fees). The
family definition does not restrict other uses that consist of fewer or more
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than six persons in a residential zone (i.e. residential care facilities, group
homes, supportive housing and transitional housing).
EMPLOYEE HOUSING
NONE PROPOSED.
Existing Definition
CMC Section 21.04.140.6 Employee housing, small. Pursuant to Cal. Health
and Safety Code§ 17008, employee housing, small means any portion of any
housing accommodation, or property upon which a housing accommodation
is located, maintained in connection with any work or place where work is
being performed, whether or not rent is involved, where such housing
provides accommodations for six or fewer persons.
No definition is provided for “employee housing, large.”
State Law Requirement/Guidance:
GC Section 17021.5. (a) Any employee housing which has qualified, or is
intended to qualify, for a permit to operate pursuant to this part may invoke
the provisions of this section.
(b) Any employee housing providing accommodations for six or fewer
employees shall be deemed a single-family structure with a residential land
use designation for the purposes of this section. For the purpose of all local
ordinances, employee housing shall not be included within the definition of a
boarding house, rooming house, hotel, dormitory, or other similar term that
implies that the employee housing is a business run for profit or differs in any
other way from a family dwelling. No conditional use permit, zoning variance,
or other zoning clearance shall be required of employee housing that serves
six or fewer employees that is not required of a family dwelling of the same
type in the same zone. Use of a family dwelling for purposes of employee
housing serving six or fewer persons shall not constitute a change of
occupancy for purposes of Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 17910) or local
building codes.
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(c) Except as otherwise provided in this part, employee housing that serves
six or fewer employees shall not be subject to any business taxes, local
registration fees, use permit fees, or other fees to which other family
dwellings of the same type in the same zone are not likewise subject.
Health and Safety Code Sections 17021.5 and 17021.6.
Recommendation:
No changes are recommended. Employee Housing (serving six or fewer
persons) are defined as a family (CMC 21.04.145) and therefore is subject to
only those restrictions that apply to other residential uses of the same type in
the same zone. It is also listed as a permitted use in all 9 residential zones: R-
A, R-E, R-1, R-2, R-3, R-P, R-T, R-W, RD-M and RMHP. Lastly, it is not included
in the definition of a boarding house, rooming house, hotel or dormitory.
RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITIES
10. The permitted use tables in each of the following sections for zones R-A,
R-E, R-1, R-2, R-3, R-P, R-T, R-W, RD-M and RMHP, are amended by the addition
of the new use listing as shown below:
The permitted use tables in each of the following sections are amended by the
addition of the new use listing as shown below:
21.08.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.09.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.10.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.12.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.16.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.18.020 Permitted uses when the R-P Zone implements the “RMH” or “RH”
General Plan Land Use Designations, Table B.
21.20.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.22.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.24.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
Existing Definition:
CMC Section 21.04.300 Residential care facility. “Residential care facility”
means any family home, group care facility, or similar facility, licensed by the
State of California, for twenty-four hour nonmedical care of persons in need
of personal services, supervision or assistance essential for sustaining the
activities of daily living or for the protection of the individual as provided in
Section 1502 of the California Health and Safety Code. (Ord. CS-191 § II, 2012;
Ord. 9455 § 1, 1976; Ord. 9060 § 259)
State Law Requirement/Guidance:
HCD Compliance Letter to City of Carlsbad dated July 13, 2021, states:
Group Homes for Seven or More: The element notes that group homes for
seven or more persons (also referred to as large residential care facilities) are
permitted differently than groups homes for six or fewer persons and are
conditionally permitted in only a few zones (pg. 167). Additionally, the
element notes that residential care facilities must provide one parking space
for every three beds. HCD finds the permitting and parking requirements to Ma
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21.37.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
Use P CUP Acc
Residential Care Facilities (serving
seven or more persons) X
Parking Standards Updated within Table A of Section 21.44.020, the number of
off-street parking spaces for the Residential Care Facility use is amended as
follows:
Use Number of Off-Street Parking Spaces
Residential
Uses
Residential care
facilities (serving
six or fewer
persons)
• Two spaces per unit, provided as
either:
A two-car garage (minimum interior
20 feet x 20 feet); or
• Two separate one-car garages
(minimum interior 12 feet x 20 feet
each)
Residential care
facilities (serving
seven or more
persons)
The number of required parking spaces
shall be determined by the city planner
and shall be based on the operating
characteristics of a specific proposal,
including, but not limited to, number of:
1. Employees, 2. Beds, and 3. Service
deliveries
be constraints for developing and providing access to housing for persons
with disabilities [emphasis added]. As such, the City must implement Program
1.3 (Alternative Housing), objective g: to review and amend the Carlsbad
zoning ordinance or allow group homes of seven or more in the same manner
as group homes of six or fewer; allow group homes in all residential zones;
and remove constraints, including parking constraints, to housing for persons
with disabilities by April 2023.
GC Section 65583(a)(5) requires, “…local efforts to remove governmental
constraints that hinder the locality from meeting its share of the regional
housing need in accordance with Section 65584 and from meeting the need
for housing for persons with disabilities, supportive housing, transitional
housing, and emergency shelters identified pursuant to paragraph (7).”
Recommendation:
No changes to the definition, however changes are recommended to allow
this use (when serving seven or more persons) in additional residential zones
subject to a CUP, and to add new parking standards, separate from RCFs with
six or fewer persons, are also recommended to comply with HCD’s direction
to staff for compliance.
Residential Care Facilities for six or fewer persons is listed as a permitted use
in all residential zones however it is only listed as a permitted use subject to
the approval of a CUP in three zones (R-3, R-P and RD-M). To comply with
the state’s requirements, the city is proposing to amend the permitted use
table in all residentials zones to allow for large RCFs in all residential zones
subject to approval of a CUP.
Additionally, staff is proposing to amend the zoning ordinance to provide less
restrictive parking requirements for RCFs serving seven or more persons
based on the proposed operations.
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RECOMMENDED CMC TEXT CHANGES CMC REGULATIONS ANALYSIS
GROUP HOMES
CMC 21.04.XXX Group Homes. “Group Homes” means housing being used as a
supportive living environment shared and used by persons who are considered
handicapped under state or federal law. Group Homes may serve children, the
elderly or chronically ill, mentally disabled individuals, or adults recovering from
or being treated for alcohol or drug addiction. A group home operated by a
single operator or service provider (whether licensed or unlicensed) can include
residential care facilities, supportive housing, transitional housing and other
similar communal housing facilities but does not include boardinghouses. A
group home that does not require state licensing or does require state licensing
but serves six or fewer persons, is a residential use and is subject to only those
restrictions that apply to other residential uses of the same type in the same
zone.
The permitted use tables in each of the following sections for zones R-A, R-E, R-
1, R-2, R-3, R-P, R-T, R-W, RD-M and RMHP are amended by the addition of the
new use listing as shown below:
21.08.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.09.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.10.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.12.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.16.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.18.020 Permitted uses when the R-P Zone implements the “RMH” or “RH”
General Plan Land Use Designations, Table B.
21.20.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.22.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.24.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.37.020 Permitted uses, Table A.
Use P CUP Acc
Existing Definition
There is no definition of group homes in the CMC.
State Law Requirement/Guidance: Group Homes is generally defined as:
“housing shared by unrelated persons with disabilities that provide peer and
other support for their residents’ disability related needs and in which
residents share cooking, dining, and living areas, and may, in some group
homes, participate in cooking, housekeeping, and other communal living
activities.” Group homes can be licensed or unlicensed.
Unlicensed facilities include supportive housing, transitional housing and
recovery/sober living residences that do not provide alcoholism or drug
addiction recovery/treatment services or can include other similar unlicensed
group homes that only provide support and limited services to residence.
Licensed group homes can include residential care facilities, alcohol and drug
addiction facilities, or similar facility that require more extensive care and
supervision for persons considered handicapped under state or federal law
(HCD Group Home Technical Advisory). Large group homes that require state
licensing can be subject to the approval of a Conditional Use Permit and
include development standards as deemed necessary.
Recommendation:
Add new definition for group homes to ensure these uses are allowed in
residential areas.
Allow group homes in all residential zones, including mixed-use zones, to
ensure the city’s zoning regulations do not constrain the group home’s target
population (i.e. persons considered handicapped under state or federal law)
but need access to a group home in a residential area. Specifically, allow
group homes that do not require state licensing, regardless of number of
persons served (including but not limited to supportive housing and Ma
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RECOMMENDED CMC TEXT CHANGES CMC REGULATIONS ANALYSIS
Group Homes (that do not require state
licensing regardless of number of persons
served) X
Group Homes (serving six or fewer persons
and that do require state licensing) X
Group Homes (serving seven or more persons
and that do require state licensing) X
The permitted use tables in each of the following sections for zones C-1, C-2 and
C-3 are amended by the addition of the new Group Homes use listing as shown
below:
21.26.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.28.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
21.31.010 Permitted uses, Table A.
Use P CUP Acc
Group Homes (serving seven or more persons
and that do require state licensing)
X
The following sections are amended by the addition of the new residential use
listing as shown below:
21.26.015(D)
21.28.015(D)
21.31.015(D)
D. Residential uses shall include Group Homes serving six or fewer persons
and require state licensing including but not limited to residential care facilities
transitional housing) or do require state licensing but only serve 6 persons or
less (including but not limited to residential care facilities serving 6 or fewer
persons), to be permitted in residential zones as a residential use and
therefore subject to only those restrictions that apply to other residential
uses of the same type in the same zone.
Allow group homes that require state licensing and serve 7 or more persons
in residential zones and mixed use zones but subject to approval of a
conditional use permit (including but not limited to large residential care
facilities that serve seven or more persons.) Also include new development
standards and parking standards for this new pursuant to the approval of a
Conditional Use Permit.
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RECOMMENDED CMC TEXT CHANGES CMC REGULATIONS ANALYSIS
(serving six or fewer persons), and Group Homes that do not require state
licensing including but limited to supportive housing and transitional housing.
Amend CMC Section 21.42 “Minor Conditional Use Permit and Conditional Use
Permit,” to include new development standards for Group Homes requiring
state licensing similar to residential care facilities:
21.42.140 (71) Group Homes (providing services to seven or more persons and
require state licensing)
a. Facilities shall comply with all the rules, regulations and standards required
by the State Department of Social Services.
b. Facilities shall meet current California Code of Regulations (Title 24) for
occupancy, as defined.
c. Facilities shall provide off-street parking as required in Chapter 21.44 of this
title.
d. Additional requirements and restrictions may be imposed as determined
necessary by the decision-making authority to ensure facilities meet the findings
stated in Section 21.42.030. These requirements and restrictions may include
provisions regarding but not limited to the following items:
i. Hours of operation, such as for deliveries and other services;
ii. Noise;
iii. Lighting;
iv. Location and screening of parking, service, and other outdoor areas;
v. Security;
vi. Loitering.
Incorporate new Parking Standards as described below within Table A of Section
21.44.020, for the number of off-street parking spaces for Group Home use:
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RECOMMENDED CMC TEXT CHANGES CMC REGULATIONS ANALYSIS
Use Number of Off-Street Parking Spaces
Residential
Uses
Group Homes
(that: 1. do not
require state
licensing, or 2.
require state
licensing to
provide services
to six or fewer
persons)
Two Spaces per unit, provided as
either:
* A Two-car garage (minimum interior
20 feet x 20 feet); or
*Two Separate one-car garages
(minimum interior 12 feet x 20 feet
each)
Group Homes
(that require
state licensing to
provide services
to seven or
more persons)
The number of required parking spaces
shall be determined by the city planner
and shall be based on the operating
characteristics of a specific proposal,
including, but not limited to, number of:
1. Employees, 2. Beds, and 3. Service
deliveries.
BOARDING HOUSES
CMC Section 21.04.055 Boardinghouse. “Boardinghouse” means a building
with more than four guest rooms where lodging and meals are provided for
compensation but does not include rest homes, bed and breakfast uses,
employee housing, or convalescent homes or Group Homes.
Existing Definition:
CMC 21.04.055 Boardinghouse. “Boardinghouse” means a building with
more than four guest rooms where lodging and meals are provided for
compensation but does not include rest homes or convalescent homes.
Requirement/Guidance:
In general, localities should avoid equating group homes with
boardinghouses. Group homes’ shared communal purposes to provide peer
and other support for their occupants’ disability-related needs and to help
integrate them into their local communities makes this an inapt comparison.
Boardinghouses do not provide communal housing designed to support the
needs of persons with disabilities.
Currently Boarding Houses are only permitted in the R-T zone and can be
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RECOMMENDED CMC TEXT CHANGES CMC REGULATIONS ANALYSIS
Recommendation:
Update Boardinghouse definition consistent with state law by explicitly
excluding uses that are not comparable.
EMERGENCY SHELTER
21.04.140.5 Emergency shelter. “Emergency shelter” means year-round
housing with minimal supportive services for homeless persons or families with
occupancy limited to six months or less by homeless persons. An Emergency
Shelter can also be inclusive of the interim interventions of navigation center,
bridge housing, and respite or recuperative care (defined in Government Code
65583 (a)(4)(C), as of January 1, 2023) and as a Low Barrier Navigation Center
defined in CMC 21.04.264.
Existing Definition:
21.04.140.5 Emergency shelter. “Emergency shelter” means year-round
housing with minimal supportive services for homeless persons or families
with occupancy limited to six months or less by homeless persons.
Requirement/Guidance:
Updates to state law require that emergency shelters definition is broadened
to allow for “interim interventions, including, but not limited to, a navigation
center, bridge housing, and respite or recuperative care.” (Gov Code 65583
(a)(4)(C).
Additionally, the proposed amendments to the definition of Emergency
Shelter and broadening the application to allow these uses and include low
barrier navigation centers consistent with Gov Code 65660.
Recommendation:
Revise definition consistent with state law.
LOW BARRIER NAVIGATION CENTER
21.04.264 Low Barrier Navigation Center. “Low Barrier Navigation Center”
means any housing first shelter focused on moving people into permanent
housing that provides temporary living facilities as outlined in Government Code
65660 as of January 1, 2023.
Existing Definition:
There is no definition for “low barrier navigation center.”
Requirement/Guidance:
Updates to state law require cities to permit Low Barrier Navigation Centers
(Gov Code Section 65660). These are shelters that have additional
requirements and regulations than emergency shelters to provide temporary
housing but include case managers, health services, and a focus to move
people into permanent housing. These uses must be permitted anywhere an Ma
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RECOMMENDED CMC TEXT CHANGES CMC REGULATIONS ANALYSIS
Emergency Shelter is allowed. Low Barrier Navigation Centers are allowed
by-right, regardless of size, in any areas zoned for mixed use and
nonresidential zones permitting multifamily uses including C-1, C-2 and C-L.
The use is also allowed in the following residential zones: R-2, R-3, R-P, R-T,
RD-M and RMHP.
Recommendation:
Staff Recommends adding new definition for Low Barrier Navigation Center.
Additionally, add the new use listed as permitted in the R-2, R-3, R-P, R-T, RD-
M and RMHP residential zones and in the nonresidential zones permitting
multifamily uses (C-1, C-2, and C-L).
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STATE OF CALIFORNIA - BUSINESS, CONSUMER SERVICES AND HOUSING AGENCY GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIVISION OF HOUSING POLICY DEVELOPMENT 2020 W. El Camino Avenue, Suite 500 Sacramento, CA 95833 (916) 263-2911 / FAX (916) 263-7453www.hcd.ca.gov
July 13, 2021
Scott Chadwick, City Manager City of Carlsbad 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive Carlsbad, CA 92008
Dear Scott Chadwick:
RE: Review of Carlsbad’s 6th Cycle (2021-2029) Adopted Housing Element
Thank you for submitting the City of Carlsbad’s (City) housing element adopted on April
6, 2021 and received for review on April 15, 2021. Pursuant to Government Code section 65585, subdivision (h), the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is reporting the results of its review. HCD considered comments from the People for Ponto and the San Diego Housing Federation pursuant to Government Code section 65585, subdivision (c).
HCD is pleased to find the adopted housing element in substantial compliance with State Housing Element Law (Article 10.6 of the Gov. Code). The adopted element addresses the statutory requirements described in HCD’s February 22, 2021 review. HCD’s finding was based on, among other reasons, several programs that remove
constraints on housing and effectuate affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH) policies and practices. Additionally, the City must continue timely and effective implementation of programs such as Program 1.3 (Alternative Housing), Program 1.6 (Development Streamlining), Program 2.7 (Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers and Similar Housing Cost Offsets) and Program 4.3 (Anti-Segregation in Housing Implementation). The City
must monitor the effectiveness of these, and other programs, and make adjustments, as appropriate, as part of its Annual Progress Report to HCD. Specifically, HCD notes the following:
•Group Homes for Seven or More: The element notes that group homes forseven or more persons (also referred to as large residential care facilities) arepermitted differently than groups homes for six or fewer persons and areconditionally permitted in only a few zones (pg. 167). Additionally, the elementnotes that residential care facilities must provide one parking space for every
three beds. HCD finds the permitting and parking requirements to beconstraints for developing and providing access to housing for persons withdisabilities. As such, the City must implement Program 1.3 (Alternative
Exhibit 5
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 33 of 94
Scott Chadwick, City Manager Page 2
Housing), objective g: to review and amend the Carlsbad zoning ordinance or allow group homes of seven or more in the same manner as group homes of
six or fewer; allow group homes in all residential zones; and remove
constraints, including parking constraints, to housing for persons with disabilities by April 2023
• Site Development Plan Process: The element notes that through the site
development plan process, Planning Commission or City Council may impose special conditions or requirements that are more restrictive than the current development standards related to density, parking standards, setbacks, heights, etc., (pg. 194). HCD finds this to be a constraint to development as
stricter requirements can add to costs, timing, and create uncertainty to the
approval of a project. As a result, the City must implement Program 1.6 (Development Streamlining), objective g: to review and remove any special conditions from the site development planning process that will impact the density, cost, timing, or certainty of a projects approval by April 2022.
• AFFH – Mobility Enhancement: As part of addressing Assembly Bill (AB) 686 (Chapter 958, Statues of 2018) AFFH requirements, jurisdictions must include goals, policies, and a schedule of actions that will have a beneficial impact
during the planning period. Specifically, the element identified Program 2.7
(Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers and Similar Housing Cost Offsets), objective d, and Program 4.3 (Anti-Segregation in Housing Implementation), objective f, as mobility strategies. Implementing these programs is essential to removing barriers to housing in areas of opportunity and strategically enhancing
access.
• Rezoning: The element includes the rezone program needed to identify adequate sites to accommodate the City’s regional housing need allocation
(RHNA) for lower-income households. Program 1.1 (Provide Adequate Sites to
Accommodate the RHNA) commits to rezone at least 108 acres with a minimum density of 30 units per acre by April 2024 to accommodate a shortfall capacity of 1,397 units to meet the lower-income RHNA. The program also commits to rezone sufficient capacity to accommodate 327 units for moderate
income RHNA.
