Heading into the new year Generation Housing continues to monitor the first 12 months of the Housing and Community Development department’s (HCD) Prohousing Designation – the award that gives jurisdictions preference on housing, transit, and climate-related grants. HCD has recently awarded six new jurisdictions the designation (primarily concentrated in Southern California), who join Sacramento as the only cities to receive the prioritization. The award is expected to open millions of dollars of funding in competitive grant applications as a reward for policies that remove barriers to building such as excessive parking requirements, exclusionary zoning, and high impact fees.
As Sonoma County’s jurisdictions wrap up their Housing Element process, many will be reviewing and preparing their own applications for the Prohousing designation at the start of the new year. Generation Housing has taken the lead on coordinating with HCD to better understand the extensive requirements for the award as well as to get a head start on HCD’s best-in-practice models for encouraging building across multiple cities and neighborhoods. In December we have:
- Conducted meetings with HCD staff to get a clearer picture of their review process, preferences for documentation, and goals for opening early lines of communication with interested jurisdictions
- Created a toolkit for councilmembers and planning commissions that includes a basic FAQ, easy-to-reference scoring templates based on winning applications, and a sample policy compendium to highlight the range of adaptive solutions to housing constraints (coming soon). Please email Josh Shipper (joshua@generationhousing.org) for more information.
- Reviewed proposed changes to the Prohousing designation application for revised criteria that make the designation stronger, including requirements for community engagement, compliance with AFFH, and a new Inclusionary Zoning criteria
- Partnered with 4Leaf, Inc. consultants to assess and compile an early draft of Healdsburg’s application, identifying areas for improvement and documentation standards
- Taken first steps to establish a Prohousing Community Connector group who will serve in an advisory capacity to review city policies and offer needed feedback to ensure the equitable outcomes of specific prohousing plans
As more jurisdictions apply for and receive the designation, receiving a higher score on the prohousing index will be crucial. We will work with our Sonoma County city governments to conceive of the most visionary prohousing policies in order to be competitive for the funding we need to get housing built in our communities.