Meeting (8/22) Set to Discuss Housing Needs in Irvine & Region
Irvine residents are encouraged to attend a public hearing this Thursday, August 22 at Irvine City Hall from 1-3 pm, to give public or written comments to SCAG — a consortium of leaders from six counties — addressing how housing supply issues in the region both existing and future can be met. Comments can be provided at the public hearing or sent to [email protected] by Sept. 3rd. For more information about SCAG and the public hearing http://scag.ca.gov/NewsAndMedia/Pages/Newsroom.aspx?nid=289
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is the nation’s largest metropolitan planning organization and has responsibility for establishing the allocation methodology for determining local housing needs for all income levels as part of the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) process. Councilmember Mike Carroll was appointed by the City Council to serve as the City’s delegate on SCAG.
RHNA Allocation Important?
State housing law requires that every City and County plan for all types of housing based on the needs identified through RHNA. The RHNA allocation will reflect both the regional housing needs associated with new growth projections and existing need factors. The housing element in the Irvine General Plan adopts the RHNA housing allocation number to guide housing development for the next 8 year planning period (2021-29). Simply put – RHNA is the City’s blueprint for housing development goals and growth. Jurisdictions are encouraged to meet their RHNA housing goals.
Next Step
The meeting on Thursday is a very good opportunity to learn about the confusing methodology used for distributing the housing numbers. Local input is important to help balance special interest activists who may influence the process and drive the allocation number higher. Over the past two RHNA cycles, Irvine received 43% and 32% of the County’s allocation. Is Irvine receiving a fair allocation of the regional number? After the SCAG public hearings there will be a draft RHNA allocation with final adoption targeted for the end of 2020.
1 Comments
Susan Sayre
August 23, 2019 at 6:37 amThe RHNA number is out for the 6 county region. Our region has been assigned 1,344,740 affordable housing units. SCAG has to decide the methodology for assigning RHNA numbers to the various cities within the region. I believe that each city should have input into formulating the methodology. Each city has different characteristics and conditions that need to be addressed.
I am asking that the City of Irvine respond by asking for public input by Irvine residents at community meetings which should be held as soon as possible.
I believe that Irvine has several important issues. Most of people who live in Irvine work outside of Irvine and most people working in Irvine do not live in Irvine due to the lack of affordable housing. Most people drive too and from work and thus our streets and local freeways are congested. We do not have adequate public transportation to support the transportation needs of commuters. We also have horrific parking deficits on Irvine streets and in our shopping centers. These issues must be addressed if we are going to be building many thousands of affordable housing units.
We also must make sure that we will be able to protect the provisions of our general plan that protect our village characters and which ensure that affordable housing units are distributed evenly throughout all Irvine villages and within the various apartment communities.
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