Encinas Creek Apartments: The housing element relies on the pending development of the Encinas Creek Apartments (which is now referenced as 4k Apartments in the applicant’s SB 330 submittal), to accommodate 63 units of the City’s RHNA for lower-
income households and 64 units of the City’s RHNA for above-moderate households
(pg. B-15). Sites and projects that are being counted towards RHNA must have existing or planned access to infrastructure to ensure development during the planning period. Timely implementation of access to infrastructure, including roads, is critical to ensure the project can be developed within the planning period.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 34 of 94
Scott Chadwick, City Manager Page 3
The City must report on progress toward implementing all of the programs identified in
the housing element pursuant to Government Code section 65400. Failure to act
consistently with the programs noted above, may trigger a review by HCD pursuant to Government Code Section 65585, subdivision (i) and may impact the City’s housing element compliance status.
Government Code section 65588, subdivision (e)(4), requires a jurisdiction that failed to
adopt its housing element within 120 calendar days from the statutory due date to revise its element every four years until adopting at least two consecutive revisions by the applicable due dates. The City has adopted its housing element before the due date of April 15, 2021, and as such has met the second four-year update requirement. The City
is no longer subject to the four-year revision requirements and may resume an eight-
year update schedule. Public participation in the development, adoption and implementation of the housing element is essential to effective housing planning. Throughout the housing element
process, including as part of the implementation of programs described above, the City
must continue to engage the community. Public participation should include a wide range of approaches and participants, including organizations that represent lower-income and special-needs households. The process should make information regularly available while considering and addressing comments where appropriate.
For your information, some other elements of the general plan must be updated on or before the next adoption of the housing element. The safety and conservation elements of the general plan must include analysis and policies regarding fire and flood hazard management (Gov. Code, § 65302, subd. (g).). Also, the land-use element must address
disadvantaged communities HCD urges the City to consider these timing provisions and
welcomes the opportunity to provide assistance. For information, please see the Technical Advisories issued by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research at: http://opr.ca.gov/docs/SB244_Technical_Advisory.pdf and http://opr.ca.gov/docs/Final_6.26.15.pdf.
Please note the City now meets specific requirements for state-funding programs designed to reward local governments for compliance with State Housing Element Law. For example, HCD’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program and CalTrans’ SB1 grant program consider housing element compliance in their review
process. The CalTrans’ SB 1 grant program also considers annual progress report
submissions. Please see HCD’s website for specific information about funding programs at http://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/index.shtml and Caltrans’ website at http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tpp/grants.html.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 35 of 94
Scott Chadwick, City Manager Page 4
HCD appreciates the hard work, cooperation, and diligence the Carlsbad housing
element team, including Don Neu, Jeff Murphy, Scott Donnell, Brenna Weatherby, Eric
Lardy, and Rick Rust provided. HCD is committed to assisting the City in addressing all statutory requirements of State Housing Element Law. If you have any questions or need additional technical assistance, please contact Sohab Mehmood, of our staff, at Sohab.Mehmood@hcd.ca.gov.
Sincerely,
Shannan West
Land Use & Planning Unit Chief
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 36 of 94
Exhibit 6
City Council Ordinance CS-432 approved Sept. 27, 2022
(on file in the Office of the City Clerk)
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 37 of 94
Item No.
Application complete date: N/A
P.C. AGENDA OF:April 5, 2023 Project Planner: Scott Donnell
Project Engineer: N/A
SUBJECT: ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 (DEV2023-0040) - ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY
HOUSING AMENDMENTS 2023 - Request for recommendation of approval for
amendments to the Carlsbad Municipal Code Title 21, the Zoning Ordinance, to
implement Housing Element Program 1.3 “Alternative Housing,” Objective G, and
Program 2.13 “Housing for Persons Experiencing Homelessness,” Objective H. The action
also includes a Local Coastal Program Amendment for the updates to the Zoning
Ordinance. The city planner has determined that the amendments are covered under
Environmental Impact Report EIR 13-02 prepared for the 2015 comprehensive update to
the General Plan and the addendum to that EIR approved by City Council Resolution 2021-
073 on April 6, 2021, for the update of the city’s Housing Element for the 6th cycle (2021
–2029).
I.RECOMMENDATION
That the Planning Commission ADOPT a Planning Commission Resolution RECOMMENDING APPROVAL
of Zoning Code Amendment ZCA 2023-0002 and Local Coastal Program Amendment LCPA 2023-0018,
based on the findings contained therein.
II.PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND BACKGROUND
Background
Every eight years each local jurisdiction in California is required to update the General Plan Housing
Element. After a two-year process, on April 6, 2021, the City Council adopted an update to the City of
Carlsbad’s Housing Plan. The update provides the city’s housing plan (strategy) for the 2021-2029 housing
period. This strategy is implemented through goals, policies, and programs. There are approximately 40
Housing Element programs that are further divided into nearly 160 objectives. These program objectives
identify ongoing actions the city must implement throughout the housing period and specific actions the
city must accomplish by certain due dates.
The Housing Plan includes Goals, Policies, Programs and Objectives. Goals are articulated as “end
condition statements”. They are implemented by Policies, statements on the position the city takes to
implement the goal. Finally, the Programs and Objectives outline the specific actions the city will take to
ensure implementation of the Polices. The Housing Element includes a number of programs to be
implemented through the eight-year housing cycle. These actions include amendments to the General
Plan and Zoning Ordinance. Some of these programs are implemented as individual actions, and some are
combined with the Municipal Code and Zoning Ordinance clean-up programs that are conducted
regularly.
2
Exhibit 7
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 38 of 94
Staff Report
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ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY HOUSING AMENDMENTS 2023
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This project proposes Zoning Ordinance amendments that are necessary to implement two objectives of
two different programs. Amendments are necessary to ensure compliance with state housing law as
described in the program objectives. A summary of the changes proposed by each program are highlighted
below:
Alternative Housing (Program 1.3 Objective G)
• Program 1.3, Alternative Housing, Objective G: Review and amend the Carlsbad Zoning Ordinance
to review and amend definitions and allowances of uses for the definition of family, employee
housing, residential care facilities, group homes and/or boardinghouses to review regulations to
be consistent with California Law for six or fewer residents including but not limited to Health and
Safety Code Sections 17021.5 and 17021.6. Additionally, review and revise, as appropriate,
requirements to allow group homes and residential care facilities in all residential zones for seven
or more residents and ensure no constraint to housing for persons with disabilities.
Family & Employee Housing Definitions
The city previously implemented portions of Program 1.3g through ZCA 2022-0002, “2022 Zoning
Ordinance Clean Up,” which was reviewed by the Planning Commission and approved by the City
Council in June and Sept. 2022, respectively, via City Council Ordinance No. CS-432), (Exhibit 4). The
2022 Zoning Ordinance Clean Up project, among other things, revised the definition of “family,”
defined “employee housing, small” and added “employee housing (servicing six or fewer persons)”
as a permitted use in residential/mixed-use zones. No additional revisions to these definitions are
required for compliance with state regulations for six or fewer persons.
Residential Care Facilities
“Residential care facilities” are licensed residential facilities offering care and treatment for disabled
persons and other persons who require special care and treatment. Under State Lanterman
Developmental Disabilities Services Act (also known as the Lanterman Act), small licensed residential
care facilities for six or fewer persons must be treated as regular residential uses and permitted by
right in all residential districts. No conditional use permit, variance, or special permit can be required
for these small licensed residential facilities unless the same permit is required for single-family
homes, nor can parking standards be higher, nor can special design standards be imposed. Licensed
residential care facilities with seven or more residents are not required by State law to be permitted
by-right in residential zones.
The State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) reviewed the city’s
Residential Care Facilities (serving seven or more persons) permitting and parking requirements and
determined that, “the permitting and parking requirements to be constraints for developing and
providing access to housing for persons with disabilities.” The proposed project will address the HCD
compliance letter by allowing Residential Care Facilities serving seven or more persons to be
conditionally permitted in all residential zones. Currently, residential care facilities servicing seven or
more persons are only conditionally permitted in three residential zones (the R-3 zone, R-P zone, and
RD-M zone) (Exhibit 6). Potential conditions for approval of large residential care facilities may
include hours of operation, security, loading requirements, noise regulations, and restrictions on
loitering. Conditions would be similar to those for other similar uses and would not serve to constrain
the development of such facilities.
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The 2022 Zoning Ordinance Clean Up project (ZCA 2022-0002) addressed the parking standards for
small residential care facilities so that the number of off-street parking spaces required is the same
as other single-family homes (i.e., a two car garage). This proposed project will also provide new
parking standards for large residential care facilities (serving seven or more persons). Parking will be
based on the operating characteristics of the use such as number of employees, beds, and service
deliveries. There is no other changes proposed to the requirements for “residential care facilities.”
Group Homes
“Group homes” is a housing type that provides a supportive living environment shared and is used
by persons who are considered handicapped under State law. Group homes may serve children, the
elderly or chronically ill, mentally disabled individuals, or adults recovering from or being treated for
alcohol or drug addiction. Like “residential care facilities,” licensed group homes serving six or fewer
residents must be treated like single-family homes or single dwelling units for zoning purposes. The
statutes specifically state that these facilities cannot be considered to be boarding houses or rest
homes or regulated as such. Furthermore, if the group home operates in ways that fall within the
statutory definitions of supportive housing or transitional housing, the city would have to comply
with Housing Element Law’s specific protections of these types of housing types. Licensed group
homes with seven or more residents are not required by State law to be permitted by-right in
residential zones.
In December 2022 HCD came out with additional guidance on group homes and the expectation for
allowance of them within jurisdictions (Exhibit 5). Consistent with this guidance to promote more
inclusive communities and affirmatively furthering fair housing (AFFH), the proposed project will
define “group homes” and permit or conditionally permit (i.e., conditional use permit requiring
Planning Commission review) group homes in residential and commercial (mixed-use) zones. The
guidance and proposed project differentiate between group homes that do not require state
licensing (no constraints to number of persons served), and group homes that do require state
licensing but serves six or fewer persons, but both types of group homes are permitted in all
residential/mixed-use zones. The third type of group homes are those that require state licensing
and serve seven or more persons; these group homes will be conditionally permitted in
residential/mixed-use zones.
The types of group homes that do not require state licensing include supportive housing, transitional
housing, recovery residences and sober living homes that do not provide alcoholism or drug
addiction recovery/treatment services or other similar group housing that only provide peer support
and limited services to residence but do not provide the more extensive care and supervision that
requires obtaining a license. These uses are only subject to the generally applicable,
nondiscriminatory health, safety and zoning laws that apply to all single-family residences. The HCD
Memo states that, “Overly restrictive definitions risk violating not only state housing laws, but the
California Constitution’s protections of the rights of unrelated persons to live together in communal
housing.” It further alludes that local policies that require all group homes to obtain discretionary
permits is a constraint on housing and implies that it is not allowed. Therefore, while there is no
upper limit proposed on group homes without licenses required, the standard zoning regulations will
apply to set limits on setbacks, height, and in many cases require a Coastal Development Permit
consistent with any other single family residential unit.
Group homes that do require state licensing are those that require extensive care and supervision
such as a facilitator to provide 24-hour care. State licensed group homes that serve six or fewer
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persons include uses such as foster care homes that care for six children or less, and therefore are
only subject to the generally applicable, nondiscriminatory health, safety and zoning laws that apply
to all single-family residences.
Development standards for group homes that are conditionally permitted are proposed under this
project and are the same development standards currently required of residential care facilities
serving seven or more persons; i.e., standards require compliance with state and building code
regulations and allow for imposition of additional requirements and restrictions such as hours of
operation, noise, lighting, etc.
The proposed project includes new parking standards for group homes. For group homes that are
permitted in residential zones, two spaces are required and can be provided through a two-car
garage or two separate one-car garages. This is consistent in what is required for a single-family
residential home per Zoning Ordinance parking standards (Section 21.44.020, Table A). For group
homes that require approval of a Conditional Use Permit, parking requirements will be determined
based on the operating characteristics of the use such as number of employees, beds, and service
deliveries.
Similar to “residential care facilities,” group homes that are permitted in residential zones are subject
only to the permits required of similar residential uses, including Coastal Development Permits or
Minor Coastal Development Permit. Group homes that require approval of a Conditional Use Permit
will also be subject to the approval of a Coastal Development Permit if it is located within the Coastal
Zone.
Boardinghouses
The proposed project will revise the “boardinghouses” definition to clarify boardinghouses are not
bed and breakfast uses, employee housing or group homes. This proposed change ensures that
boardinghouses are accurately defined and do not constrain uses such as group homes and
residential care facilities in a manner that would violate state AFFH laws. Currently, boardinghouses
are only permitted in the R-P zone.
Emergency Shelters and Low Barrier Navigation Centers (Program 2.13 Objective H)
• Program 2.13, Housing for Persons Experiencing Homelessness, Objective H: Review the low
barrier navigation centers, emergency shelters, and supportive housing provisions to comply with
recent changes to state law [Government Code 65651 and Government Code 65583(a)(4)] and
amend the zoning ordinance and other documents as necessary to comply.
Supportive and Transitional Housing
California Health and Safety Code Section 50675.14 defines “supportive housing” as housing with no
limit on length of stay, that is occupied by the target population, and that is linked to on-site or offsite
services that assist the supportive housing resident in retaining the housing, improving their health
status, and maximizing their ability to live and, when possible, work in the community. The target
population serves includes persons with disabilities, and families are homeless or who are homeless
youth (Government Code Section 50675.14). California Health and Safety Code Sections 50675.2 and
50801 define “transitional housing” and “transitional housing development” as buildings configured
as rental housing developments but operated under program requirements that call for the
termination of assistance and recirculation of the assisted unit to another eligible program recipient
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at some predetermined future point in time, which shall be no less than six months. Residents of
transitional housing are usually connected to supportive services designed to assist the homeless in
achieving greater economic independence and a permanent, stable living situation. Transitional
housing can take several forms, including group quarters with beds, single-family homes, and multi-
family apartments and typically offers case management and support services to help return people
to independent living (often six months to two years). AB 2162 (2018) and Government Code Section
65583(c)(3) specify that supportive housing and transitional housing should be considered a
residential use of property, and subject only to those restrictions that apply to other residential
dwellings of the same type in the same zone.
Addressing first the program objective requirement to review state law compliance of the city’s
supportive and transitional housing regulations, staff notes amendments to the Carlsbad Municipal
Code (Ordinance CS-191) in 2012 added definitions of supportive housing and transitional housing
and permit (if six or fewer persons) or conditionally permit (if more than six persons) them in
residential and certain commercial zones. Subsequently, Ordinance CS-249 was approved in 2014 that
removed the limits on number of persons and the requirements for a conditional use permit and
clarified supportive housing and transitional housing are subject to only those restrictions that apply
to other residential uses of the same type in the same zone. Based upon an evaluation of the
requirements of Government Code Sections 65583 and 65651, the city’s Zoning Ordinance is
consistent with all applicable state laws, an no further changes are necessary.
Emergency Shelters
California Health and Safety Code Section 50801 defines an emergency shelter as “housing with
minimal supportive services for homeless persons that is limited to occupancy of six months or less
by a homeless person. No individual or household may be denied emergency shelter because of an
inability to pay.” Emergency shelters offer support services and temporary housing stabilization on a
short-term basis until individuals can find permanent housing.
In 2012, ZCA 09-05 was approved that amended Section 21.04.140.5 to add definitions to emergency
shelters within the M, Industrial, and P-M, Planned Industrial, zones as a permitted use with less than
30 beds and as a Process 3 Conditional Use Permit with 30 or more beds and subject to the
requirements of Section 21.32.070. Updates to state law require that multiple land use designations,
including one with residential uses, allow emergency shelters, and that the definition is broadened
to allow for “interim interventions, including, but not limited to, a navigation center, bridge housing,
and respite or recuperative care.” (Government Code Section 65583 (a)(4)(C).
Between the M and P-M zones, emergency shelters are now allowed by-right in approximately 1,510
acres in Carlsbad, which is approximately seven percent of the land area within the city. Unlike many
coastal cities, Carlsbad has a significant portion of land that is designated for industrial areas and the
uses in these areas are light-industrial or office in nature. Additionally, Low Barrier Navigation
Centers, described below, can also serve as shelters and, as proposed, would be permitted in other
zones; this further supplements the adequacy of the city’s capacity for temporary shelter facilities.
Additional analysis on Low Barrier Navigation Centers will be included in the next Housing Element
for the City of Carlsbad.
The city’s support for housing and emergency shelters is further shown in the city’s substantial
investment in the La Posada shelter to turn it into a Low Barrier Navigation Center, which is located
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within an Industrial (M) Zone. The city has pursued two separate grants to help expand this facility
and allow the shelter to provide services to additional groups.
Low Barrier Navigation Centers
Low Barrier Navigation Centers are shelters that have additional requirements and regulations to
provide temporary housing but include case managers, health services, and a focus to move people
into permanent housing. The proposed amendments allow Low Barrier Navigation Centers anywhere
an emergency shelter is allowed (M, P-M). Further, Government Code 65662 requires that Low
Barrier Navigation Centers be allowed by-right in any areas zoned for mixed use and nonresidential
zones permitting multifamily uses, which includes C-1, C-2, and C-L. The use would also be permitted
by-right in the following residential zones: R-2, R-3, R-P, R-T, RD-M, and RMHP. Government Code
section 65668 states that the provisions related to Low Barrier Navigation Centers remain in effect
until Jan. 1, 2027, unless extended.
The changes regarding emergency shelters and Low Barrier Navigation Center are described more in
Exhibit 3, but a summary of the changes are:
o Define “Low Barrier Navigation Center.” As a type of shelter that includes specific social services
to provide care and transition to affordable housing, and refence the State Law definition.
o Broaden the definition of “emergency shelter” to include facilities such as Low Barrier
Navigation Centers and respite or recuperative care.
o Implement State law which permits Low Barrier Navigation Center in any residential zone that
provides for multi-family residential and commercial zones allowing residential uses.
III. ANALYSIS
For a specific description of each proposed amendment and its associated analysis and recommendation,
please see the analysis table in Exhibit 3.
Local Coastal Program Amendment
Since the Zoning Ordinance is part of the Carlsbad Local Coastal Program Implementation Plan, a Local
Coastal Program amendment is also proposed (LCPA 2023-0018). The Planning Commission’s
recommendation to amend the Zoning Ordinance also constitutes a recommendation to amend the Local
Coastal Program Implementation Plan. No portion of the Local Coastal Program Land Use Plan is being
amended.
If ZCA 2023-0002 and LCPA 2023-0018 are approved by the City Council, city staff will formally apply for
an amendment with the California Coastal Commission. If the California Coastal Commission approves the
amendment to the Local Coastal Program, the changes to the Zoning Ordinance will be effective both
inside and outside the Coastal Zone.
