Sacramento City Council last Tuesday adopted the “Housing Element” as part of the City’s General Plan which lays out how the City will meet its growing housing demand over the next eight years.
Equity, inclusion and anti-displacement are themes that are woven throughout the document and reflected in a number of policies and programs. Every city and county in California is required to adopt a Housing Element, subject to State approval, as part of its General Plan.
“The Housing Element contains a variety of strategies and actions designed to promote the construction of more affordable housing, particularly in areas of the city that have better access to transit and higher performing schools,” said Matt Hertel, the City’s long range planning manager. “The City aims to ensure that Sacramento is an equitable and inclusive city by prioritizing community resources towards underserved communities and to those residents who are most vulnerable.”
The City’s goal is to accommodate the production of 45,580 housing units of all types over the next eight years. It has already taken significant steps to encourage housing construction, including making it easier to build accessory dwelling units, allowing for quick approvals of infill housing, establishing incentives for construction of housing near transit corridors and waiving all City impact fees for affordable housing projects.
Here are some highlights from the long list of strategies:
- Off-the-shelf ADU plans
- Reducing parking requirements for infill development
- Working with community based organizations to develop new collective ownership models for housing.
The housing element does not change City zoning to allow duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in existing single family neighborhoods. That potential change would come with the adoption of the 2040 General Plan, which is expected to go to City Council for approval in May 2022. After that, the City would still need to update its planning and development code. City staff will be conducting extensive community outreach in the months ahead.
“We should view this Housing Element as just the beginning of our work together toward meeting the housing goal,” said Mayor Darrell Steinberg.
To get updates on the 2040 Plan and be a part of the outreach visit the 2040 General Plan webpage or sign up to be a part of the mailing list.