County Takes Steps to Seek Prohousing Designation
In HSCC’s 2022 Policy Platform, all jurisdictions in the county were encouraged to participate in the State of California’s Prohousing Designation Program. The County is the first jurisdiction to pursue participating in the program that provides incentives in the form of additional points or other preferences in scoring competitive applications for several funding programs, including affordable housing and sustainable communities.
On June 7, the Board of Supervisors adopted a formal resolution for the Prohousing Designation Program. Staff of the newly created Community Development and Infrastructure Department (CDID) will review the criteria for the Prohousing Designation and conduct an analysis of the County’s draft Sustainability Update to identify elements of the plan that could bridge the gaps to qualify for the program. CDIC staff believe that once the Sustainable Update Project is adopted, the county will be very close to meeting the Prohousing threshold criteria. If necessary, additional policies and programs could be included in the 2023 Housing Element (HE) update to ensure that all criteria for the Prohousing Designation are met. CDID staff will submit an application for a Prohousing Designation once the County has adopted sufficient policies and programs to qualify for approval.
In the next HE cycle, the County is expected to provide approximately 4,450 new housing units. With the Prohousing designation, the County will be better positioned to apply for state funds to meet its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) goals. Applying for the Prohousing Designation Program also provides the County with an opportunity to review and adopt housing policy best practices.
Within the past five years, many laws have been enacted to promote affordable housing development. In addition, the 2019-2020 Budget Act increased resources and instruments available to help local governments achieve their State-mandated housing goals, including the establishment of the Prohousing Designation Program.
HSCC hopes that other jurisdictions will follow the County’s lead and take steps to obtain the Prohousing Designation. Increasing the availability of housing is critical to bettering the quality of life for Santa Cruz County residents and ending homelessness. Instead of thinking that the RHNA numbers for the next HE cycle are unattainable, let’s reframe that thinking into we CAN do this! The people in our County who are unhoused or at-risk of becoming homeless NEED us to do this! With new laws and the State’s new programs to accelerate housing production, we can get those housing units built and achieve our regional housing goals. Let’s work towards the goal that by 2031 everyone in Santa Cruz County will have a safe, stable, place to call home!