Revised Housing Element to be reviewed at January 23 City Council
The Housing Element is one of seven required elements of the General Plan. The single most important goal of the Housing Element is to achieve an adequate supply of safe, decent housing for all residents of Lafayette. The Housing Element must be approved by the State and updated every five to eight years and the City of Lafayette’s current Housing Element was certified by the State of California in 2015.
The Planning Department initiated the update process in early 2020 to meet the state’s certification deadline of January 31, 2023. Under the direction of the City Council, staff recruited for and assembled an 11-member General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) composed of geographic district, chamber of commerce, and nonprofit representatives selected by lottery and commission and committee members nominated by their body to serve on the GPAC. Since its formation in October 2020, the GPAC has met on a monthly or bimonthly basis to begin updating the components of the Housing Element. Throughout that time the GPAC has sought public input and worked together to learn about and then develop recommendations on the components of the Housing Element, which are outlined below.
The City of Lafayette submitted its 6th Cycle Draft Housing Element Update to the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) on June 30, 2022 and received a 13-page comment letter dated September 29, 2022. Since then, City staff have been working to respond to comments in the State’s revised draft.
State Housing Element law requires all Bay Area jurisdictions to submit adopted 6th Cycle Housing Element updates to HCD for certification by January 31, 2023. Revisions to the draft Housing Element have been reviewed by the City Council on November 14 and November 28. On January 3, 2023, the Planning Commission held a public hearing and voted unanimously to recommend the City Council adopt the Housing Element and certify the Environmental Impact Report.
While there is a longer timeline for implementation of the proposed Goals, Policies, and Programs, the City will have one year to complete the rezoning needed to accommodate the City’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation. Below is a map of the latest potential rezoning. Please click here to view examples of examples of different densities for residential development.