Zoning Ordinance Consistency
The amendments to the Zoning Ordinance (Title 21) are intended to clarify regulations and procedures as
well as establish consistency with California Government Code, particularly Title 7, Planning and Land Use,
and within it, Article 10.6, Housing Elements. Staff has analyzed the proposed amendments and finds that
the amendments are internally consistent with the other provisions of the Zoning Ordinance not being
amended and that the proposed amendments do not create any conflicts with the provisions of the
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 43 of 94
ZCA2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 (DEV2023-0040)
ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY HOUSING AMENDMENTS 2023
April 5, 2023
Page 7
General Plan or Local Coastal Program. In fact, the amendment directly implements programs of the
General Plan Housing Element; this improves the accuracy, use and function of the Zoning Ordinance.
The Planning Commission has the authority under Chapter 21.52 of the Zoning Ordinance to provide
recommendations to the City Council on any amendments to the Zoning Ordinance or Local Coastal
Program. Pursuant to section 21.52.050, the Planning Commission must provide a recommendation based
on the relationship of the proposed amendment to applicable provisions of the Zoning Ordinance, the
General Plan and Local Coastal Program, and any applicable master or specific plan.
General Plan Consistency
The project is consistent with the General Plan in that the amendments proposed do not conflict with
General Plan goals and policies and instead implement programs of the General Plan Housing Element;
specifically, the amendments complete implementation of Program 1.3 g., which commits the city to
review and revise as necessary requirements related to group homes, including residential care facilities,
and implement Program 2.13 h., which commits the city to review and revise as necessary standards
related to housing the homeless. A demonstration of compliance with the General Plan is provided in the
table below.
TABLE A – GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY
Element Use, Classification, Goal,
Objective, or Program Proposed project Comply?
Land Use &
Community
Design
Goal 2-G.4: Provide balanced
neighborhoods with a variety of
housing types and density ranges
to meet the diverse demographic,
economic and social needs of
residents, while ensuring a
cohesive urban form with careful
regard for compatibility.
Consistent with State law and the
city’s adopted Housing Plan, the
project proposes amendments to
implement programs that provide a
greater breadth of housing options
for persons such as seniors or those
experiencing homelessness or with
disabilities. The project does not
amend the locations or descriptions
of the city land use designations and
provides for a conditional use permit
and standards for group homes
serving seven or more persons that
require State licensing.
Yes
Housing
Element
Goal 10-G.2: Sufficient new,
affordable housing opportunities in
all quadrants of the city to meet the
needs of current lower- and
moderate-income households and
those with special needs, and a fair
share proportion of future lower-
and moderate-income households.
Implementation of Programs 1.3 g.
and 2.13 h. applies to land use zones
throughout Carlsbad. As noted in the
response to General Plan Goal 2-G.4
above, implementation of the
programs provides housing options
to serve lower-income and special
needs households.
Yes
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 44 of 94
ZCA2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 (DEV2023-0040)
ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY HOUSING AMENDMENTS 2023
April 5, 2023
Page 8
Local Coastal Program Consistency
With the inclusion of LCPA 2023-0018, this project meets the requirements of, and is in conformity with,
the policies of Chapter 3 of the Coastal Act and all applicable policies of the Carlsbad Local Coastal Program
not being amended by this project. The amendments do not modify the use or intensity of any
designations and do not conflict with any Coastal Zone regulations, land use designations or policies with
which development must comply.
IV. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act, and its implementing regulations Section 15168 of
the CEQA Guidelines sets the criteria for use of a Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for later
activities to determine if an additional environmental document must be prepared. Section 15168(c)(2)
directs a Program EIR to utilize the specific process referenced in Sections 15162 through 15164 that sets
forth the criteria for determining the appropriate additional environmental documentation, if any, to be
completed when there is a previously adopted EIR covering the project for which a subsequent
discretionary action is required.
As part of its approval of the Comprehensive General Plan Update on Sept. 22, 2015, the City Council
adopted Resolution 2015-242, certifying EIR 13-02 and adopting Findings of Fact, a Statement of
Overriding Considerations, and a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program. EIR 13-02 is available via
the city’s Public Records Access weblink by entering “EIR 13-02” in the “Project ID” search field at
Custom Search (carlsbadca.gov).
Subsequently, on April 6, 2021, the City Council approved an update of the city’s Housing Element for the
6th cycle (2021 – 2029) by Resolution 2021-073, which included an Addendum consistent with Section
15164 of the CEQA Guidelines to study impacts of the Goals, Policies, Programs and Objectives contained
in the Housing Element. On July 13, 2021, the California Department of Housing and Community
Development found the element to be in substantial compliance with all applicable laws. The Addendum
and resolution are available at 2021-04-06; City Council; Resolution 2021-073 (carlsbadca.gov). The
Addendum included an evaluation of the Housing Element Goals, Policies, Programs and Objectives that
will be implemented throughout the eight-year housing cycle.
The proposed project includes amendments to implement a portion of Housing Element Program 1.3 g.
and Program 2.13 h.to bring the zoning code into compliance with State law with respect to group homes,
including residential care facilities, and housing for the homeless. The proposed amendments break no
new legal ground and are within the scope of the of the Addendum. During adoption of the General Plan,
EIR 13-02 considered and evaluated all land use impacts associated with the programs of the Housing
Plan, including programs 1.3 and 2.13. The Addendum evaluated all direct and indirect impacts, in addition
to cumulative impacts, that would result from Housing Element implementation.
The implementation of Housing Element Program 1.3g and 2.13h falls under the scope of the Addendum
and is internally consistent with other provisions of the code, and the land use regulations and
requirements set forth in the city’s General Plan and Local Coastal Program. As these programs were
considered in the April 6, 2021, Addendum, all potential cumulative impacts have been considered and
studied, and there are no unanticipated environmental impacts or changes in circumstances. Additionally,
there is no "new information of substantial importance" as that term is used in CEQA Guidelines Section
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 45 of 94
ZCA2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 (DEV2023-0040)
ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY HOUSING AMENDMENTS 2023
April 5, 2023
Page 9
15162(a)(3) and none of the triggers for a subsequent/supplemental EIR apply. Therefore, the Addendum
and certified Final EIR are adequate without modification.
Based on this analysis, the city planner has determined that there are no substantial changes proposed in
the project and there are no substantial changes in the circumstances under which the project will be
undertaken that will require major revisions to the previous EIR due to the involvement of significant new
environmental effects or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant effects. .
A notice of determination is proposed for filing with the County Clerk.
EXHIBITS:
1. Planning Commission Resolution
a. Attachment A: Draft City Council Ordinance
2. Underline/strikeout exhibit of proposed Zoning Ordinance changes
3. Analysis table of proposed amendments
4. City Council Resolution No. CS-432, Approved Sept. 27, 2022
5. Group Home Technical Advisory, California Department of Housing and Community Development,
Dec. 2022
6. State Dept. of Housing and Community Development Letter dated July 13, 2021
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 46 of 94
PLANNING COMMISSION RESOLUTION 7476
A RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA, RECOMMENDING APPROVAL OF A ZONE CODE
AMENDMENT TO THE ZONING ORDINANCE, TITLE 21 OF THE CARLSBAD
MUNICIPAL CODE, TO IMPLEMENT A PORTION OF HOUSING ELEMENT
PROGRAM 1.3 (G.) AND TO IMPLEMENT HOUSING ELEMENT PROGRAM
2.13 (H.). APPROVAL IS ALSO RECOMMENDED FOR A LOCAL COASTAL
PROGRAM AMENDMENT TO IMPLEMENT THE ZONE CODE AMENDMENT
IN THE COASTAL ZONE.
CASE NAME: ALTERNATIVE
AMENDMENTS 2023
AND TEMPORARY
CASE NO: ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 (DEV 2023-0040)
HOUSING
Exhibit 8
WHEREAS, the City Planner has prepared a proposed Zone Code Amendment and Local
Coastal Program Amendment pursuant to Section 21.52.020 of the Carlsbad Municipal Code; the purpose
of the amendments is to ensure consistency of city requirements with state law; and
WHEREAS, the City Planner has prepared the Local Coastal Program Amendment, as
provided in Public Resources Code Section 30514 and Section 13551 of California Code of Regulations Title
14, Division 5.5; and
WHEREAS, as part of its approval of the Comprehensive General Plan Update on Sept. 22,
2015, the City Council adopted Resolution 2015-242, certifying Environmental Impact Report (EIR) 13-02
and adopting Findings of Fact, a Statement of Overriding Considerations, and a Mitigation Monitoring and
Reporting Program; and
WHEREAS, on April 6, 2021, the City Council approved the city's Housing Element by
Resolution 2021-073, which included an Addendum to EIR 13-02 consistent with Section 15164 of the
CEQA Guidelines to study impacts of the proposed Goals, Policies, Programs and Objectives of the Housing
Element; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to CEQA, when taking subsequent discretionary actions in
furtherance of a project for which an EIR has been certified, the Lead Agency is required to review any
changed circumstances to determine whether any of the circumstances under Public Resources Code
section 21166 and CEQA Guidelines section 15162 require additional environmental review; and
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 47 of 94
WHEREAS, the City Planner has determined the proposed amendments when compared
to the project description and analysis conducted in EIR 13-02 and the Addendum approved by Resolution
2021-073, complies with the provisions of sections 15168 and 15162 of the California Environmental
Quality Act Guidelines and no further environmental review is required; and
WHEREAS, the proposed amendments to the Zone Ordinance and Local Coastal Program
are set forth in the draft City Council Ordinance, Attachment A, dated April 5, 2023, and attached hereto
ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY HOUSING AMENDMENTS 2023 -ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018; and
WHEREAS, California Coastal Commission Regulations require a six-week public review
period for any amendment to the Local Coastal Program; and
WHEREAS, the Planning Commission did on the 5th day of April, 2023, hold a duly noticed
public hearing as prescribed by law to consider said request; and
WHEREAS, at said public hearing, 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 Zoning Ordinance Amendment and Local Coastal Program Amendment.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED by the Planning Commission of the City of
Carlsbad as follows:
A)
B)
C)
Findings:
That the foregoing recitations are true and correct.
At the end of the state-mandated six-week review period for the Local Coastal Program
Amendment, starting on March 24, 2023, and ending on May 5, 2023, staff shall present
to the City Council a summary of the comments received.
That based on the evidence presented at the public hearing, the Commission
RECOMMENDS APPROVAL of ZCA 2023-0002 & LCPA 2023-0018, based on the following
findings:
1.ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 reflect sound principles of good planning in that the
amendments to the Zoning Ordinance (Title 21) are intended to clarify regulations and
procedures as well as establish consistency with California Government Code, particularly Title
7, Planning and Land Use, and within it, Article 10.6, Housing Elements. Staff has analyzed the
-2-May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 48 of 94
proposed amendments and finds they are internally consistent with the other provisions of the
Zoning Ordinance not being amended and that the proposed amendments do not create any
conflicts with the provisions of the General Plan or Local Coastal Program. In fact, the
amendment directly implements programs of the General Plan Housing Element; this improves
the accuracy, use and function of the Zoning Ordinance; and
2.ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 is consistent with the General Plan in that the proposed
amendments do not conflict with General Plan goals and policies and instead implement
programs of the General Plan Housing Element; specifically, the amendments complete
implementation of Program 1.3 (g.), which commits the city to review and revise as necessary
requirements related to group homes, including residential care facilities, and implement
Program 2.13 (h.), which commits the city to review and revise as necessary standards related
to housing the homeless. Further, the amendments are consistent with Land Use and
Community Design Element Goal 2-G.4, "Provide balanced neighborhoods with a variety of
housing types and density ranges to meet the diverse demographic, economic and social needs
of residents, while ensuring a cohesive urban form with c_areful regard for compatibility;" and
Housing Element Goal 10-G.2, "sufficient new, affordable housing opportunities in all quadrants
of the city to meet the needs of current lower-and moderate-income households and those
with special needs, and a fair share proportion of future lower-and moderate-income
households."
3.LCPA 2023-0018 is required to ensure consistency between the Local Coastal Program and the
Zoning Ordinance; and
4.LCPA 2023-0018 meets the requirements of, and is in conformity with, the policies of Chapter 3
of the Coastal Act and all applicable policies of the Carlsbad Local Coastal Program not being
amended by this amendment, in that the amendments do not modify the use or intensity of any
land use designations and do not conflict with any Coastal Zone regulations, land use
designations or policies with which development must comply.
-3-May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 49 of 94
PASSED, APPROVED, -AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the Planning Commission of
the City of Carlsbad, held on April 5, 2023, by the following vote, to wit:
AYES: Commissioners Kamenjarin, Lafferty, Meenes, Merz, Sabellico, and Stine
NAYES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
PETER MERZ, Chairperson
CARLSBAD PLANNING COMMISSION
ATTEST:
ERIC LARDY
City Planner
-4-May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 50 of 94
City Council Chamber
1200 Carlsbad Village Drive
Carlsbad, CA 92008
April 5, 2023, 5 p.m.
CALL TO ORDER: 5:02 p.m.
ROLL CALL: Commissioners Kamenjarin, Lafferty, Meenes, Merz, Sabellico, and Stine.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Commissioner Meenes led the Pledge of Allegiance.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Minutes of the Regular Meeting held on March 15, 2023
Motion by Commissioner Stine, seconded by Meenes, to approve as amended the Minutes of the
Regular Meeting held on March 15, 2023, with the following correction requested by City Planner
Eric Lardy:
•On pages 1 and 3, approval of minutes, the date needs to be changed to March 1, 2023
instead of March 15, 2023.
Motion carried, 5/1 (Kamenjarin - Abstained).
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Diane Lech, expressed her concern for accessory dwelling units and its impact on single-family
neighborhoods. She also asked for the commission to consider supporting the 2024 ballot
initiative to regain local control.
CONSENT CALENDAR: None.
PUBLIC HEARINGS:
1.CUP 2018-0022 (PUB17Y-0018) – CITY OF CARLSBAD ORION CENTER – Request for
adoption of a resolution recommending the approval of a Mitigated Negative Declaration
and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program and adoption of a resolution
recommending approval of a Conditional Use Permit to allow for the redevelopment of
the existing fleet maintenance facility and storage yard (Orion Center) located at 2600
Orion Way. The Project includes the development of a 41,900 square foot (SF), two-story
office building, three warehouse and shop buildings totaling 25,400 SF, and a 92,300 SF,
four-story parking structure. The Project site is not located within the Coastal Zone and is
not appealable to the California Coastal Commission and is within Local Facilities
Management Zone 5. Mitigation Measures included to reduce environmental effects to
less than significant are included for Biological Resources, Geology and Soils, Hazards and
Hazardous Materials, and Tribal Cultural Resources.
ACTION TYPE: Quasi-judicial
Exhibit 9
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 51 of 94
PLANNING COMMISSION
Minutes
April 5, 2023 Planning Commission Regular Meeting Page 2
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Adopt the resolutions.
PLANNER: Izzak Mireles ENGINEER: Nichole Fine
Commissioner Lafferty recused herself at 5:10 p.m. due to conflict of interest because she worked
for the architect.
Commissioners Meenes, Merz, and Kamenjarin disclosed they visited the site.
Commissioners Stine and Sabellico both visited the site and read an article in the San Diego Union
Tribune dated April 2, 2023 regarding the project.
Commissioner Stine’s questioned the need for a four-story parking structure in an open space
zone and if staff has considered underground parking as an alternative. Steve Stewart, Municipal
Projects Manager responded after staff’s assessment there was not enough room for adequate
parking and underground parking is a cost issue.
Commissioner Meenes’ asked if the proposed height was subject to approval of the Conditional
Use Permit. Eric Lardy, City Planner responded the open space zone allows a waiver for the height
limit through a process 2 Conditional Use Permit to be approved by the Planning Commission.
Commissioner Kamenjarin expressed the city should look at underground parking not only for
city projects but also for the private sector retain our world-class city image.
Chair Merz opened the duly noticed public hearing at 5:11 p.m.
City Planner Eric Lardy introduced Associate Planner Izzak Mireles who provided the
PowerPoint presentation (on file in the Office of the City Clerk).
As part of the presentation, Associate Planner Mireles made a recommendation to adopt a
resolution approving Conditional Use Permit (CUP 2018-0022) and adopt a resolution
approving a Mitigated Negative Declaration and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting
Program based upon the findings and subject to the conditions contained therein. He also
noted three corrections necessary to fix errors in the two project resolutions.
Chair Merz opened the public testimony at 5:19 p.m.
Hearing no one wishing to speak, Chair Merz closed the public testimony at 5:20 p.m.
Motion by Commissioner Meenes, seconded by Commissioner Stine, to adopt Resolution
Nos. 7474 and 7475 with clarification presented by staff to address the errors in the
resolutions. Motion carried, 5/0/1 (Lafferty; Recused).
Commissioner Lafferty returned to the dais at 5:30 p.m.
2. ZCA 2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018 (DEV2023-0040) - ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY
HOUSING AMENDMENTS 2023 - Request for adoption of a resolution recommending
approval for amendments to the Carlsbad Municipal Code Title 21, the Zoning Ordinance, to
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 52 of 94
April 5, 2023 Planning Commission Regular Meeting Page 3
implement Housing Element Program 1.3 “Alternative Housing,” Objective G, and Program
2.13 “Housing for Persons Experiencing Homelessness,” Objective H. The action also includes
a Local Coastal Program Amendment for the updates to the Zoning Ordinance. The city
planner has determined that the amendments are covered under Environmental Impact
Report EIR 13-02 prepared for the 2015 comprehensive update to the General Plan and the
addendum to that EIR approved by City Council Resolution 2021-073 on April 6, 2021, for the
update of the city’s Housing Element for the 6th cycle (2021 – 2029).
ACTION TYPE: Legislative
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Adopt the resolution.
PLANNER: Scott Donnell ENGINEER: N/A
As part of the presentation, Senior Planner Scott Donnell made a recommendation to adopt a
resolution recommending approval of Zone Code Amendment (ZCA 2023-0002) and Local Coastal
Program Amendment (LCPA 2023-0018).
Commissioner Stine inquired about why a licensed facility of seven or more would be subject to
a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) while an unlicensed facility of seven or more would not require a
CUP. Senior Planner Donnell responded that state law requires that residential care facilities that
serve six or fewer residents to be considered a residential property and be treated the same as a
single-family home. Unlicensed facilities of seven or more occupants are facilities function as a
family unit and are not dependent on state services or treatment. He also referred to the state
certification letter and a technical bulletin that are exhibits to the staff report, which explain the
state’s regulation further.
Commissioner Meenes asked if proposed licensed residential care facilities of seven or more
would be conditionally permitted in all residential zones and if currently they are conditionally
permitted only in three residential zones. Senior Planner Donnell agreed.
Chair Merz opened the public testimony at 6:01 p.m.
Hearing no one wishing to speak, Chair Merz closed the public testimony at 6:02 p.m.
