State law requires the City of Rocklin to submit an annual Housing Element Progress Report to the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and the State Office of Planning and Research (OPR). This report is due to the State each year by April 1st. The progress report (Exhibit A of the attached resolution) identifies how the City is meeting its share of the regional housing needs identified in the City’s 2021-2029 Housing Element. Also attached to the progress report is the FY 2020-2021 Housing Successor to Redevelopment Agency Annual Report, per reporting requirements of Senate Bill 341 (California Health and Safety Code Section 34176.1(f)).
Government Code Section 65400 requires preparation of an Annual Progress Report (APR) on the status of the Housing Element of the General Plan and its progress in its implementation. The attached report shows the number of building permits issued in the reporting period associated with calendar year 2021 for residential units which were affordable to various Lower, Moderate and Above Moderate Income categories as well as the implementation status of the housing programs contained in the 2021-2029 Housing Element.
As computed in excel tables provided by HCD, the City is transitioning from the 5th Cycle Housing Element APR which ended on May 14, 2021 to the first APR in the 6th cycle which is from May 15, 2021 to December 31, 2021. Although all the units permitted/issued in calendar year 2021 are listed in the document, HCD’s system automatically assigns each entry to the appropriate Housing Element cycle.
The following discussion provides a summary of the information contained within the APR specific to total housing units, affordability determinations, accessory dwelling units (ADU’s) and the different affordability levels of the City’s housing production.
Total Housing Units
- Housing activity continues to stay strong in calendar year 2021 with a total of 519 residential building permits issued during the reporting period. Although the state requests information on demolished units, only permits issued for new construction count toward the City’s production of housing and its progress toward meeting Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) requirements.
Building Permits Issued in the 6th cycle portion of Calendar Year 2021 consisted of:
- 519 total units (314 Single-Family units, 194 Multi-Family units and 11 Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU’s))
Affordability Determinations
- The affordability of each unit in this report was determined based upon marketing data, actual purchase prices associated with for sale products (when available), square footages of similar products when affordability was known for one and could not otherwise be obtained for other similar units, and phone interviews or other correspondence with land owners to determine rental rates for ADU’s.
ADU’s
- The owners of 5 of the accessory dwelling units that were constructed in the 2021 reporting period do not intend to rent the units out. The owners plan to have them occupied by family members, so staff assigned them to the Extremely Low Income category as occupants in those living units will not be paying any rent. Rental rates being charged for 2 other ADU’s were within Low Income thresholds. Rent could not be determined for the last 4 ADU’s, so they have been assigned to the Above Moderate category.
Moderate Income Units
- In the 2021 reporting period, building permits were issued for 10 for sale units within the Moderate Income category. All were within the Granite Bluff Subdivision (Phase 2).
Above Moderate Income Units
- Production of single-family homes in the Above Moderate category also remains strong with 314 building permits issued for units in that income category.
- The remainder of the permits issued in the Above Moderate category were multi-family units in the Sierra Gateway project. There were no project related conditions requiring affordability and rental rates have not yet been established; therefore, staff had to, by default, count them toward the Above Moderate category. Staff will continue to monitor rental pricing for this project when it becomes available. If actual rental rates fall within a different income category, we will provide that documentation to HCD and pursue a future correction to the 2021 APR, if applicable.
In summary, the City has made progress toward meeting our Regional Housing Need Allocations (RHNA) in the 2021 reporting period with units constructed in the Extremely Low, Low, Moderate and Above Moderate categories. It should be noted that even though some units have been constructed as Extremely Low, the state issued Excel tables within which staff must enter all data automatically identifies them as Very Low in Table B. The City continues to evaluate our inventory of available sites at densities providing the potential for lower income units to be constructed on an ongoing basis.
The report complies with the submission requirements of State law and is consistent with the guidelines set forth by the HCD, including a detailed assessment of Housing Program Accomplishments in Table D of Exhibit A and the 2020-2021 Housing Successor Agency Annual Report which is attached as Exhibit B to the resolution. All tables which have been left blank in Exhibit A are required to be included in the report, but without any data in instances where there was no activity to report during the reporting period or involve topics which do not apply to the City.