After months of controversy, the California Department of Housing and Community Development found Los Altos Hills’ housing element in substantial compliance with the law May 30, just in time to meet the state’s certification deadline of May 31.
By adopting a compliant housing element, the town avoids potentially facing an accelerated timeline for implementing necessary rezoning outlined in its housing plans.It also means the city is eligible for state funds and grants, including the HCD Permanent Local Housing Allocation, the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program and CalTrans’ Senate Bill 1 Sustainable Communities grant.
The question that hangs in the air, however, is whether the four existing builder’s remedy applications filed in the Hills are eligible to move forward. Under the builder’s remedy, if a city does not have what is deemed a “substantially compliant” housing element, the California Housing Accountability Act mandates that the city must approve any housing project if at least 20% of the units are low-income or 100% are moderate-income.
Los Altos Hills adopted its housing element and sent it to the state by the Jan. 31 submission deadline, but in a March 17 letter from the HCD, the department found it noncompliant with state law. Town officials submitted an updated element April 20 that received state approval last week.
“Housing elements are required to comply with current state housing element law on the established due date January 31, 2023. … There is no grace period,” reads a
document on the Association of Bay Area Governments website.
However, the ABAG document later states that “HCD approval is not required for a housing element to be found substantially compliant with state law,” meaning a city or county may adopt its own findings explaining why its housing element is substantially compliant with state law despite the HCD’s findings. Because the town adopted its initial housing element by the Jan. 31 submission deadline, town officials could argue that it was always in compliance.
There is no case law dealing with builder’s remedy applications as yet, making it difficult to predict how the process for such applications will unfold. However, town officials are publicly confident that they are protected from the progression of such projects.
“The certified Housing Element enables Los Altos Hills to maintain local control over our land-use decisions and protects us from unplanned high-density development under Builder Remedy,” stated a press release from the town.
For more on how approval of the housing element will affect builder’s remedy applications in Los Altos Hills, read future issues of the Town Crier.