Chair Merz closed the duly noticed public hearing at 6:02 p.m.
Motion by Commissioner Lafferty, seconded by Commissioner Meenes, to adopt Resolution
No. 7476. Motion carried, 6/0/1.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORT: None.
PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBER REPORTS:
Commissioner Kamenjarin reported on serving on the Block Grant Committee last week and
worthy applicants were given funds.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 53 of 94
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 54 of 94
April 5, 2023 Planning Commission Regular Meeting Page4
Commissioner Lafferty reported she attended the League of California of Cities Planning
Commission Academy last week in Garden Grove. The training highlights included the ethics law,
CEQA, planning for the future, and housing under State Bill 330.
Commissioner Stine reported that the Growth Management Citizens Committee will meet on
April 20, 2023 and this may be the last meeting if an agreement is reached for a final report to
represent to the City Council.
CITY PLANNER REPORTS:
Eric Lardy, City Planner reported on April 11, 2023 the City Council will be considering the
applications for a new Planning Commissioner and anticipates the vacancy to be filled by the next
Planning Commission meeting. He also reported for the next meetings scheduled on April 19,
2023 and May 3, 2023 staff has a number of agenda items. Eric Lardy mentioned that the May
17, 2023 meeting may be cancelled.
CITY ATTORNEY REPORTS: None.
ADJOURNMENT:
Chair Merz adjourned the duly noticed meeting at 6:44 p.m.
Michele Hardy
Secretary
December 2022
GROUP HOME
TECHNICAL ADVISORY
CA DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
DIVISION OF HOUSING POLICY DEVELOPMENT
Exhibit 10
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 55 of 94
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Executive Summary 1
2. Terms Used 5
3. Background 6
4. Framework for Assessing if Local Land Use Policies and Practices Comply with
State Housing Laws’ Protections of Group Homes 8
A. Do the Policies and Practices Comply with Housing Element Law and AFFH
Requirements? 9
B. Do the Policies and Practices Unlawfully Discriminate Based on Disability or
Other Protected Characteristics? 12
i. Intentional Discrimination 14
ii. Discriminatory Effects 17
iii. Reasonable Accommodations 18
5. Supportive Housing and Transitional Housing Requirements 20
6. State Law Provides Broader Protections Than Federal Law 22
7. Common Issues In Local Ordinances That Regulate Group Homes 23
A. Definitions of Single Housekeeping Units or Single-Family Homes 24
B. Requirements that All Group Homes with More than Six Residents Must
Obtain Permits to Locate in Single-Family Zones 25
C. Retroactive Compliance 27
D. Spacing Requirements 27
E. Occupancy Limits and Building, Fire, or Other Health and Safety Code
Requirements 30
F. Requirements For Operators and Residents 30
G. Civil Actions for Operating Without a Required State License 33
H. Enforcing Generally Applicable Municipal Codes and Other Laws 36
8. Resource Materials and State Contacts 36
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 56 of 94
1
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Group homes are an especially important type of housing for persons with disabilities.
By supporting their residents’ individualized needs while providing flexible and
affordable housing options, group homes help persons with disabilities live in
deinstitutionalized settings that facilitate their integration into local communities.
In recent years, some local governments have amended their zoning ordinances to add
new regulations for group homes, particularly for recovery residences—group homes
that provide housing for persons recovering from alcoholism or drug addiction. These
amendments have raised concerns that local governments are not complying with their
affirmative obligations under state planning and zoning laws to promote more inclusive
communities and affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH). These amendments have
also generated disputes and confusion over whether local governments are violating fair
housing laws by discriminating against persons with disabilities or other protected
characteristics.
Among other concerns, local land use policies and practices can block new group
homes from opening, force existing ones to close, and impose costs, legal fees, and
administrative burdens that make it difficult for group homes to operate. These concerns
arise in the context of a shortage of adequate housing for persons with disabilities,
which is a particularly acute problem within California’s broader housing crisis.
With concerns, disputes, and confusion continuing to grow, this Group Home Technical
Advisory (Group Home TA) provides guidance on how state planning and zoning and
fair housing laws apply when local governments attempt to regulate group homes
through land use policies and practices. It is designed to help local governments comply
with their obligations under these state laws, including, for example, the Planning and
Zoning Law,1 Housing Element Law,2 AFFH provisions,3 Anti-Discrimination in Land
Use Law,4 and the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)5 (collectively, state
housing laws).
The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is issuing
the Group Home TA under its authority to provide guidance about housing law and
1 Gov. Code, § 65000 et seq.
2 Gov. Code, §§ 65580‐65589.11.
3 See, e.g., Gov. Code, §§ 8899.50, 65583, subds. (c)(5),(10).
4 Gov. Code, § 65008.
5 Gov. Code, § 12900 et seq.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 57 of 94
2
policy.6 The primary intended users are local planning agencies and their staff, but
group home operators, advocates, and residents may also benefit from this information.
Contents
• Background information about group homes and the essential role they play
in providing housing for persons with disabilities (pp. 6-8);
• General guidance about overall state housing law standards that (1) require
local governments to remove constraints on group homes and affirmatively
support them, and (2) prohibit local land use policies and practices that
discriminate against group home owners, operators, and residents (pp. 8-23);
• Specific guidance about how these standards apply to common issues that
arise when local governments attempt to regulate group homes through local
land use policies and practices (pp. 23-36);
• Lists of state government resource materials and contacts (pp. 36-37).
Policy Guidance Summary
The Group Home TA’s guidance for how local governments can comply with state
housing laws regarding group homes includes the following:
• Housing Element Law and AFFH. Assess whether a policy or practice complies
with Housing Element Law and AFFH requirements to avoid constraining housing
for persons with disabilities and to affirmatively support this housing and its
residents’ fair housing choices (pp. 8-12). Consider the Group Home TA’s
examples of specific questions to guide local governments’ analysis of these
issues (pp.11-12).
• Discriminatory Purpose or Effect. Ensure that the policy or practice does not
discriminate on the basis of disability or other characteristics protected by state
law. Apply the Group Home TA’s analysis on how to determine if a policy or
practice has a discriminatory purpose or effect and how to implement flexible
reasonable accommodation procedures that promptly and efficiently resolve
accommodation requests in compliance with state housing laws and regulations.
(pp. 12-20).
6 See, e.g., Health & Saf. Code, §§ 50152, 50406, subds. (e), (n), 50456, subd. (a),
50459, subd. (a); Gov. Code, § 65585, subd. (a). The Group Home TA is intended to provide general informational guidance only. It does not constitute legal advice.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 58 of 94
3
• Supportive and Transitional Housing. Comply with the specific protections for
group homes that fall within the definitions of supportive or transitional housing
(pp. 20-22).
• State and Federal Law Distinctions. Confirm that a policy or practice complies
with state housing laws even if it complies with federal law, because California
law provides broader and different protections than federal law (pp. 22-23).
• Definition of Single-Family Residence. Avoid restrictive definitions of single
housekeeping units or single-family homes that impermissibly constrain group
homes from locating in single-family zones. This includes, for example, avoiding
definitions that equate group homes with boardinghouses, require all residents to
share a common deed or lease, overly scrutinize residents’ living arrangements,
or automatically exclude group homes that are owned by for-profit businesses or
pay staff to help manage a home’s operations (pp. 24-25).
• Group Homes that Do Not Provide Licensable Services. Allow group homes
that operate as single-family residences and that do not provide licensable
services to locate in single-family neighborhoods, subject only to the generally
applicable, nondiscriminatory health, safety, and zoning laws that apply to all
single-family residences (pp. 25-26).
• Group Homes that Provide Licensable Services to Six or Fewer Residents.
Allow group homes that operate as single-family residences and that provide
licensable services to six or fewer residents to locate in single-family
neighborhoods, subject only to the generally applicable, nondiscriminatory
health, safety, and zoning laws that apply to all single-family residences (pp. 25-
26).
• Group Homes that Provide Licensable Services to Seven or More
Residents. Ensure that any permitting or approval requirements for group homes
that provide licensable services to seven or more residents are consistent with
state housing laws (pp. 25-26).
• Preexisting Nonconforming Uses. Avoid retroactively applying a new zoning
provision to group homes that were already operating before the provision was
enacted (p. 27).
• Spacing Requirements. Avoid requirements for minimum spacing between
group homes that go beyond those the Legislature has specified for limited types
of licensed facilities and that conflict with state housing laws (pp. 27-29).
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 59 of 94
4
• Occupancy Limits and Building, Fire, or Other Health and Safety Code
Requirements. Apply the same, generally applicable, nondiscriminatory
occupancy limits and other building, fire, health, and safety requirements to
group homes that apply to other housing, subject to reasonable accommodation
requirements or the Legislature’s requirements for specific types of licensed
facilities, such as those serving persons with limited mobility (p. 29).
• Other Requirements for Group Home Operators and Residents. Avoid the
other examples of special requirements for operators and residents discussed
that can overly constrain group homes, conflict with the duty to affirmatively
support this housing, and discriminate on the basis of disability and other
protected characteristics. Examples discussed include, among other things,
parking requirements, restrictions on residents or staff, neighborhood notice
requirements, and local law enforcement registration requirements (pp. 30-33).
• State Administrative Procedures for Investigating Licensing Issues. Use the
Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) or California Department of Social
Services (CDSS) processes for investigating and resolving complaints that
unlicensed group homes are providing services that require licenses from these
departments (pp. 33-35).
• Public Nuisance and Other Code Enforcement Actions. Use generally
applicable, nondiscriminatory laws and code enforcement procedures to
investigate and, if appropriate, prosecute group home operators that are creating
public nuisances; violating building, housing, fire, or other public health and
safety codes; committing fraud; or engaging in other unlawful activities (p. 36).
This summary and the Group Home TA are not intended as all-inclusive guides to every
issue that might arise when local governments attempt to regulate group homes. But by
following the Group Home TA’s framework and considering how it applies to the
examples of common issues, local governments can ensure that their land use policies
and practices comply with state housing laws.
Conclusion
Local governments that follow the Group Home TA’s guidance can still address
concerns about group homeowners or operators that mistreat or abuse their residents,
engage in insurance fraud or other illegal practices, or operate their homes in unsafe
manners or in ways that create public nuisances. But research has shown that these
problems are limited to a small minority of group homes, with the majority of group
homes being well managed and operating compatibly with their surrounding
neighborhoods, while providing essential housing resources. Focusing on individual
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 60 of 94
5
group homes that are problematic is more consistent with state law and helps avoid
adopting overly broad and constraining zoning regulations for all group homes.
2. TERMS USED
Different laws use the term “group homes” to refer to different types of housing for
different populations covered by different regulatory schemes. The following terms refer
to various types of residences in which unrelated persons share the residence:
• Shared Living Residences—any housing shared by unrelated persons,
including, for example, group homes, recovery residences, some community care
residential facilities, some supportive and transitional housing, emergency
shelters, boardinghouses, dormitories, etc.
• Group Homes—housing shared by unrelated persons with disabilities that
provide peer and other support for their residents’ disability related needs and in
which residents share cooking, dining, and living areas, and may, in some group
homes, participate in cooking, housekeeping, and other communal living
activities.
• Licensed Group Homes—group homes that provide services that require
licenses under state law.
• Unlicensed Group Homes—group homes that may provide some supportive
services for their residents but not services that require licenses under state law.
• Recovery Residences or Sober Living Homes—group homes for persons
recovering from alcoholism or drug addiction in which the residents mutually
support each other's recovery and sobriety and that do not require licenses from
DHCS because they do not provide alcoholism or drug addiction recovery and
treatment services.
• Alcohol or Other Drug (AOD) Facilities—residential facilities that must obtain
licenses from DHCS because they provide alcoholism or drug addiction recovery
and treatment services.7
7 See, e.g., Health & Saf. Code, § 11834.02.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 61 of 94
6
• Community Care Residential Facilities—residential facilities that must obtain
licenses from CDSS because they provide 24-hour nonmedical care and
supervision for adults or children.8
3. BACKGROUND
Among the many reasons that group homes are essential housing for persons with
disabilities is the support these homes provide for their residents’ individualized,
disability-related needs. This includes the peer support that group homes encourage
their residents to provide to each other when sharing a home, as well as the services
these homes can provide. These services range from basic support for independent
living to more intensive care and supervision services that require state licenses. By
providing peer support, services, or both, group homes help their residents live in
deinstitutionalized settings and integrate into local communities. For these and other
reasons, as the California Legislature has recognized, “‘persons with disabilities . . . are
significantly more likely than other persons to live with unrelated persons in group
[homes].’”9
Because group homes are such important housing resources for persons with
disabilities, state law not only protects them from discriminatory land use policies and
practices, it mandates that local governments affirmatively support group homes
locating in their communities.10 Federal law also protects group homes, leading courts
across the country to conclude that “‘encourag[ing] and support[ing] handicapped
persons' right to live in a group home in the community of their choice’” is “‘the public
policy of the United States.’”11
The communities of choice for many group homes are often single-family
neighborhoods. Recovery residences, for example, often locate in single-family
8 See, e.g., Health & Saf. Code, §§ 1502, 1568.01, 1569.2, subds. (o)-(p). 9 Broadmoor San Clemente Homeowners Ass’n v. Nelson, (1994) 25 Cal.App.4th 1, 6, quoting Stats. 1993, ch. 1277, § 18; 12 West Cal.Legis.Services, p. 6038. 10 See, e.g., Gov. Code, §§ 8899.50, 65583, subds. (a)(1), (a)(7), (c)(10).
11 Broadmoor, 25 Cal.App.4th at 9, quoting Rhodes v. Palmetto Pathway Homes, Inc.
(South Carolina 1991) 303 S.C. 308, 400 S.E.2d 484, 486.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 62 of 94
7
neighborhoods because this helps “‘recovering addicts’ reintegration into society and
redevelopment of self-sufficiency.”12
But “for every group home that is successfully established, experts estimate that
another closes or never opens because of community opposition.”13 The legislative
history of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Government Code section
12900 et seq., and federal Fair Housing Act (“FHA”), 42 U.S.C. section 3601 et seq.,
show that the Legislature and Congress considered local governments’ longstanding
practices of using land use ordinances to exclude group homes when amending these
civil rights laws to protect housing for persons with disabilities.14
Local opposition to group homes is often based on fears that they will disrupt
neighborhoods, increase crime rates or drug use, generate excessive traffic and
parking, or lower property values. But numerous studies, representing decades of
research, have found that fears like these are unfounded.15 In fact, studies have shown
that group homes are often the best maintained properties on their blocks and function
so much like other homes “that most neighbors within one to two blocks . . . do not even
know that a group home . . . is nearby.”16
This is not to minimize very real problems that have arisen at some group homes. In
particular, some local governments have raised concerns based on problems at some
recovery residences operated by unscrupulous owners seeking to maximize their profits
12 Laurie C. Malkin, Troubles at the Doorstep: The Fair Housing Amendments Act of
1988 and Group Homes for Recovering Substance Abusers (1995) 144 U. Pa. L. Rev. 757, 772-73 & nn. 55-60; Oxford House, Inc. v. Township of Cherry Hill (“Cherry Hill”) (D. New Jersey 1992) 799 F.Supp. 450, 453.
13 Malkin, supra, n. 12 at 795 & n. 171.
14 See, e.g., Broadmoor, supra, 25 Cal. App. 4th at 6, quoting Stats.1993, ch. 1277, § 18; 12 West Cal.Legis.Services, p. 6038; H.R. Rep. 100-711, 23-24, reprinted in 1988 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2173, 2184-2185. 15 See, e.g., Malkin, supra, n. 12 at 797-798 & nn. 181-184; Council of Planning
Librarians, There Goes the Neighborhood - A Summary of Studies Addressing the Most
Often Expressed Fears about the Effects Of Group Homes on Neighborhoods in which
They Are Placed (Bibliography No. 259) (Apr. 1990); Senate Comm. on Health Analysis of SB 786, Feb. 17, 2017 at 3, 5. 16 Daniel Lauber, A Real LULU: Zoning for Group Homes and Halfway Houses Under
The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 (Winter 1996) 29 J. Marshall L. Rev. 369, 384-385 & n. 50-52.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 63 of 94
8
at the expense of their residents’ wellbeing. These problems have included neglecting
and abusing residents, engaging in insurance fraud, and creating public nuisances.17
While these are very real concerns, the examples of exploitive, abusive, and illegal
practices appear to be limited to a small minority of recovery residences.18 Moreover, in
contrast to laws specially designed to address fraud, violations of state licensing laws,
or health and safety violations and public nuisances, local land use policies are often
too blunt and too broadly sweeping for properly addressing these problems. They risk
continuing the history of discrimination against group homes by doing more to constrain
and exclude well-functioning ones than they do to abate problems at dysfunctional
ones.
Before local governments amend their zoning ordinances to regulate group homes, they
should first determine if the proposed amendments will comply with state housing laws.
They should apply the Group Home TA’s framework and consider its examples of
common issues that arise when local governments attempt to use land use laws to
regulate group homes.
4. FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING IF LOCAL LAND USE POLICIES AND
PRACTICES COMPLY WITH STATE HOUSING LAWS’ PROTECTIONS
OF GROUP HOMES
Confirming that local land use policies and practices for group homes comply with state
housing laws involves assessing whether they comply with requirements for local
governments to affirmatively support this housing in their communities and whether they
discriminate on the basis of disability or other protected characteristics. Both
assessments are necessary to confirm that a local land use policy or practice complies
with state housing laws. Although the Group Home TA discusses Housing Element Law
17 See, e.g., Samantha Schmidt, Drug Rehab ‘Mogul’ Convicted of Sexually Assaulting
7 Female Patients at Treatment Centers, Washington Post, Feb. 27, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/27/drug-rehab-mogul-convicted-of-sexually-assaulting-7-female-patients-at-treatment-centers/; Danielle L.
Liberman, Current Development, Not Too Sunny in the Sunshine State: The Need to
Improve Florida’s Opioid Abuse Treatment Centers to Combat the National Public
Health Crisis, 31 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 723, 735-738 (2018). 18 See, e.g., Government Accounting Office, Report to Congressional Requesters: Substance Use Disorder – Information on Recovery Housing Prevalence, Selected
States’ Oversight, and Funding (“GAO Report”) (March 2018) at 7-9 & n.18, available at
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-18-315.pdf; see also studies cited supra, nn. 15-16.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 64 of 94
9
and AFFH requirements before fair housing laws, local governments can assess their
compliance with these laws in any order.
A. DO THE POLICIES AND PRACTICES COMPLY WITH HOUSING ELEMENT
LAW AND AFFH REQUIREMENTS?
California law has long promoted more inclusive communities, such as by requiring local
governments to protect and promote housing for persons with special needs, including,
among others, lower income households and persons with disabilities or who have
experienced homelessness.19 Housing Element Law requires local governments to
analyze the special housing needs of these populations and develop policies and
programs to address those needs.20
As of January 1, 2019, AB 686 built upon these existing obligations to broadly require all
state or local governments involved in programs or activities related to housing or
community development to affirmatively further fair housing and take no actions
inconsistent with this requirement.21 The Legislature defined AFFH, to mean:
taking meaningful actions, in addition to combating discrimination, that
overcome patterns of segregation and foster inclusive communities free
from barriers that restrict access to opportunity based on protected
characteristics. Specifically, affirmatively furthering fair housing means
taking meaningful actions that, taken together, address significant
disparities in housing needs and in access to opportunity, replacing
segregated living patterns with truly integrated and balanced living
patterns, transforming racially and ethnically concentrated areas of
poverty into areas of opportunity, and fostering and maintaining
compliance with civil rights and fair housing laws.22
In AB 686, the Legislature also amended Housing Element Law to include new, specific
AFFH requirements starting in 2021 for local governments when they prepare and
implement housing elements. These requirements include, for example, identifying and
addressing fair housing issues; analyzing integration and segregation patterns;
19 See, e.g., Gov. Code, § 65583, subds. (a)(1), (a)(7); Housing Elements Building Blocks, available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/housing-elements/building-blocks. 20 See, e.g., Gov. Code, § 65583, subds. (a)(7), (c).
21 Gov. Code, § 8899.50, subd. (a)(2).
22 Id. at (a)(1).
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 65 of 94
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analyzing patterns and trends of disparate housing needs and disproportionate access
to housing opportunities; and setting specific goals, adopting responsive policies, and
taking effective actions that will affirmatively further fair housing.23
Taken together, the earlier Housing Element Law provisions and the newer AFFH
requirements clarify local governments’ affirmative responsibilities regarding group
homes. As the historical record and California and federal legislative histories confirm,
local land use laws have too often treated group homes as problems to be avoided or
restricted. Local governments’ obligations under state law have been misunderstood as
being limited to avoiding discrimination and meeting a minimum threshold for fulfilling
the locality’s share of regional housing needs for persons with disabilities.
But local governments must go beyond these basic requirements by actively supporting
the inclusion of group homes in their communities and removing constraints on this
housing. This includes, for example, supporting the housing choices of individuals with
protected characteristics.24 Persons with disabilities have the right to live in accessible
housing in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs, which includes having
access to disability-related support and services that individuals need to live in
deinstitutionalized settings.25 Local governments must also avoid policies that
unjustifiably displace group home occupants from their homes.26
HCD has previously issued guidance about local governments’ obligations under older
Housing Element Law provisions and the more recently enacted AFFH provisions.
These guidance documents are available through links listed under the Planning and
Community Development tab on HCD’s website.27 Local governments should read the
detailed guidance provided in these documents, which include:
• Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing: Guidance for All Public Entities and for
Housing Elements (April 2021 Update),28
• Housing Element Building Blocks,29
23 See, e.g., Gov. Code, § 65583, subd. (c)(10). 24 See, e.g., Gov. Code, § 65583, subd. (c)(10)(A)(iv); 24 C.F.R § 5.151 (2022). 25 See, e.g., Olmstead v. Zimring (1999) 527 U.S. 581, 602, 607; 24 C.F.R. § 5.151
(2022); 28 C.F.R. § 35.130(d), (e)(1) (2022).
26 Gov. Code. § 65583, subd. (c)(10)(A)(v). 27 Available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/. 28 Available at http://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/affh/docs/AFFH_Document_Final_4-27-2021.pdf.
29 Available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/housing-
elements/building-blocks.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 66 of 94
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• Housing Element Building Blocks – Persons with Disabilities,30 and
• Housing Element Building Blocks – Constraints for People with Disabilities.31
HCD’s earlier guidance documents discuss in more detail how local governments can
assess their compliance with Housing Element Law and AFFH requirements. The
following types of questions can help local jurisdictions assess if they are meeting their
affirmative obligations to protect and promote the housing rights of persons with
disabilities:32
• Has the jurisdiction analyzed the special housing needs of persons with disabilities by including in this analysis, among other things:
o data about the number of persons and households in this group? o quantifiable and qualitative descriptions of their housing needs and descriptions of existing resources or programs for them? o assessments of unmet needs?
• Has the jurisdiction analyzed and explained how it will meet those needs by, among other things: o identifying potential programs, policy options, and resources?
o discussing local resources and service providers?
o identifying housing types that can accommodate persons with disabilities?
o developing housing programs or strategies to address identified needs?
• Has the jurisdiction analyzed and removed constraints on housing for persons with disabilities by, among other things:
o analyzing potential governmental constraints to the development, improvement, and maintenance of housing for persons with disabilities? o examining ordinances, policies, or practices that are unjustifiably having the
effect of constraining or excluding housing variety and availability for persons
with disabilities?
o providing reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities through programs that remove constraints? o ensuring that its reasonable accommodation procedures comply with state
fair housing laws and regulations?
o in general, demonstrating local efforts to remove constraints?
30 Available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/housing-elements/building-blocks/people-disabilities-including-developmental-disabilities. 31 Available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/housing-
elements/building-blocks/constraints-people-disabilities.
32 See, e.g., Gov. Code, §§ 8899.50, 65583, subds. (a)(4), (7), (c)(3), (5), (10).
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 67 of 94
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• Has the jurisdiction met its AFFH obligations for persons with disabilities
by, among other things:
o actively supporting their integration into the local community?
o actively supporting their fair housing rights, including their right to choose where to live and to access housing opportunities with services and support for their disabilities?
o considering whether policies and practices are displacing persons with
disabilities from their homes?
o examining and redressing segregated living patterns? o fostering the integration of persons with disabilities into the community? o conducting outreach and education in the community to support the fair
housing rights of persons with disabilities?
o identifying and analyzing any policies or practices that have the purpose or effect of discriminating against persons with disabilities, perpetuating their segregation, or impeding their integration? o examining any justifications for policies or practices with discriminatory effects
and identifying and implementing less discriminatory alternatives?
• Has the jurisdiction conducted individualized, evidence- and data-based research and analysis, including for:
o any specific benefits that it believes a land use policy or practice regarding
group homes will provide to persons with disabilities?
o any specific health or safety issues that a jurisdiction believes justify land use polices or practices regarding group homes?33
B. DO THE POLICIES AND PRACTICES UNLAWFULLY DISCRIMINATE BASED
ON DISABILITY OR OTHER PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS?
In addition to the laws requiring local governments to affirmatively support group homes,
state fair housing laws prohibit jurisdictions from discriminating against them.34 For
example, the Anti-Discrimination in Land Use Law, Government Code section 65008,
33 See, e.g., Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, §§ 12042, subd. (f), 12179, subd. (b)(3).
34 Fair housing laws protect group homes. See, e.g., Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12005, subd. (o); Lakeside Resort Enterprises, LP v. Board of Sup's of Palmyra Twp. (3d Cir. 2006) 455 F.3d 154, 159–60. See also infra at pp. 22-23 (explaining that while federal fair housing cases can provide important guidance for interpreting state fair housing
laws, California’s fair housing and disability rights laws provide broader protections than federal laws).
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 68 of 94
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prohibits discriminatory local land use policies and practices and declares any such
discriminatory policies or practices null and void.35 This includes discrimination based
on any characteristic protected by the FEHA and other state civil rights laws.36
Disability rights protections extend to persons with disabilities, persons regarded or
treated as having, or having had, a disability, or persons with a record or history of a
disability.37 Complying with fair housing requirements for individuals with certain types
of disabilities, such as individuals with developmental disabilities, will not excuse
unlawful discrimination against other individuals with other types of disabilities, such as
individuals recovering from alcoholism or drug addiction.38
The Anti-Discrimination in Land Use Law also includes protections not specified in the
FEHA, such as prohibitions against land use policies and practices that discriminate
against housing for “persons or families of very low, low, moderate, or middle income.”39
Therefore, depending on a group home’s intended occupants, jurisdictions must
consider whether their policies discriminate against not only persons with disabilities,
but, for example, very low- or low income households if the residence is designed for
persons with disabilities who have experienced homelessness.
State fair housing laws protect not only group homes’ occupants, but other persons
associated with them or other persons who may be harmed by discriminatory land use
policies and practices, such as group homes’ operators, owners, and landlords.40
35 Gov. Code, § 65008, subds. (a), (b)(1). The FEHA similarly prohibits discriminatory
land use policies and practices. Gov. Code, § 12955, subd. (l); Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2,
§§ 12161, 12162. See also Government Code section 11135 (prohibiting discrimination by recipients of state funding or financial assistance). 36 See, e.g., Gov. Code, §§ 65008, subds. (a)(1)(A), (b)(1)(B)(i), 65583, subd. (c)(5). 37 Gov. Code, § 12926, subds. (j), (m); 42 U.S.C. § 3602(h); Joint Statement of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice – State
and Local Land Use Laws and Practices and the Application of the Fair Housing Act (Nov. 10, 2016) at 6 (“HUD – DOJ 2016 Jt. Stmt. on Local Land Use Laws”), available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/file/912366/download. 38 Recovering from alcoholism or drug addiction is a disability protected by fair housing
laws. See, e.g., City of Edmonds v. Washington State Bldg. Code Council, 18 F.3d 802,
803 (9th Cir.1994), aff'd City of Edmonds v. Oxford House (1995) 514 U.S. 725; Cherry
Hill, supra, 799 F.Supp. at 459; HUD – DOJ 2016 Jt. Stmt. on Local Land Use Laws at 6. 39 Gov. Code, § 65008, subds. (a)(3), (b)(1)(C).
40 Gov Code § 65008, subds. (a)(1)(A), (b)(1)(B)(ii), incorporating Gov. Code, § 12955,
subd. (m).
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Identifying and correcting discriminatory land use policies and practices requires
understanding three general types of discrimination:
1. intentional discrimination, 2. discriminatory effects, and
3. failure to provide reasonable accommodations.41
i. INTENTIONAL DISCRIMINATION
Intentional discrimination includes “an act or failure to act” in which any protected
characteristic “is a motivating factor . . . even though other factors may have also
motivated the practice.”42 Unlike employment discrimination law, in which plaintiffs must
prove that a defendant’s action or inaction was substantially motivated by a
discriminatory purpose, under fair housing law, a “housing practice” can be found illegal
if it “demonstrates an intent to discriminate in any manner.”43
Intentional discrimination is best understood as purposeful discrimination because it
“does not require proof of personal prejudice or animus.”44 Even if local officials are not
hostile towards persons with disabilities or act with benign intents to help them, a
discriminatory policy or practice can still be unlawful. It is also unlawful for government
officials to acquiesce to members of the public’s prejudicial views even if the officials
themselves do not share those views.45
Establishing intentional discrimination often involves evidence that persons with
protected characteristics were treated worse than others without those characteristics.
But this is only one way to prove discrimination.46 Intentional discrimination does not
require “the existence of a similarly situated entity who or which was treated
better . . . .”47 A local land use policy or practice that “inflicts collateral damage by
harming some, or even all, individuals from a favored group in order to successfully
41 Although these are some of the most common, general types of discrimination issues that arise with local land use policies and practices, this is not an exhaustive list. See, e.g., Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, §§ 12161-62 (listing more detailed examples). 42 Gov. Code, § 12955.8; Harris v. City of Santa Monica (2013) 56 Cal.4th 203, 217-
218; Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12041, subd. (b).
43 Gov. Code, § 12955.8. 44 Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12041, subd. (b). 45 Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12161, subd. (c).
46 Pacific Shores Properties, LLC v. City of Newport Beach (9th Cir. 2013) 730 F.3d
1142, 1158-1159.
47 Id. at 1158.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 70 of 94
15
harm members of a disfavored class does not cleanse the taint of discrimination.”48
Sometimes it “simply underscores the depth of the defendant’s” discriminatory intent.49
Intentional discrimination can be established through facial discrimination, direct
evidence, or circumstantial evidence.
FACIAL DISCRIMINATION
Facially discriminatory laws or policies explicitly regulate housing or take an adverse
action based on a protected characteristic.50 Local governments can engage in facial
discrimination even when a law or policy does not expressly refer to, for example, group
homes or persons with disabilities. “Proxy discrimination is a form of facial
discrimination” in which a jurisdiction:
enacts a law or policy that treats individuals differently on the basis of
seemingly neutral criteria that are so closely associated with the
disfavored group that discrimination on the basis of such criteria is,
constructively, facial discrimination against the disfavored group. For
example, discriminating against individuals with gray hair is a proxy for
age discrimination because the fit between age and gray hair is sufficiently
close.51
To avoid liability for a law or policy that facially discriminates against persons with
disabilities, a local government must show that the policy:
(1) either (a) actually benefits persons with disabilities or (b) is justified by
individualized safety concerns raised by the persons the policy affects, and
(2) is “the least restrictive means of achieving” one or both of these goals.52
48 Id. at 1159.
49 Id. See also id. at 1158 – 1162 & n. 23. 50 Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12040, subd. (c). 51 Pacific Shores Properties, 730 F.3d at 1160 n. 23, internal quotations and citations omitted.
52 Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, §§ 12042, subd. (f), 12161, subd. (d); Larkin v. State of Mich.
Dept. of Social Services (6th Cir. 1996) 89 F.3d 285, 290.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 71 of 94
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These justifications for facial discrimination are “extremely narrow exception[s],” and
jurisdictions should be wary of relying on them.53 Jurisdictions must support them with
at least, if not more than, the specific and thorough analysis and evidence required by
Housing Element Law, including its AFFH provisions. Generalized concerns or ones
based on stereotypes will not suffice.54 Jurisdictions should also consider less
discriminatory alternatives.55 And in light of jurisdictions’ obligations to “protect existing
residents from displacement” and otherwise affirmatively further fair housing, laws or
policies that displace group home occupants from their current, chosen residences
warrant especially thorough scrutiny.56
DIRECT EVIDENCE
Direct evidence includes written or oral statements showing in themselves that a
protected characteristic was a motivating factor in a local jurisdiction’s decision. Direct
evidence can itself establish a violation. The affirmative defenses for facial
discrimination claims do not apply to direct evidence claims.57
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE
Even when policies or statements in themselves do not establish a discriminatory intent,
local land use policies and practices can still be found discriminatory based on
circumstantial evidence, which can include: (1) the policy’s or practice’s impact, (2) its
historical background, (3) the more recent, specific sequence of events leading up to it,
(4) departures from usual procedures, (5) departures from usual substantive standards,
and (6) the legislative or administrative history.58
53 Dothard v. Rawlinson (1977) 433 U.S. 321, 334; Bangerter v. Orem City Corp. (10th Cir. 1995) 46 F.3d 1491, 1504; see also Koire v. Metro Car Wash (1985) 40 Cal.3d 24, 31 nn. 7, 8 (explaining that public policy exceptions to Unruh Act’s prohibitions of discrimination are “rare” and “should be carefully and narrowly construed”). 54 Larkin, 89 F.3d at 291-292 (rigorously examining and rejecting an agency’s
justifications and evidence for spacing and community notice requirements for group
homes in holding that they violate the FHA). 55 Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12042, subd. (f). 56 See, e.g., Gov. Code, § 65583, subds. (c)(10)(A)(iv), (v). 57 See, e.g., Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12042, subds. (c)-(e).
58 HUD – DOJ 2016 Jt. Stmt. on Local Land Use Laws at 4, citing Village of Arlington
Heights v. Metro. Hous. Dev. Corp. (1977) 429 U.S. 252, 265-68.
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These factors are not the only ones that may be considered.59 And “very little evidence”
is needed to “raise a genuine issue” of a discriminatory intent.60 Procedural or
substantive departures from AFFH or housing element requirements when regulating
group homes would be relevant evidence to consider in assessing if local officials acted
for discriminatory purposes.
ii. DISCRIMINATORY EFFECTS
Even if a local government has not acted with a discriminatory purpose, its land use
policies or practices can be found unlawful if they have an unjustified discriminatory
effect. A discriminatory effect is generally established through statistical evidence
showing that a policy or practice actually or predictably results in a disparate impact on
a group of persons with protected characteristics or that it perpetuates segregation.61
If a local land use practice is found to have a discriminatory effect, a jurisdiction can
avoid liability if it shows there is a legally sufficient justification for its policy or practice.62
A jurisdiction must establish each of the following:
(1) The practice is necessary to achieve one or more substantial,
legitimate, nondiscriminatory purposes;
(2) The practice effectively carries out the identified purpose;
(3) The identified purpose is sufficiently compelling to override the
discriminatory effect; and
(4) There is no feasible alternative practice that would equally or better
accomplish the identified purpose with a less discriminatory effect.63
Generalized or hypothetical analysis of these elements will not suffice. They must be
“supported by evidence.”64
To comply with Housing Element Law, including its AFFH provisions, a jurisdiction
should not wait for group home occupants or operators to bring discriminatory effects
claims but should research on its own whether its policies or practices have
discriminatory effects on these residences. If so, the jurisdiction should also complete
59 Pacific Shores Properties, 730 F.3d at 1159. 60 Id.; Gov. Code, § 12955.8; Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12041, subd. (b). 61 Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12060, subd. (b). 62 Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12062, subd. (b).
63 Id.
64 Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12062, subd. (c).
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the evidence-based analysis needed to determine whether there are legally sufficient
justifications for these discriminatory policies or practices, including analyzing less
discriminatory alternatives.
iii. REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS
Discrimination can also arise from a jurisdiction failing “to make reasonable
accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when these accommodations
may be necessary to afford a disabled person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a
dwelling.”65 A request for a reasonable accommodation may only be denied if:
(1) The individual on whose behalf the accommodation was requested is
not an individual with a disability;
(2) There is no disability-related need for the requested accommodation
(in other words, there is no [connection] between the disability and the
requested accommodation);
(3) The requested accommodation would constitute a fundamental
alteration of the services or operations of the person who is asked to
provide the accommodation.
