The California Department of Housing and Community Development Aug. 28 issued a letter to the city of Los Altos stating the city will be required to amend its housing element should Measure D pass at the Nov. 3 election.
Measure D would prohibit the city from selling, leasing, conveying or declaring as surplus land the 10 city-owned downtown parking plazas for any reason, or from authorizing new uses or physical alterations that would diminish protected trees or parking availability, access or convenience, unless separately approved by a majority of voters. The measure excludes two parking plazas that may be developed for affordable housing without a vote.
The letter (read the letter at tinyurl.com/measureD-letter), signed by Housing Accountability Unit Section Chief of Land Use Policy Brian Heaton to Los Altos Development Services Director Stephanie Williams, laid out implications should the initiative pass by resident majority vote.
“Various consequences may apply … including ineligibility or delay in receiving certain state funds, referral to the California Office of the Attorney General, court-imposed financial penalties, the loss of local land use authority to a court-appointed agent and the application of the builder’s remedy,” the letter said.
Heaton added in the letter that further penalties such as a minimum of $10,000 per month and associated attorney costs are now authorized for any action brought by the AGO or HCD to enforce the adoption of housing element revisions, among other statutes.
In January 2025, the city received a Prohousing Designation from the state, which opens the door for access to certain funding as well as being more competitive for other funding sources, including housing, community development and infrastructure funding programs. Having that designation means the city is within housing element compliance and demonstrates how it is accelerating the production of housing.
“To maintain the city’s Prohousing Designation and benefits therein, it must maintain housing element compliance,” the letter wrote.
The letter states that the current HCD-certified housing element in Los Altos “includes all 10 downtown parking plazas in its site inventory,” accounting for 63 moderate-income units and 61 above-moderate-income units for a total of 124 units. Additionally, the letter said the city’s housing element contains multiple programs that would be impacted should the ordinance be adopted by voters, including facilitating housing on city-owned sites; incentivizing downtown lot consolidation; targeting housing development in highest resource areas; and housing mobility.
“If voters adopt the ordinance, the city will be required to amend its housing element to analyze the ordinance as a potential governmental constraint on housing development,” Heaton wrote in the letter, “including, but not limited to, whether the parking plazas are still appropriate to include in the site inventory.”
The city, prior to making any amendments to the housing element, would be required to submit a draft of those changes to the HCD at least 60 days prior to adoption. After that, the HCD must review those amendments to ensure substantial compliance with housing element requirements and report its findings to the city. The city then would have to consider those findings prior to adoption.
If the state housing department finds that the amendments do not substantially comply with housing element requirements, the city can either change the draft amendments to substantially comply or adopt the amendments without changes and include in the adopting resolution written findings that explain the reasons the city believes that they do comply despite the department’s findings.
After readopting the housing element, the city is required to resubmit it to HCD, the letter said. HCD is then required to review the amended housing element and determine if the amended element continues to substantially comply with housing element law.
“Please be aware, the city is also responsible for providing adequate opportunity for public participation and review, no less than seven days prior to submittal of a draft to HCD,” the letter states. “As part of this review, HCD will review any changes to the housing element to ensure that sites are suitable and available for housing development within the planning period and meet all the requirements of Government Code.”
Ultimately, if the housing department finds that the action or failure to act by Los Altos does not substantially comply, it may revoke its finding that the city’s housing element is in compliance with housing element law until it determines that the city has come into compliance with state law, the letter said.
