Regional housing needs: regional transportation plan.

Assembly Member Elhawary’s proposal would recalibrate California’s housing and regional transportation planning by tying the distribution of regional housing needs more directly to the development pattern reflected in a region’s sustainable communities strategy, while moving the timing of regional determinations further in advance. The bill would require the department to determine each region’s existing and projected housing need at least three years before the scheduled revision for the housing element, with specific calendar-based adjustments for certain revisions; in all revisions, the allocation process would be informed by the region’s sustainable development pattern as articulated in the sustainable communities strategy of the regional transportation plan.

Key mechanisms center on how housing needs are calculated and allocated. The bill would allow formation of subregional entities consisting of two or more cities and a county (or other eligible configurations) to allocate a region’s housing need among its members, subject to approvals by the involved local governments and the council of governments. Shares allocated to delegate subregions would be determined to align with the subregion’s current share of the region’s adopted final housing need allocation plan, and a public hearing would precede any proposed revision. The department would determine a region’s housing need after consultation with the council of governments, reflecting a feasible balance between jobs and housing, and the council could file objections with specified grounds and timelines. Where population projections differ between the council of governments and the Department of Finance, the bill provides a process for discussion and, if necessary, reliance on the Finance projection.

The bill expands the range of data and factors that may inform the methodology for distributing housing needs. In addition to existing considerations of jobs-housing relationships and development opportunities, the bill requires attention to the development pattern in the region’s sustainable communities strategy, climate-related risks such as wildfire and sea-level rise, infrastructure constraints (including water and sewer capacity), and land available for urban development or infill. It also foregrounds housing needs data related to homelessness, cost burdens, overcrowding, and the housing needs generated by the presence of university campuses within a region, with specific forecasting and data-sharing requirements for UC and CSU enrollments in certain revisions. Public participation is emphasized, with methodology and underlying data to be shared publicly, and weighting of factors permitted to reflect the council’s adopted approach.

Taken together, the measures situate housing planning more explicitly within regional sustainability and climate considerations and codify a longer, more structured timeline for planning work, while clarifying processes for subregional allocation, data inputs, and stakeholder engagement. The legislation also contemplates operational interplay with related companion bills, creating conditions under which certain amendments would become operative only if those other measures are enacted. Acknowledging that the proposal would impose a state-mandated local program, the bill notes that reimbursement would be provided if deemed necessary by the state mandates process.