(4) The requested accommodation would impose an undue financial and
administrative burden on the person who is asked to provide the
accommodation; or
(5) The requested accommodation would constitute a direct threat to the
health or safety of others (i.e., a significant risk of bodily harm) or would
cause substantial physical damage to the property of others, and such
risks cannot be sufficiently mitigated or eliminated by another reasonable
accommodation . . . .66
Three common issues, among others, can arise when group home operators or
occupants request reasonable accommodations in local land use policies and practices:
1. While a jurisdiction should adopt a formal reasonable accommodations
process so that, among other reasons, the public knows how to request
accommodations, these processes should be flexible enough to promptly
and efficiently resolve accommodations requests without creating
65 Gov. Code, § 12927, subd. (c)(1).
66 Cal Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12179.
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unnecessary procedural barriers.67 These processes should allow group home
operators to request reasonable accommodations “at any time . . . while seeking
or enjoying a housing opportunity,” including, for example, when: (1) considering
whether to buy or lease a home; (2) filing a permit application, or (3) responding
to allegations they have violated a zoning code or other ordinance.68 If local
governments are repeatedly denying accommodation requests or delaying
resolving them, they should analyze whether this is due to the requestors failing
to provide sufficient information and support or to procedures erecting
impermissible barriers to accommodations.69
2. “‘[I]n most cases, an individual’s medical records or detailed information
about the nature of a person’s disability is not necessary’” to establish that
a person has a disability or that this disability requires a reasonable
accommodation in a land use policy or practice.70 A reliable third party with
knowledge of a person’s disabilities can usually provide sufficient information for
assessing a request for an accommodation in a local land use policy or
practice.71 For example, it is well established that persons recovering from
alcoholism or drug addiction have disabilities and that recovery residences
support their recoveries. Thus, information provided by a recovery residence
operator, such as its occupancy or other policies, for example, should generally
suffice to establish its occupants have disabilities and the justifications for the
67 See, e.g., id. at §§ 12176, subd. (c), 12178.
68 See, e.g., id. at § 12176, subd. (f). 69 See, e.g., id. at § 12177; see also these examples of reasonable accommodation ordinances: Oakland Mun. Code, ch. 17.131, available at https://library.municode.com/ca/oakland/codes/planning_code?nodeId=TIT17PL_CH17
.131REACPOPR; Model Ordinance for Providing Reasonable Accommodation Under Federal and State Fair Housing Laws (“Model Reasonable Accommodation Ordinance”), Mental Health Advocacy Services, Inc. (September 2003), available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/building-blocks/program-requirements/address-remove-mitigate-
constraints/docs/model_reasonable_accomodation_ordinance.pdf.
70 Supplement to Initial Statement of Reasons for FEHC’s Fair Housing Regulations at 26, quoting HUD DOJ May 17, 2004 Joint Statement on Reasonable Accommodations, available at https://www.dfeh.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2019/07/FairHousingReg-
SupplementInitialStatementReasons.pdf.
71 Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12178.
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requested accommodations, allowing local officials to assess the request without
probing into the occupants’ private medical records or histories.72
3. Denials of reasonable accommodation requests must be based on
individualized assessments, and specific evidence, not generalized or
speculative concerns about group homes or persons with disabilities. The
state’s fair housing regulations provide specific guidance about the type of
evidence required to meet this standard.73
5. SUPPORTIVE HOUSING AND TRANSITIONAL HOUSING
REQUIREMENTS
If a group home operates in ways that fall within the statutory definitions of supportive
housing or transitional housing, jurisdictions must also comply with Housing Element
Law’s specific protections of these types of housing. This section summarizes these
protections, which are explained more fully in other HCD guidance documents,
including:
• Housing Accountability Act Technical Assistance Advisory (Sep. 15, 2020),74
• Housing Element Building Blocks – Zoning for a Variety of Housing Types,75
• Senate Bill 2 – Legislation Effective January 1, 2008: Local Planning and
Approval for Emergency Shelters and Transitional and Supportive Housing (Apr.
10, 2013 update),76 and
• Transitional and Supportive Housing, Chapter 183, Statutes of 2013 (SB 745)
(Apr. 24, 2014).77
72 Id; Regional Economic Community Action Program, Inc. v. City of Middletown (2d Cir. 2002) 294 F.3d 35, 47-48 & n.3, superseded on other grounds as stated in Brooker v.
Altoona Housing Authority (W.D. Penn 2013) 2013 WL 2896814 at *9 n. 8. 73 Cal. Code Regs., tit 2, § 12179. 74 Available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/housing-
element/housing-element-memos/docs/hcd-memo-on-haa-final-sept2020.pdf.
75 Available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/housing-elements/building-blocks/zoning-variety-of-housing-types. 76 Available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/housing-element/housing-element-memos/docs/sb-2-combined-update-mc-a11y.pdf.
77 Available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/housing-
element/housing-element-memos/docs/sb745memo042414.pdf.
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Supportive Housing Definition. Government Code section 65582, subdivision (g),
defines supportive housing to mean housing that:
• has no limit on the length of stay;
• is linked to onsite or offsite services that assist residents in improving their health
status, retaining the housing, and maximizing their ability to live and, where
possible, work in the community; and
• is occupied by the “target population,” which “means persons with low incomes
who have one or more disabilities, including mental illness, HIV or AIDS,
substance abuse, or other chronic health condition, or individuals eligible for
services provided pursuant to the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services
Act . . . and may include, among other populations, adults, emancipated minors,
families with children, elderly persons, young adults aging out of the foster care
system, individuals exiting from institutional settings, veterans and homeless
people.”78
Transitional Housing Definition. Government Code section 65582, subdivision (j),
defines “transitional housing” to mean “buildings configured as rental housing
developments, but operated under program requirements that require the termination of
assistance and recirculating of the assisted unit to another eligible program recipient at
a predetermined future point in time that shall be no less than six months from the
beginning of the assistance.” Therefore, in contrast to supportive housing, transitional
housing may limit the length of stay, is not required to provide supportive services
(though may be linked to them), and is not limited to residents within the “target
population.”
Key Protections for Supportive and Transitional Housing. If a group home operates
in ways that qualify it as either supportive or transitional housing, jurisdictions must
comply with Housing Element Law’s additional protections for these types of housing.
This includes the requirement that supportive and transitional housing “shall be
considered a residential use of property and shall be subject only to those
restrictions that apply to other residential dwellings of the same type in the same
zone.”79 In other words, transitional housing and supportive housing are permitted in all
zones allowing residential uses and are not subject to any restrictions (e.g., occupancy
limit) not imposed on similar dwellings (e.g., single-family home, apartments) in the
78 Gov. Code, § 65582, subd. (i).
79 Gov. Code, § 65583, subd. (c)(3), emphasis added.
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same zone in which the transitional housing and supportive housing is located. For
example, transitional housing located in an apartment building in a multifamily zone is
permitted in the same manner as an apartment building in the same zone, and
supportive housing located in a single-family home in a single-family zone is permitted
in the same manner as a single-family home in the same zone.
In addition, if supportive housing meets the specifications of Government Code
section 65650 et seq, it must be treated as “a use by right in all zones where
multifamily and mixed uses are permitted . . . .”80 By-right approval means that the
use cannot require a conditional use permit or other discretionary review, even if a
permit is required for other residential dwellings of the same type in the same zone.81
This nondiscretionary (i.e., ministerial) approval requirement renders the proposed use
statutorily exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act if the project “complies
with written, objective development standards and policies.”82
When supportive or transitional housing does require a permit of any type, the
Housing Accountability Act limits jurisdictions’ authority to deny the permit.
These limits are discussed at length in HCD’s Housing Accountability Act Technical
Assistance Advisory (Sep. 15, 2020).83
6. STATE LAW PROVIDES BROADER PROTECTIONS THAN FEDERAL
LAW
The Legislature has specified that the FEHA may be interpreted broadly to provide
“greater rights and remedies” than federal laws.84 The Legislature has also emphasized
that “[t]he law of this state in the area of disability provides protections independent from
those in [federal law],” noting that California law “has always, even prior to passage of
the federal [ADA], afforded additional protections.”85
Examples of California providing “greater rights and remedies” than federal law include,
among other things, state law’s broader definitions of disabilities (e.g., only requiring a
mere limitation of a major life activity for a mental or physical condition to qualify as a
80 Id.
81 Id. 82 Gov. Code, § 65651, subd. (b)(2); Pub. Resources Code, § 21080, subd. (b)(1); Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, §§ 15002, subds. (i)(1), 15268(a). 83 See supra, n. 74.
84 Gov. Code, §§ 12955.6, 12993.
85 Gov. Code, § 12926.1, subd. (a).
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disability compared to federal law requiring a substantial limitation); prohibition of land
use policies and practices that discriminate against housing designed for persons or
families of very low, low, moderate, or middle income; requirements for how local
governments must affirmatively support housing for persons with disabilities; specific
requirements for supportive and transitional housing; and reasonable accommodations
regulations.86
Therefore, federal laws set a floor, not a ceiling, for the fair housing rights that the state
may provide through the FEHA, Anti-Discrimination in Land Use Law, and other state
laws.87 Likewise, although federal court decisions about federal fair housing laws can
provide important guidance for interpreting state fair housing laws, their interpretations
of state laws are not binding authority.88 Confusion can arise if local governments
assume that resolving whether a local land use policy or practice complies with federal
law automatically resolves whether it complies with state law.
To avoid this confusion, local governments should follow these two general guidelines:
• If a policy or practice violates federal fair housing law, it also likely violates
state law.
• But the converse is not necessarily true. If a policy or practice complies with
federal fair housing laws, local governments should independently determine
whether it complies with state law’s broader protections.
7. COMMON ISSUES IN LOCAL ORDINANCES THAT REGULATE
GROUP HOMES
HCD cannot anticipate all the issues that might arise if local governments attempt to
regulate group homes through local land use laws. But the following are examples of
some common ones that can arise.
86 See, e.g., Gov. Code, §§ 12926.1; 65008, subds. (a), (b); 65583, subds. (a), (c); Cal. Code Regs., §§ 12176-12185. 87 See, e.g., Gov. Code, § 12926.1, subd. (a); California Federal Sav. and Loan Ass’n v.
Guerra (1987) 479 U.S. 272, 285; 42 U.S.C. § 3615.
88 See, e.g., Cal. Code Regs, tit. 2, § 11001, subd. (b).
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A. DEFINITIONS OF SINGLE HOUSEKEEPING UNITS OR SINGLE-FAMILY
HOMES
Zoning ordinances sometimes attempt to restrict or limit group homes in single-family
residential zones (e.g., R-1) through definitions of single housekeeping units or single-
family homes. Overly restrictive definitions risk violating not only state housing laws, but
the California Constitution’s protections of the rights of unrelated persons to live
together in communal housing.89
Persons with disabilities choose to live in group homes because these homes provide
peer and other support for their residents’ disability-related needs, while helping to
integrate residents into their communities. Group homes should be treated as single-
housekeeping units if they are designed to foster these mutually supportive peer
relationships; allow open-ended stays or at least, on average, stays of more than a few
weeks; and provide shared kitchen, dining, living, and other spaces in which residents
may, in certain homes, participate in basic, shared cooking and housekeeping activities.
In general, localities should avoid including provisions in definitions of shared-
housekeeping units, single-family homes, or other single residential dwellings that:
• Equate group homes with boardinghouses. Group homes’ shared communal
purposes to provide peer and other support for their occupants’ disability-related
needs and to help integrate them into their local communities makes this an inapt
comparison. Boardinghouses do not provide communal housing designed to
support the needs of persons with disabilities.
• Require all residents to share a common deed or lease. The California
Constitution’s protections of personal privacy extend to individuals’ choices to live
together even when they are not joint owners or tenants.90 And group homes can
still provide a communal setting that supports their residents’ needs without all
residents being joint owners or tenants.
• Automatically exclude group homes that are owned by for-profit
businesses or that pay a house manager or resident to help manage a
89 See, e.g., City of Santa Barbara v. Adamson (1980) 27 Cal.3d 123.
90 See, e.g., Coalition Advocating Legal Housing Options v. City of Santa Monica (2001)
88 Cal.App.4th 451, 458-459.
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home’s operations. These are well-established models for group homes.91 And
persons with certain types of disabilities may need supportive, in-house staff to
be able to live in a group home.
• Overly scrutinize living arrangements by, for example, requiring residents to
take care of all housekeeping tasks, share all bathrooms and refrigerators, and
eat all meals together, or by prohibiting locks on bedroom doors. Localities do not
impose such conditions on families of related persons, who may live in R-1
neighborhoods even if they can afford to hire housekeepers or gardeners, do not
share all bathrooms, decline or lack the time to eat all meals together, or choose
to install locks on parents’, teenagers’, or other relatives’ bedroom doors. And
different types of group homes may require different living arrangements and
provide different levels of housekeeping or other services based on their
residents’ individualized needs or other considerations.
B. REQUIREMENTS THAT ALL GROUP HOMES WITH MORE THAN SIX
RESIDENTS MUST OBTAIN PERMITS TO LOCATE IN SINGLE-FAMILY
ZONES
Some local zoning ordinances require all group homes with more than six residents to
apply for conditional use permits or obtain other special approvals to locate in single-
family zones. These ordinances appear to be based on Health and Safety Code
statutes that require local governments to treat many types of licensed group homes
with six or fewer residents the same as single-family homes and prohibit requiring these
small, licensed group homes to obtain conditional use permits or other special
approvals to locate in single-family zones.92
But local policies that require all group homes with more than six residents to obtain
conditional use or other permits inappropriately turn state laws designed to remove
constraints on small, licensed group homes into constraints on the many other group
homes that do not require state licenses.
91 Douglas L. Plocin and Diane Henderson, A Clean and Sober Place to Live:
Philosophy, Structure, and Purported Therapeutic Factors in Sober Living Homes, 40 J Psychoactive Drugs (2008), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2556949/ (discussing how a “‘strong manager’ model of operations” can function in ways that provide the same or similar benefits of a communal environment and peer support as
group homes that residents own and operate themselves).
92 See, e.g., Health & Saf. Code, §§ 1566.3, 1569.85,11834.23.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 81 of 94
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To comply with the Health and Safety Code’s exemptions for small, licensed group
homes and with housing element, AFFH, and fair housing requirements to remove
constraints on and prevent discrimination against group homes, local governments
should follow these guidelines:
• Group homes that operate as single-family residences and that do not
provide licensable services should be allowed in single-family
neighborhoods, subject only to the generally applicable, nondiscriminatory
health, safety, and zoning laws that apply to all single-family residences.
This is true even if these homes have more than six residents. Because these
homes are not providing licensable services, they should be treated the same as
other residences.93
• Group homes that operate as single-family residences and that provide
licensable services to six or fewer residents should be allowed in single-
family neighborhoods, subject only to the generally applicable,
nondiscriminatory health, safety, and zoning laws that apply to all single-
family residences. This complies with, among other things, the Health and
Safety Code protections for these smaller, licensed group homes.
• Group homes operating as single-family residences that provide licensable
services to more than six residents may be subject to conditional use or
other discretionary approval processes. Local governments must still provide
flexible and efficient reasonable accommodations in these permitting processes.
This means that some requests for exceptions to permitting processes should be
resolved through reasonable accommodation procedures instead of conditional
use procedures.94 In addition, any substantive requirements for these group
homes must still comply with the local government’s obligations to remove
constraints on housing for persons with disabilities, affirmatively support it, and
prevent discrimination against it. The next sections provide further guidance on
how to meet these obligations.95
93 See also supra at pp. 20-22 (discussing specific protections for supportive and
transitional housing).
94 See, e.g., Letter from Attorney General Bill Lockyer to The Hon. William Hartz, Mayor of Adelanto (May 15, 2001) (explaining that relying on conditional use procedures to address reasonable accommodation requests can lead to fair housing violations). 95 Although the Group Home TA focuses on group homes operating as single-family
residences, the same principles apply to those operating, for example, as multifamily residences in multifamily zones.
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C. RETROACTIVE COMPLIANCE
Zoning codes typically allow uses that began lawfully before a new zoning provision was
adopted or amended to continue after these new requirements are imposed, with the
concept of legal nonconforming existing uses found in almost all zoning codes. For
example, a local government may change zoning requirements to disallow auto repair
uses in the downtown area. An existing auto repair shop would continue to be allowed
to continue to operate because at the time when the use began it was an allowable
use.96
Local governments should generally treat existing group homes similarly when
amending their zoning codes. Retroactive application of new zoning provisions should
be avoided, especially if it will displace persons with disabilities from the homes they
have chosen. Any exception to the well-established practice of allowing legal non-
conforming uses to continue should be supported by substantial analysis and evidence
showing that it is required to protect public health, safety, and welfare. This analysis and
evidence should include specific local data and evidence, not merely anecdotal reports
about problems that have arisen at some group homes or generalized descriptions of
the public health, safety, and welfare interests that the new amendments are designed
to serve.
D. SPACING REQUIREMENTS
Spacing requirements restrict group homes from locating within a specific distance of
other group homes. Local governments should be very wary about imposing spacing
requirements that extend beyond the limited requirements the Legislature has deemed
necessary to prevent the overconcentration of certain licensed facilities to ensure their
residents are integrated into their communities.
The Legislature has found spacing requirements justified only for specific types of
licensed facilities. Community care facilities, intermediate care facilities serving persons
with developmental disabilities who require intermittent but recurring skilled nursing
care, and pediatric day health and respite care facilities that provide services to children
with particularly acute or chronic healthcare needs and their parents or guardians must
be separated by at least 300 feet. Congregate living health facilities serving persons
with terminal or life-threatening illnesses or with catastrophic or severe disabilities
96 See, e.g., Hansen Brothers Enterprises, Inc. v. Board of Supervisors (1996) 12
Cal.4th 533, 552; Edmonds v. Los Angeles County (1953) 40 Cal.2d 642, 651.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 83 of 94
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acquired through trauma or nondegenerative neurologic illness must be separated by at
least 1,000 feet.97
Further limiting these spacing requirements, the Legislature has specified that they:
• apply to some types of licensed facilities, but not to others. For example, the
spacing requirements apply only to some types of intermediate care facilities but
not to AOD facilities or to residential care facilities for the elderly;
• apply to proposed, new facilities, not existing ones;
• only require separation of facilities with similar licenses; and
• allow closer spacing based on local needs and conditions.98
Contrary to these carefully crafted limitations on spacing requirements, some local
governments have imposed spacing requirements on recovery residences, including
those already in operation. These spacing requirements are very unlikely to withstand
scrutiny under state housing laws. Among other things:
• They are at odds with the Legislature’s narrowly crafted spacing
requirements in section 1267.9.
• They can conflict with local governments’ obligations to, for example,
remove constraints on housing for persons with disabilities, affirmatively
support such housing, avoid policies that displace persons with protected
characteristics, and affirmatively support their right to live where they
choose.99
• They are very hard to justify based on the narrow exceptions that state fair
housing laws allow for facial discrimination. Justifications based on the goal
of avoiding overconcentration are difficult to establish and require substantial and
detailed statistical evidence establishing that an overconcentration of recovery
residences has reached the point where it is, for example, creating an
institutionalized living environment or perpetuating segregation within specific
97 Health & Saf. Code, §§ 1267.9, subd. (b) (setting spacing requirements for these types of community care residential facilities), 1502 (defining facilities that are subject to 300-foot spacing requirements), 1250 (defining facilities subject to 1000-foot spacing requirements).
98 Health & Saf. Code, § 1267.9.
99 See, supra, at pp. 9-12.
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neighborhoods or communities. Merely comparing the number of recovery
residences in one city with the number in others generally will not suffice.100
• They can lack the flexibility required to reasonably accommodate recovery
residences and their occupants’ disability-related needs.
• The Legislature has repeatedly rejected attempts to impose spacing
requirements on recovery residences. As recently as 2018, for instance, the
Legislature declined to adopt SB 786, a bill that would have imposed a 300-foot
spacing requirement on recovery residences.101 The legislative history shows
that the Legislature considered the lack of clear data showing that this spacing
requirement would benefit persons recovering from alcohol and drug addiction.
