Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA)

California’s Housing Element law requires that each city and county develop local housing programs to meet its “fair share” of existing and future housing needs for all income groups, as determined by the jurisdiction’s Council of Governments. This “fair share” allocation concept seeks to ensure that each jurisdiction accepts responsibility for the housing needs of not only its resident population, but also for the jurisdiction’s projected share of regional housing growth across all income categories.

The regional growth allocation process begins with the Department of Finance’s (DOF) projection of statewide housing demand for the planning period, which is then apportioned by regional councils of government throughout the state. The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is responsible for assigning these regional housing needs, known as the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, and Imperial counties, and the jurisdictions within each county. The main determining factors in SCAG’s methodology are:

· household growth (based on Connect SoCal growth forecast),

· job accessibility, and

· transit accessibility.

After a RHNA total is calculated, a social equity adjustment is applied to determine the four income categories (very low-, low-, moderate-, and above moderate-incomes).

The state has allocated 1.34 million new housing units to the SCAG regions as part of the 6th cycle RHNA. This level of housing growth represents the largest allocation the region has ever received, which results in much higher RHNA allocations for SCAG cities and counties. The RHNA represents the minimum number of housing units each community is required to provide “adequate sites” through zoning and is one of the primary threshold criteria necessary to achieve HCD approval of the Housing Element. Agoura Hills’ RHNA housing needs for the 2021-2029 planning period was forecast at 318 net units, distributed among the four income categories as shown below.

 Agoura Hills Regional Housing Needs Assessment (2021-2029)

Income Level	Percent of Area Median Income	Units	Percent
Very Low	0-50%	127	40%
Low	51-80%	72	23%
Moderate	81-120%	55	17%
Above Moderate	120%+	64	20%
Total		318	100%

 

Housing Opportunity Sites

The City’s existing zoning was not sufficient to address a RHNA allocation of 127 very low-income and 72 low-income units. Thus, City staff, with input from the community and City decision-makers, undertook a comprehensive analysis of potential additional sites for rezoning, as required by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), to accommodate the City’s RHNA.

To provide an incentive for the construction of our allocated affordable units, and as required by state law, the City rezoned twenty sites to include an affordable housing overlay. The overlay allows an applicant to obtain ministerial (by-right) permit processing so long as the developer provides at least 10% very low-income and 10% low-income units on site. Applicants for affordable housing projects are also eligible for further incentives under state density bonus law.

2021-2029 RHNA Progress and Affordable Housing Overlay Implementation

The table below represents only the number of units proposed by developers who have submitted a formal development application under the Affordable Housing Overlay. The City has received numerous preliminary applications under the provisions of Senate Bill 330, and those proposed units are not reflected in table below.

Income Level	City’s RHNA	Units Currently Proposed	Percent
Very Low	127	28	22%
Low	72	10	13.8%
Moderate	55	0	0%
Above Moderate	64	278	434.3%
Total	318*	278	87.4%

*While the total number of units allocated to the City in the 2021-2029 RHNA was 318 units, the City was required to rezone enough properties to meet the needs of every income category. Since the City’s very low-income allocation was 127 units and each affordable housing development is only expected to provide 

10% very low-income units to remain economically viable, a sizable buffer to the total number of units was required for HCD’s approval of the City’s housing element.