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Garden Grove Housing Element 6th Cycle Update

The City's Housing Element was certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) on December 12, 2023, confirming the City's compliance with the State's Housing Element Law (Article 10.6 of the Government Code). The Housing Element is a chapter of the City’s General Plan, which identifies programs and policies that facilitate the production of housing. Every eight years, the State tasks the Southern California region with planning for the development of a prescribed number of housing units at all income levels in a process known as RHNA.

The City’s Certified 6th Cycle (2021-2029) Housing Element and HCD's certification letter can be viewed below.

Through this webpage, you will find educational material related to the Housing Element, answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and other resources.

Certified 2021-2029 Housing Element
HCD's Certification Letter

Housing Element

Since 1969, California has required that all local governments adequately plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community. California’s local governments meet this requirement by adopting housing plans as part of their general plan, which is also required by the state. General plans serve as the local government’s blueprint for how the city and/or county will grow and develop and includes seven elements: land use, transportation, conservation, noise, open space, safety, and housing. The law mandating that housing be included as an element of each jurisdiction’s general plan is known as the Housing-Element Law.

California’s Housing-Element Law acknowledges that, in order for the private market to adequately address the housing needs and demands of Californians, local governments must adopt plans and regulatory systems that provide opportunities for housing development. As a result, housing policy in California rests largely upon the effective implementation of local general plans and in particular, local housing elements. For additional information and resources about the Housing Element, visit California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) at hcd.ca.gov.

RHNA

The Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) is mandated by State Housing Law as part of the periodic process of updating local housing elements of the general plan. The RHNA quantifies the need for housing within each jurisdiction during specified planning periods. The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), an association of local governments and agencies that voluntarily convene as a forum to address regional issues, is in the process of developing the 6th Cycle RHNA Allocation Plan which will cover the planning period October 2021 through October 2029. For additional information and resources about RHNA, visit SCAG at scag.ca.gov/rhna.

The City, through multiple letters of protest, had voiced concern to SCAG, the SCAG Regional Council, and HCD regarding the RHNA methodology and Garden Grove’s RHNA allocation. Linked below are copies of the City of Garden Grove protest letters submitted to SCAG:

Garden Grove’s draft RHNA allocation for the 2021-2029 planning period is 19,122 units, which is broken down by income group as shown in the table below. SCAG is in the process of holding meetings and workshops to discuss the draft allocation and plans to adopt the final allocation in October 2020. To read more about the RHNA allocation methodology and process, visit SCAG’s RHNA & Housing webpage.

RHNA Website

RHNA Appeal

Pursuant to State Law, any local jurisdiction within the SCAG region may file an appeal to modify its allocated share or another jurisdiction’s share of the regional housing need included as part of SCAG’s Draft Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) Allocation Plan. The period for local jurisdictions to file appeals with SCAG began on September 11, 2020.

The City of Garden Grove officially filed two (2) appeal applications to SCAG.

City of Garden Grove Appeal of the RHNA Allocation of 19,122 Units Letter
Appeal of the City of Santa Ana’s RHNA Allocation of 3,087 Units Letter

Following the end of the appeals filing period, SCAG notified all jurisdictions within the region and HCD of all appeals and made all materials submitted in regards to each appeal available on its website. Local jurisdictions and HCD were permitted to comment on the appeals within the 45 day comment period. Comments related to the appeal filings by the City of Garden Grove are linked below:

Orange County Mayors Comment Letter dated September 18, 2020
HCD Comment Letter Regarding All RHNA Appeals Filed dated December 10, 2020
Public Law Center Comment Letter on the City of Garden Grove’s Appeal dated December 10, 2020
City of Santa Ana Comment Letter In Response to the Appeals of Santa Ana’s RHNA Allocation dated December 10, 2020

For a full list of all RHNA comment letters received and posted by SCAG please visit, SCAG’s RHNA Comment Letters page.

SCAG’s Regional Council delegated the responsibility of considering appeals regarding draft allocations to the RHNA Subcommittee, also referred to as the RHNA Appeals Board. The agenda and hearing materials were posted on the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) website. All hearings were held via teleconference in accordance with the RHNA Appeals Procedures.