The Legislature also considered concerns that this spacing requirement would
discriminate on the basis of disability, impede opening new recovery residences,
reduce access to much needed recovery and treatment services, and stigmatize
recovery residences and their occupants.102
In sum, local governments should avoid imposing spacing requirements that extend
beyond those specified in Health and Safety Code section 1267.9.103
100 See, supra, at pp. 15-16. Spacing requirements like this also need to withstand scrutiny under other standards for assessing intentional discrimination or discriminatory effects. See, supra, at pp. 12-19. 101 Sen Bill No. 786 (2017-2018 Reg. Session). This bill is one of many times that the
Legislature has declined to enact, or the Governor has vetoed bills attempting to
regulate recovery residences. See, e.g., Sen. Com. on Health, analysis of Sen. Bill 786 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.) at 7-8 (listing several other bills with similar provisions that the died in the Legislature between 2006 and 2007); California Research Bureau, Sober Living Homes in California: Options for State and Local Regulation (October 2016) at
14-16 (listing over 20 bills affecting recovery residences introduced between 1998 and
2016 that the Legislature did not pass or the Governor vetoed). 102 Sen. Com. on Health Analysis of Sen. Bill 786 at 6, 8-9. 103 Recent federal court decisions rejecting challenges under federal and California laws to spacing requirements for recovery residences have not considered the important
differences between state and federal laws. See, e.g., Yellowstone Women’s First Step
House, Inc. v. City of Costa Mesa (C.D. Cal. Oct. 8. 2015) 2015 WL 13764131 at *7-8, affirmed in part and vacated in part, 2021 WL 4077001 (9th Cir. Sep. 8, 2021) (unpublished, nonprecedential decision). These differences include, for example, the affirmative duties that California’s Housing Element Law imposes on local governments
and the broader rights and remedies for persons with disabilities under California’s fair housing laws. See, supra, at pp. 22-23.
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E. OCCUPANCY LIMITS AND BUILDING, FIRE, OR OTHER HEALTH AND
SAFETY CODE REQUIREMENTS
Subject to the Legislature’s requirements for specific types of licensed facilities, such as
those serving persons with limited mobility, and to requests for reasonable
accommodations, local governments should apply the same generally applicable
occupancy limits to group homes that they do to other housing. Under the Uniform
Housing Code section 503.2, at least one room in a dwelling unit must have a floor area
of at least 120 square feet, with other habitable rooms, except kitchens, required to
have a floor area of at least 70 feet. When more than two people occupy a room for
sleeping purposes, the required floor area increases by 50 square feet. For example, a
bedroom intended for two people could be as small as 70 square feet, while a bedroom
would need to be at least 120 square feet to accommodate three people or at least 170
square feet to accommodate four people.
Likewise, to avoid imposing overly costly and burdensome constraints on group homes,
the best practice is to apply the same general building, fire, and other health and safety
codes that apply to other residences, subject to state health and safety code provisions
specific to certain types of residential facilities.104 Although group home operators may
request reasonable accommodations from public health and safety standards, fair
housing laws allow local governments to deny these requests if, among other things,
they would cause direct threats to public health and safety.
F. REQUIREMENTS FOR OPERATORS AND RESIDENTS
Requirements for operators and residents often take the form of specific services or
management practices that the local jurisdiction feels are necessary for the successful
operation of group homes. These requirements tend to deal with the internal affairs of
the operations and frequently involve issues beyond those in typical land use
regulations. For example, local jurisdictions do not typically regulate the number of daily
visitors to a single-family home or other residential property.
When applied to group homes, these types of regulations raise concerns that a local
government is imposing conditions on them that are contrary to its duties to support
housing for persons with disabilities, prevent discrimination on the basis of disability or
other protected characteristics, and provide reasonable accommodations.
104 See, e.g., Health & Saf. Code, § 13113 (requiring sprinkler systems in certain
licensed residential facilities).
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Before adopting or applying any such regulations even for licensed group homes, local
governments should analyze whether they are consistent with state housing laws and
document this analysis. Local governments should also consider whether such
regulations are consistent with the Health and Safety Code’s provisions and regulations
for licensed facilities.
Although this Group Home TA cannot address all potential issues regarding potential
regulations of operators and residents, the following are examples of requirements
taken from recent local ordinances:
Imposing Special Parking Requirements on Group Homes. Requiring group homes
to have or construct additional off-street parking spaces can impose considerable costs
that constrain housing opportunities for persons with disabilities. These special parking
requirements will often conflict with the right to privacy under the California
Constitution,105 as well as local governments’ obligations to affirmatively support
housing for persons with disabilities and avoid discriminating against them. Jurisdictions
imposing additional parking requirements assume that group homes serving adults will
have more residents who drive and will therefore use more on-street parking than other
households. But these assumptions should at the very least be tested by studying the
actual causes and extent of on-street parking shortages in an area.106 Local
governments should also consider less discriminatory alternatives, such as street-
parking permit systems for all households or other generally applicable parking and
vehicle regulations.
Restricting Recovery Residence Occupants to Persons Actively Participating in
Recovery Programs. While most occupants of recovery residences participate in
recovery programs, local governments should not impose this as a condition of living in
a recovery residence. There are different models of recovery, not all of which involve
participating in 12-step or similar programs. And recovering from alcoholism or drug
addiction is legally recognized as a protected disability regardless of whether someone
has participated or is currently participating in a recovery or treatment program.107
105 Adamson, supra, 27 Cal.3d at 133 (concluding that parking concerns are best addressed by limitations that “appl[y] evenly to all households” and concluding that zoning ordinances are suspect when they focus on users instead of uses). 106 See, e.g., Lauber, supra, n. 16 at 385 & n. 52 (citing studies finding that group homes do not generate undue amounts of parking or traffic).
107 Hernandez v. Hughes Missile System Co. (9th Cir. 2004) 362 F.3d 564, 568; HUD –
DOJ 2016 Jt. Stmt. on Local Land Use Laws at 7-8.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 87 of 94
32
Restricting Occupancy Exclusively to Persons with Disabilities. Regulations
restricting group home occupancy exclusively to persons with disabilities or with a
specific disability may sometimes intrude on individuals’ fair housing choices and
privacy rights. They also risk discriminating on the basis of other protected statuses.
Inflexible occupancy restrictions, for example, could preclude group homes designed for
families in which one member has a disability or recovery residences designed for
parents in recovery who are seeking to reunite with their children.
Restricting Occupants or Staff from Homes Based on Their Criminal History
Records. Policies that prohibit individuals from living in or working at group homes
based on individuals’ criminal history records may be intended to protect the occupants
of these homes. But local governments contemplating adopting or applying such
policies should carefully review California Code of Regulations, title 2, sections 11017.1;
12162, subdivision (b); and 12264-12271, which set parameters on using criminal
history information that, among other things, restrict access to employment or housing.
Local governments should also consider state laws and regulations that apply to
criminal background checks for licensed facilities’ employees.108
Requiring Recovery Residences or AOD Facilities to Immediately Remove
Occupants Who Violate Policies Prohibiting Alcohol or Drug Use. Although Health
and Safety Code section 11834.26, subdivision (d), requires AOD facilities to plan how
to address a resident’s relapse, that subdivision clarifies that this “does not require a
licensee to discharge a resident.” This recognizes that approaches to addressing
someone’s relapse may vary depending on a recovery residence’s or AOD facility’s
program, the circumstances of the relapse, and an individual’s personal history and
needs. Local policies should allow the same flexibility. Moreover, requirements to
immediately remove relapsing residents with tenancy rights may conflict with landlord-
tenant laws.
Other Examples
• House Manager Requirements—requiring group homes to have a house
manager on site around the clock or always available to come to the residence
within 30 or 45 minutes.
• Visitor Restrictions—requiring group homes to limit who can visit and under
what conditions.
108 See, e.g., Health & Saf. Code §§ 1522, 1569.17, 11834.27; Cal. Code Regs., tit. 9,
§§ 10564, 10615, 10624, tit. 22, §§ 80019-19.2.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 88 of 94
33
• Records Maintenance—requiring group homes to maintain specific records
about the internal affairs or occupants of the house.
• Codes of Conduct—requiring group homes to have special conduct codes for
their residents.
• Neighborhood Notice Requirements—imposing special neighborhood notice
requirements on group homes.
• Law Enforcement Registration Requirements—requiring group homes to
register with the local sheriff’s office or other law enforcement offices.
Regulations like these can be based on mistaken or prejudicial fears about group
homes, instead of actual data and evidence. Particularly in light of research finding that
fears about group homes endangering neighbors’ health and safety are unfounded, 109
such provisions may in themselves be regarded as evidence that a local government is
not complying with its requirements to affirmatively support housing for persons with
disabilities and prevent discrimination against group homeowners, operators, and
residents.
Regulations like these can also create unnecessary constraints on group homes by
imposing overbroad, additional costs and burdens on the many group homes that
capably serve their occupants’ needs and seamlessly integrate into their communities.
They can intrude on privacy rights. They can discriminate on the basis of disability or
other protected characteristics if, for example, requirements like these are imposed on
group homes but not on other housing. For these reasons, among others, regulations
like these generally conflict with state housing laws.
G. Civil Actions for Operating Without a Required State License
Some categories of group homes, such as all those serving children, require state
licenses. But many, if not most, group homes do not require state licenses to operate.
These include, for example, group homes that provide peer support and limited services
to residents but not the more extensive care and supervision that requires obtaining a
license. Recovery residences that do not provide alcoholism or drug addiction recovery
or treatment services are other examples of group homes that do not require licenses.
Examples of group homes that do require licenses include the ones in this table:
109 See, supra, nn. 15-16.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 89 of 94
34
Use Health and Safety Code Sections Licensing Agency
Community Care Residential Facilities
(including various subcategories)
§ 1500 et seq. & § 1569 et seq., e.g., California Department of Social Services (CDSS)
AOD Facilities § 11834.01 et seq. California Department of Health Care Services
(DHCS)
Some local governments have amended their zoning ordinances to declare that
operating a business without a required state license is a public nuisance. Some of
these ordinances single out recovery residences that are providing recovery or
treatment services without a license. These jurisdictions file civil actions seeking to
abate these nuisances by closing some noncompliant recovery residences, requiring
others to obtain the required license, or imposing limitations on recovery residences that
were not providing recovery or treatment services.
Local governments have discretion to define as public nuisances’ business or
construction activities that are undertaken without a required permit or license. And at
least one California appellate court has upheld a city’s public nuisance action against a
recovery residence where the owners’ own website advertised that they provided on-
site drug addiction treatment services.110
But jurisdictions considering adopting this practice should still carefully assess the
issues and problems that can arise under state law. Guidelines for local governments
considering this include the following:
• Avoid targeting these nuisance actions on group homes operating without
required licenses while ignoring other businesses operating in residences
without required licenses. Although public prosecutors have broad discretion to
prioritize which violations or violators to prosecute, they cannot use this
discretion in ways that discriminate on the basis of disability or other protected
characteristics. Jurisdictions should not single out group homes unlawfully
operating without required licenses while ignoring businesses doing the same
thing in other residences.
110 City of Dana Point v. New Method Wellness, Inc. (2019) 39 Cal.App.5th 985.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 90 of 94
35
• Give group homes the same opportunities to respond to and resolve
alleged code violations as other alleged violators. For example, if other
property owners or businesses are allowed to respond to and resolve alleged
code violations during investigations or administrative hearings, those same
procedures should apply to group homes that are allegedly providing services
that require a license without having obtained one.
• Use the processes available through DHCS and CDSS, for example, for
resolving allegations that a group home is operating without a required
license. If a locality has evidence that a residence is providing unlicensed
recovery or treatment services in facilities under DHCS’s jurisdiction or
unlicensed care or supervision for residents in facilities under CDSS’s
jurisdiction, it should use these departments’ processes for investigating such
complaints and abating them if they have merit.111 This is especially important
when group home operators have not openly admitted that they are providing
unlicensed services on-site.
Determining what activities at a group home rise to the level of licensable
services, in contrast to common policies or mutual support activities that do not
require licenses, can involve nuanced and technical issues that are beyond the
expertise of most local planning or code enforcement staff. DHCS’s and CDSS’s
staff have the expertise and experience to investigate these claims, make these
determinations, and abate violations of the licensing laws they enforce.
If jurisdictions are filing their own, more costly civil actions to resolve disputes
over whether a group home requires a license, this runs the risk of courts issuing
mistaken rulings without the benefit of DHCS’s or CDSS’s findings and
expertise.112 It also raises questions under state housing laws about why a local
government is not availing itself of DHCS’s or CDSS’s procedures and opting
instead to subject a group home to more expensive and burdensome civil
litigation.
111 See, e.g., Cal. Code Regs., tit. 9, § 10542, tit. 22, § 80006. 112 Cf. Farmers Ins. Exchange v. Superior Court (1992) 2 Cal.4th 377, 390 (explaining that under primary jurisdiction doctrine, courts may suspend proceedings to allow an
administrative agency with specialized expertise to determine an issue within the scope
of its regulatory authority).
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 91 of 94
36
H. ENFORCING GENERALLY APPLICABLE MUNICIPAL CODES AND OTHER
LAWS
If group home operators are engaging in activities that constitute public nuisances;
violating generally applicable building, housing, or other health and safety laws;
committing fraud; or engaging in other illegal activities, local governments can address
these issues through the same code enforcement and other legal processes they apply
to others who violate municipal codes and other laws. This may still require considering
if reasonable accommodations are appropriate in some circumstances. And local
governments should avoid overbroad or discriminatory applications of nuisance laws,
such as basing nuisance actions on 911 calls for emergency services.113 But if a group
home is found to have violated local or state law, local governments may seek equitable
relief that could include more stringent oversight and other affirmative relief to prevent
further violations.
Focusing on individual group homes that are actually causing problems is a better
practice than adopting overly broad and constraining regulations for all group homes
that conflict with state housing laws.
8. RESOURCE MATERIALS AND STATE CONTACTS
Resource Materials
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing: Guidance for All Public Entities and for Housing Elements (April 2021 Update), available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/affh/docs/affh_document_final_4-27-2021.pdf
Housing Accountability Act Technical Assistance Advisory, HCD (Sep. 15, 2020),
available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/housing-element/housing-element-memos/docs/hcd-memo-on-haa-final-sept2020.pdf
Housing Element Building Blocks, HCD, available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/housing-elements/building-blocks
113 See. e.g., Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 12162, subd. (a); United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of General Counsel Guidance on Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Enforcement of Local Nuisance and Crime-Free
Housing Ordinances (Sep. 13, 2016), available at https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/FINALNUISANCEORDGDNCE.PDF.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 92 of 94
37
Housing Element Building Blocks – Constraints for People with Disabilities, HCD, available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/housing-elements/building-blocks/constraints-people-disabilities
Housing Element Building Blocks – Persons with Disabilities, HCD, available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/housing-elements/building-blocks/people-disabilities-including-developmental-disabilities
Housing Element Building Blocks – Zoning for a Variety of Housing Types, HCD, available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/planning-and-community-development/housing-
elements/building-blocks/zoning-variety-of-housing-types
Joint Statement of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice – State and Local Land Use Laws and Practices and the Application of the Fair Housing Act, HUD - DOJ (Nov. 10, 2016), available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/file/912366/download
Senate Bill 2—Legislation Effective January 1, 2008: Local Planning and Approval for Emergency Shelters and Transitional and Supportive Housing, HCD (Apr. 10, 2013 update), available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/housing-element/housing-element-memos/docs/sb-2-combined-update-mc-a11y.pdf
Transitional and Supportive Housing, Chapter 183, Statutes of 2013 (SB 745), HCD (Apr. 24, 2014), available at https://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/housing-element/housing-element-memos/docs/sb745memo042414.pdf
Contacts
HCD
HCD accepts requests for technical assistance from local jurisdictions and requests for review of potential violations from any party. All comments submitted to HCD are subject to the California Public Records Act. Send email requests
to: ComplianceReview@hcd.ca.gov.
California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)
Information about DHCS’s complaint process for licensing issues at AOD facilities is available at https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/individuals/Pages/Sud-Complaints.aspx, by emailing sudcomplaints@dhcs.ca.gov, or by calling (877) 685-8333.
California Department of Social Services (CDSS)
Information about CDSS’s complaint process for licensing issues at facilities that it regulates is available at https://www.cdss.ca.gov/reporting/file-a-complaint/ccld-complaints or by calling (844) 538-8766.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 93 of 94
Exhibit 11
California Environmental Quality Act Determination
As part of its approval of the Comprehensive General Plan Update on Sept. 22, 2015, the City
Council adopted Resolution 2015-242, certifying EIR 13-02 and adopting Findings of Fact, a
Statement of Overriding Considerations, and a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program.
EIR 13-02 is available via the city’s Public Records Access weblink by entering “EIR 13-02” in the
“Project ID” search field at Custom Search (carlsbadca.gov).
Subsequently, on April 6, 2021, the City Council approved an update of the city’s Housing
Element for the 6th cycle (2021 – 2029) by Resolution 2021-073, which included an Addendum
consistent with Section 15164 of the CEQA Guidelines to study impacts of the Goals, Policies,
Programs and Objectives contained in the Housing Element. On July 13, 2021, the California
Department of Housing and Community Development found the element to be in substantial
compliance with all applicable laws. The Addendum and resolution are available at 2021-04-06;
City Council; Resolution 2021-073 (carlsbadca.gov). The Addendum included an evaluation of
the Housing Element Goals, Policies, Programs and Objectives that will be implemented
throughout the eight-year housing cycle.
The proposed project includes amendments to implement a portion of Housing Element
Program 1.3 g. and Program 2.13 h. to bring the zoning code into compliance with state law
with respect to group homes, including residential care facilities, and housing for the homeless.
The proposed amendments break no new legal ground and are within the scope of the of the
Addendum. During adoption of the General Plan, EIR 13-02 considered and evaluated all land
use impacts associated with the programs of the Housing Plan, including programs 1.3 and 2.13.
The Addendum evaluated all direct and indirect impacts, in addition to cumulative impacts, that
would result from Housing Element implementation.
The implementation of Housing Element Program 1.3 g. and 2.13 h. falls under the scope of the
Addendum and is internally consistent with other provisions of the code, and the land use
regulations and requirements set forth in the city’s General Plan and Local Coastal Program. As
these programs were considered in the April 6, 2021, Addendum, all potential cumulative
impacts have been considered and studied, and there are no unanticipated environmental
impacts or changes in circumstances. Additionally, there is no "new information of substantial
importance" as that term is used in CEQA Guidelines Section 15162(a)(3) and none of the
triggers for a subsequent/supplemental EIR apply. Therefore, the Addendum to the certified EIR
is adequate without modification
Based on this analysis, the city planner has determined that there are no substantial changes
proposed in the project and there are no substantial changes in the circumstances under which
the project will be undertaken that will require major revisions to the previous EIR due to the
involvement of significant new environmental effects or a substantial increase in the severity of
previously identified significant effects. A notice of determination is proposed for filing with
the County Clerk.
