The California Housing Partnership recently updated the Housing Needs Dashboard to include the most current data on how well California's cities and counties are meeting their regional housing goals for different income groups. This new data reveals not only that nearly every city and county in California is failing to meet its production goals for housing affordable to low-income households, but also that many jurisdictions have already exceeded their high-income (or above moderate-income) housing goals. 

State law requires California cities and counties to plan for the housing needs of residents of all incomes. This mandate, called the Housing Element, is part of each jurisdiction's General Plan. As part of this process, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) determines the total number of new homes each region needs to build - and how affordable those homes need to be. This process is called the regional housing needs assessment (RHNA) and occurs every five to eight years or "cycle." California is now in its fifth housing element and RHNA update cycle.

Income Group	Housing Production Goal (5th Cycle RHNA)	Permits Issued through 2019 (5th Cycle RHNA)	% of Production Goal Met
Very Low-Income (<50% AMI)	278,484	31,725	11.4%
Low-Income (50%-80% AMI)	185,525	31,262	16.9%
Moderate-Income (80-120% AMI)	204,917	83,317	40.7%
Above Moderate-Income (>120% AMI)	487,906	490,012	100.4%

 

To see this data for yourself in an interactive format, please visit our website at chpc.net/housingneeds. Simply select up to four geographies, press "See Results," and view the "Progress Towards RHNA" graphic in the "Production & Preservation" tab. The dashboard will then provide you with results for up to the three jurisdictions with the largest RHNA allocations in the selected county so that you can see how each is performing on its 5th cycle RHNA production goals by income group. In Orange County, for example, Irvine, Anaheim, and unincorporated Orange County have exceeded their 5th cycle RHNA production goals for above moderate-income households - by 293%, 287%, and 191%, respectively - but are behind in meeting their goals for lower income households. 

An affordable home is so much more than just a roof over one's head - a fact that is reinforced by the Partnership's Affordable Housing Benefits Map and decades of academic research. The coronavirus pandemic has made this an even more important discussion, as the analysis conducted by the Partnership on disparate impacts in housing fragility reveals. An affordable home is the foundation of stability, health and wellness, safety and economic opportunity, and we must do more to accommodate the housing needs of all Californians. If you are interested in learning more about potential federal and state policy responses to the shortage of affordable homes and the pandemic, check out these useful resources from the Partnership: