Discussion on Improving Housing Choice in Lafayette

On July 10th, the Council and members of the public considered ways to create greater housing mobility and housing choice in Lafayette through Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing in the Housing Element. Staff presented eight draft programs for consideration and after receiving input from the public, the Council directed staff to have a preliminary discussion on six programs with the City’s Housing Element reviewer from the California Dept. of Housing and Community Development. These programs included:

• Option 2: Allow a second Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit (JADU) if it is income restricted.

• Option 3: Establish requirements for an average unit size per development.

• Option 4: Prohibit un-hosted short-term rentals.

• Option 5: Allow churches and other religious institutions to build up to 30 units per acre.

• Option 6: Allow conversion of existing single-family dwellings into 2 to 4 units (within the existing building footprint) within ¼ mile of the Downtown. See map below - yellow buffer indicates 1/4 mile radius from downtown.

• Option 7: Increase the maximum density of “low density multifamily residential” districts from 17 to 20 dwelling units per acre.

More details on the proposed programs can be found in the staff report for Item 10B on the July 10 City Council agenda. Staff plan to provide a verbal update to the Council on July 24th.