May 23, 2023 Item #6 Page 94 of 94
PROOF OF PUBLICATION
(2010 & 2011 C.C.P.)
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
County of San Diego
I am a citizen of the United States and a resident of the
County aforesaid: I am over the age of eighteen years and
not a party to or interested in the above-entitled matter. I
am the principal clerk of the printer of
The San Diego Union Tribune
Formerly known as the North County limes and UT North
County and which newspaper has been adjudicated as a
newspaper of general circulation by the Superior Court of
the County of San Diego, State of California, for the City of
Oceanside and the City of Escondido, Court Decree numbers
171349 & 172171, for the County of San Diego, that the
notice of which the annexed is a printed copy (set in type
not smaller than nonpariel), has been published in each
regular and entire issue of said newspaper and not in any
supplement thereof on the following dates, to-wit:
May 12th, 2023
I certify (or declare) under penalty of perjury that the
foregoing is true and correct.
Dated at Temecula, California this
12th, day of May, 2023
Allslmuse -Legal Advertising
The San Diego Union Tribune
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN to you, because your interest may be affected, that the City
Council of the City of carts bad will hold a public hearing at the Council Chamber, UOO
carisbad Village Drive, carlsbad, califomla, at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, to
consider approving an ordinance amending the Zoning Ordinance and a resolution
amending the Local Coastal Program, and more particularly desa1bed as:
1. An ordinance approving an amendment to Title 21, Zoning Ordinance, of the
cansbad Municipal Code (ZCA 2023-0001)
2. A resolution approving an amendment to the Local Coastal Program (LCPA
2023-0018).
Whereas, on May 5, 2023, the aty of cansbad Planning Commission voted 5/0/1
to approve amendments to the Zoning Ordinance and Local Coastal Program to
implement a portion of Objeetive g of Housing Element Program 1.3 -AltematiVe
Housing, and Objective h of Housing Element Program 2.13 -Housing for Persons
Experiencing Homelessness.
Those persons wishing to speak on this proposal are cordially invited to attend the
public hearing. The staff report will be available on and after Friday, May 19, 2023. If
you have any questions, please contact Senior Planner Scott Donnell in the Planning
Division at (442) 339-2618 or soott.donnefl@carlsbadca,eoy. The meeting can be
viewed onllne at https://www.cartsbadca.goy/clty-hall!meetines-agendas or on
the aty's cable channel. In addition, written comments may be submitted to the
City Council at or prior to the hearing via U.S. Mail to the attention of Office of the
City Clerk, 1200 Csrisbad Village Drive, carlsbad, CA 92008, or via ernall to ~
carisbadca.gov.
If you challenge the amendments to the Zoning Code Amendment and/or local Coastal
Program In court, you may be limited to raising only those Issues you or someone else
raised at the public hearing described In this notfce or In written correspondence
delivered to the City of carlsbad, Attn: aty Clerk's Office, 1200 cartsbad Village Drive,
carisbad, CA 92008, at or prior to the public hearing.
CASE FILE: ZCA2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018
CASE NAME: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY HOUSING AMENDMENTS 2023
PUBLISH: FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2023
CITY OF CARLSBAD OTY COUNOL
TO: CITY CLERK
AFFIDAVIT OF MAILING
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
DATE OF PUBLIC HEARING: Si ~.3/d...Dd-3
SUBJECT: Ciz_:f . ,1-_jo.ap, ~Om oJ. c!JXl 3,
LOCATION: ~00 Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008
D Other: ________________ _
DATE PosTED To c1TY WEBSITE S/u I oZo ,Q ~
DATE NOTICES MAILED TO PROPERTY OWNERS: _________ _
NUMBER. MAILED:
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SENT TO FOR PUBLICATION VIA E-MAIL TO: ~Union Tribune on ,5"/'2/,,;l.3 .
~ Coast News on· s/g/ 23
PUBLICATION DATE: Union Tribune .s/;:2 /';:J..o;:1►'?>
Coast News _<;"/J;ijµ;;). '?--.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that I am employed by
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• . .
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN to you, because your interest may be affected, that the City
Council of the City of Carlsbad will hold a public hearing at the Council Chamber, 1200
Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad, California, at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, to
consider approving an ordinance amending the Zoning Ordinance and a resolution
amending the Local Coastal Program, and more particularly described as:
1. An ordinance approving an amendment to Title 21, Zoning Ordinance, of the
Carlsbad Municipal Code {ZCA 2023-0001)
2. A resolution approving an amendment to the Local Coastal Program {LCPA
2023-0018).
Whereas, on May 5, 2023, the City of Carlsbad Planning Commission voted 5/0/1
to approve amendments to the Zoning Ordinance and Local Coastal Program to
implement a portion of Objective g of Housing Element Program 1.3 -Alternative
Housing, and Objective h of Housing Element Program 2.13 -Housing for Persons
Experiencing Homelessness.
Those persons wishing to speak on this proposal are cordially invited to attend the
public hearing. The staff report will be available on and after Friday, May 19, 2023. If
you have any questions, please contact Senior Planner Scott Donnell in the Planning
Division at {442) 339-2618 or scott.donnell@carlsbadca.gov. The meeting can be
viewed online at https://www.carlsbadca.gov/city-hall/meetings-agendas or on
the City's cable channel. In addition, written comments may be submitted to the
City Council at or prior to the hearing via U.S. Mail to the attention of Office of the
City Clerk, 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008, or via email to clerk@
carlsbadca.gov.
If you challenge the amendments to the Zoning Code Amendment and/or Local Coastal
Program in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else
raised at the public hearing described in this notice or in written correspondence
delivered to the City of Carlsbad, Attn: City Clerk's Office, 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive,
Carlsbad, CA 92008, at or prior to the public hearing.
CASE FILE: ZCA2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018
CASE NAME: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY HOUSING AMENDMENTS 2023
PUBLISH: FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2023
CITY OF CARLSBAD CITY COUNCIL
Order ID: 7931372
Sold To: CITY OF
CARLSBAD-City
Clerk
CA11474981
1200 Carlsbad Village Dr
Carlsbad CA 92008-1989
Description: Legal 4x6.5
Insertions:
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01-00 Fri SOT San Diego Block Legal North 4 X 6.5
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5/12/23 niontribun uniontrib
e.com une.com
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ne.com bune.co
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Printed: 5/9/2023 12:31 :20 PM
Page 1 of 2
CITY OF
CARLSBAD-City
Clerk
CA11474981
1200 Carlsbad Village Dr
Carlsbad CA 92008-1989
Billed Qty Print Qty Tax Agency Charges
Comm.
0 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
0 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
0 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Price Net Price Insertion Price
$557.70 $557.70 $557.70
$20.00 $20.00 $20.00
$5.00 $5.00 $5.00
Total: $582.70
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN to you, because your interest may be affected, that the City Council of the City
of Carlsbad will hold a public hearing at the Council Chamber, 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad,
California, at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, to consider approving an ordinance amending the Zoning
Ordinance and a resolution amending the Local Coastal Program, and more particularly described as:
1. An ordinance approving an amendment to Title 21, Zon ing Ordinance, of the Carlsbad Municipal
Code (ZCA 2023-0001)
2. A resolution approving an amendment to the Local Coastal Program (LCPA 2023-0018).
Whereas, on May 5, 2023, the City of Carlsbad Planning Commission voted 5/0/1 to approve amendments
to the Zoning Ordinance and Local Coastal Program to implement a portion of Objective g of Housing
Element Program 1.3 -Alternative Housing, and Objective h of Housing Element Program 2.13 -Housing
for Persons Experiencing Homelessness.
Those persons wishing to speak on this proposal are cordially invited to attend the public hearing. The
staff report will be available on and after Friday, May 19, 2023. If you have any questions, please contact
Senior Planner Scott Donnell in the Planning Division at (442) 339-2618 or scott.donnell@carlsbadca.gov.
The meeting can be viewed online at https://www.carlsbadca.gov/city-hall/meetings-agendas or on the
City's cable channel. In addition, written comments may be submitted to the City Council at or prior to
the hearing via U.S. Mail to the attention of Office of the City Clerk, 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad,
CA 92008, or via email to clerk@carlsbadca.gov.
If you challenge the amendments to the Zoning Code Amendment and/or Local Coastal Program in court,
you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described
in this notice or in written co rrespondence delivered to the City of Carlsbad, Attn: City Clerk's Office, 1200
Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008, at or prior to the public hearing.
CASE FILE:
CASE NAME:
PUBLISH:
ZCA2023-0002/LCPA 2023-0018
ALTERNATIVE AND TEMPORARY HOUSING AMENDMENTS 2023
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2023
CITY OF CARLSBAD
CITY COUNCIL
CITI'OFCAJU.SBAD
NQTICF OE PURI IC UEABIJSG
N011CE IS !IE.RE.BY GJVEN to you. becauscyourinterertmaybc aff'ected, thatthcOtyC.Oun-
cil o(thc City of Carlsbad wilt hold a public hearing at the C',o,.mcil Chamber, 1200 Carlsbad
Vlllage Drive, Carlsbad, California, al 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23, l0l3, to consider approving
an ordinance &mending the Zoning Ordinance and a resolution amending t.he Local Coastal
Program, and more particularly described as:
1. An ordinance approving an amendment to TitJe 21, Zoning Ord in Moe, of the Carlsbad
Municipa] Code ('ZJ::.A 20'.23-0001)
l, A resolution approving an amendment to the Local Coutal Program (LCPA 2013-
0018).
\Vhcreas.. oo May 5, 2023, the City of Carlsbad Planning Commission voled 5/0/1 to approve
am('ndmcnu U> the Zoning Ordinanoe and Local Coast.a.I Progr&111 to impJemcnt a portion of
Objective g of How;ing Element Program I.J -Altemath,c Housing, lllld Objccth·c h of Hous-
ing Element Program 2.13 -Housing for Persow Experiencing Homc:les.sncs.s.
~ persons wishing to speak on this proposal are cordially invited to attend the public
hearing. The staff ttport will be available on and a!ter Friday, May 19, 2023. If you ha~ any
questions, please cont.act Senior Pl&nncr Scott Donncll in the Planning Division at ( +t,2) 339-
:2618 or s0011 dnoocU@cadsbadca grv The meeting ca.n be viewed online at~
ced1b1dc1 gnv/ci11-b1Jl/mt:ctiop-agrod1s or on the City's c.able cba.nnel. In addition. wriUen
oommenu may be submitted to the City Council at or prior to the hciu-ing via U.S. Milli to the
attention of Offir:e of the City Clerk, 1200 Carlsbw Village Drive, Carhbw, CA 92008, or via
ellWl V> clerk@cadsbadca gov
If you chaJlengc the amendments to the Zoning Code Amendment a.nd/or Local Coastal Pro-
gram in court. you may be limilM to rai&ing only those iuucs you or ,110mcone c1sc raised at
the p,1blic hearing de,eribed in thll notice or in \\Tittcn COITCipondcnoe dcHwrcd to the City
of Carlsbad. Attn: City Clerk's Offioc, 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad, C."'-92008, at or
prior to the public hearing.
CA.SE FILE,
PUBLISII:
Cl1Y OF CARLSBAD
CITY OOUNCI I.
ZCA2.023-0002/LCPA 2023-00IB
ALTERNATNE .\NO TEMPORARY I-IOUSING
AAiENDMF.NTS 2023
PRl1).\Y, MAY 12, 202.'I
05/12/2023 CN 27629
3 Col X 5,5"
16.5"x $15
$247.50
Scott Donnell, Senior Planner
Community Development Department
May 23, 2023
Alternative and Temporary
Housing Amendments 2023
1
{ City of
Carlsbad
•City’s Housing Plan adopted 2021
•Program implementation necessary to
comply with state law
•Implementation requires Zoning Ordinance
and Local Coastal Program changes
ITEM 6: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
2
{ City of
Carlsbad
PROGRAMS PROPOSED FOR
IMPLEMENTATION
•Program 1.3 g.: Group homes
•Program 2.13 h.: Low Barrier Navigation Centers
3
ITEM 6: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
{city of
Carlsbad
4
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
Low Barrier Navigation Centers
{city of
Carlsbad
5
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
Low Barrier Navigation Centers
“Housing first” shelters providing temporary living facilities
•Focused on moving people into permanent housing
•Increased staffing, services compared to an
emergency shelter
{ City of
Carlsbad
6
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
Low Barrier Navigation Centers (proposed changes in red)
Zone Existing State law
Single-family residential
zones None No change
Multi-family residential
zones None Permitted
Commercial zones
permitting residential None Permitted
Industrial zones None Permitted
7
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
Group Homes
{ City of
Carlsbad
8
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
State direction and guidance
ST.Alf Of CW IEPRNIA·R\IS'NESS CQNSIIYEB '-EBYJGES ANPHQIIS NG AGENCY
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
DIVISION OF HOUSING POLICY DEVELOPMENT 2020W.ElCliffllnoAWflu&.Sull$SOO 5aa\lMMIO,CA95533 ('J16)263-29l1/FAX(916J263•7.f53 ............,,
July 13, 2021
Scott Chadwick, City Manager
City of Car1sbad
1200 Carlsbad Village Drive
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Dear Scott Chadwick:
RE: Review of Carlsbad's 6th Cycle (2021-2029) Adopted Housing Element
Thank you for submitting the City of Cartsbad's (City) housing element adopted on April
6, 2021 and received for review on April 15, 2021. Pursuant to Government Code
section 65585. subdivision (h), the California Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD) is reporting the results of its review. HCD considered comments
GROUP HOME
TECHNICAL ADVISORY
CA DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
DIVISION OF HOUSING POLICY DEVELOPMENT
{ City of
Carlsbad
9
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
July 13, 2021, state certification letter
•Implement Program 1.3 g.
•Allow group homes in all residential zones
•Allow group homes of seven or more persons in the
same manner as group homes of six or fewer
persons
vovrr:cersmee-m,wn RIIJMIYMDMEIP?FYf't7
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
=~=SI~ ~y DEVELOPMENT
==:•Nl!l'lll:IA-1"5.1
July13,2021
Smtt Chadwidl. City Manager
City of Carlsbad
1200 Cansbad v•1age Drive
Cartsbad, CA 92008
DearScotlChadwidc:
RE: R1vlew ofCart,Nd'a6• Cycle (2021-2029) Adopted Hou,lrtg Element
Thank you lot submitting the City of Carlsbad's (City) houM'lg element adopted on Apfi
6, 2021 and received fot review on April 15, 2021. Pursuant to Government Code section 65585, subdivision (h). lhe Ca~lomla Department of Howing and Community
Development (HCD) iS reporting the results of its review. HCO considered comments
from the People for PonlD and the San Diego Housing Federation pursuant to
GoYemment Code sec:lion 65585. SYbdMsion (c).
HCO is pleased to find the lldopled housng element in Stbstantial compiaoce with
Stale Housing Elemenl uw {Article 10.6 ol lhe Gov. Code). The adopl:ed element
9ddresses the SlalUl«y re,qla'ements described in HCO's Februa,y 22, 2021 reYiew. HCO's Anding was based on, among other reasons, several prog,ams lhat remc,o;e constraints on housing and effectuate alrwmatively further lair housing (AFFH) policies
and praciices. Additionaly, lhe City must cont.iue timely and effective mplementation
of programs such as Program 1.3 (Alternative Housing), Program 1.6 (Development Streamlining), Program 2.7 (Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers and Similar Housing Cost Offsets) and Program <1.3 (Alitt-Segregation WI Howing Implementation). The City
must mon~or the effectiveness of lliMe, and other program,. and make adjustments, as
appropriate, as part of its Annual Progres.s Report to HCO. Specifically, HCC notes the folONing·
Group Homm; fq Seytn PC Moco· The element notH lhal group homes for seven or more peoon• (allo referred to as la-ge residenlial care lacilities) are
penntteddifferenllythangroupshomeslorsixot'-rpersonsandare
conditionally pem,itted in onty a few zones (pg. 167). Addilionally, lhe element
notes 1h11 residential carelacilities lr'U!II provide one partong space !or J!Nf!rf tt.-ee bed$. HCO rnt. lhe permitting and p;rting r9Ql,IWemenlS to be
conslnwltsfofdevelopingandprovimlgaa:esstohouslnglotpersonswittl
disabilities.~soch. lheCitymustmplemen1Progf8m 1.J(Allemative
{ City of
Carlsbad
10
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
December 2022 state technical advisory
•Defines “group homes”
•Clarifies licensing requirements
•Clarifies permitting requirements
GROUP HOME
TECHNICAL ADVISORY
F HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CA OEPARTMENTN~ POUCV DEVELOPMENT DIVISION Of !-tOUSI
{ City of
Carlsbad
11
Group homes
•Shared, supportive living environment for all ages
•Occupants are considered handicapped by state or federal
law
•May be considered a “residential use”
•May require state licensing
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
{ City of
Carlsbad
12
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
Group homes not requiring a state license
Homes that only provide peer support and limited services to
residents, such as:
•Supportive and transitional housing
•Sober living homes
•Recovery homes
( City of
Carlsbad
13
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
Group homes requiring a state license
Homes that provide essential care and supervision,
such as:
•Residential care facility
•Alcohol and drug addiction facility
{city of
Carlsbad
14
Group Homes (proposed changes in red)
Zone
Existing State law
Licensed or
unlicensed
Unlicensed Licensed
0-6
persons
7+
persons
0-6 persons 7+ persons 0-6
persons
7+ persons
Residential
zones None None Permitted Permitted Permitted Conditionally
permitted
Commercial
zones permitting
residential
None None Permitted Permitted Permitted No change
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
15
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
Group Homes (Residential Care Facilities)
{ City of
Carlsbad
16
Residential Care Facilities (proposed changes in red)
Zone
Existing State law
0-6 persons 7+ persons 0-6 persons 7+ persons
Residential zones
(except R-3, RD-M and
R-P)
Permitted None No change Conditionally
permitted
R-3, RD-M and R-P Permitted Conditionally
permitted No change No change
Commercial zones
allowing residential Permitted None No change No change
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
17
Additional changes to comply with state law
•Parking standards
•Development standards
•Definition revisions
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
{ City of
Carlsbad
Commission reviews
•Planning Commission
•Airport Land Use Commission
18
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
{ City of
Carlsbad
Next Steps
•Implement ordinance 30 days after adoption (second reading)
•Submit LCPA to Coastal Commission after
adoption
•Continue to implement May 2020 City
Council action on sober living homes
19
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
{ City of
Carlsbad
Hold a public hearing and:
1.Introduce an ordinance amending the Zoning
Ordinance (Title 21 of the Municipal Code)
2.Adopt a resolution approving a Local Coastal
Program Amendment
20
RECOMMENDED ACTION
ITEM 7: ALTERNATIVE AND TEMP. HOUSING
{ City of
Carlsbad