SCAG posted a RHNA Appeals Hearing Notice and Schedule on its website, which is linked below. The hearings applicable to the (2) appeal filings by the City of Garden Grove were denied.

Additional information may be found on SCAG’s website: www.scag.ca.gov/rhna.

RHNA Website

RHNA Resources

All resources linked below provided by SCAG.

Income Group

% of Median Household Income

Income Range (4-person household)

5th Cycle RHNA Allocation (Housing Units)

6th Cycle RHNA Allocation (Housing Units)

Very-Low Income

<50% of AMI

$0 - $44,880

164

4,166

Low Income

50-80% of AMI

$44,881 - $71,807

120

2,801

Moderate Income

81-120% of AMI

$71,808 - $107,711

135

3,211

Above-Moderate Income

120% of AMI

$107,712+

328

8,990

Total

747

19,168

Recent Housing Legislation

The 2019 California Legislative Session ended with over 30 new bills in response to the state’s worsening housing crisis. Several of these bills are designed to increase housing production by easing development regulations, compelling jurisdictions to make fee and land information readily available to potential developers, and impose new ongoing reporting and inventory requirements for local jurisdictions. The following table displays the bills discussed in the update and includes links to the corresponding bill text:

Category Bill Title
Bills Removing Barriers to Boost Housing Production SB 330 – Housing Crisis Act of 2019 and Changes to Permit Streamlining Act & Housing Accountability Act
AB 1763 – Density Bonuses for Affordable Housing
AB 1743 – Eligibility of Property Welfare Exemptions
AB 116 – Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts
Surplus Land Databases and Reporting Requirements AB 1486 / SB 6 / AB 1255 – Expansion of Surplus Land Act and Reporting
AB 1483 – Housing Data Collection and Reporting
Requirements for Accessory Dwelling Units AB 68 / AB 881 / SB 13 – Modifications to Increase Accessory Dwelling Unit Development
AB 587 – Sale of Accessory Dwelling Units
AB 670 – Construction of Accessory Dwelling Units in Common Interest Developments
AB 671 – Affordable Accessory Dwelling Unit Program Creation
Established "Uses by Right" AB 101 – Housing and Homelessness Budget and Regulations
SB 234 – Keeping Kids Closer to Home Act
Related Housing Element Laws from 2017 Housing Package SB 166 – "No Net Loss" Law
HCD Website

Visit HCD Website

Additional resources can be found on the California Department of Housing and Community Development website.

Why update the housing element?

California State law requires that the City of Garden Grove update the Housing Element every eight years. These frequent updates are required because housing is critical to ensure economic prosperity and quality of life in our region. The revised Housing Element must be adopted by the Garden Grove City Council, or the City of Garden Grove could lose eligibility for significant sources of funding currently provided by the State.


What is included in a Housing Element?

The components of the Housing Element are largely dictated by the State. The following chapters must be included:

  • A detailed analysis of the City’s demographic, economic and housing characteristics.
  • A comprehensive analysis of constraints to producing and preserving housing.
  • A review of the City’s progress in implementing current housing policies and programs.
  • An identification of goals, objectives, and policies, in addition to a full list of programs that will implement the vision of the plan.
  • A list of sites that could accommodate new housing, demonstrating the City’s ability to meet our Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA).

Because the Housing Element is updated frequently, the previous element provides a foundation for this update. This update gives us the opportunity to evaluate the previous element and determine which parts have been effective and which should be improved.

What is RHNA?

RHNA stands for “Regional Housing Needs Assessment.” Every eight years, the State of California provides the number of housing units that should be accommodated in the Southern California region. The Southern California Regional Association of Governments (SCAG) takes that larger number and devises a methodology to allocate the units among the SCAG region. As a part of the Housing Element, Garden Grove must demonstrate to the State that there is available capacity for the units allocated to the City. This year, the regional allocation, and therefore our Garden Grove City allocation, was significantly larger than it has been in past years. This large allocation was a result of the State responding to the housing crisis by considering both “projected need” (i.e., units we need to accommodate new residents) and “existing need” (i.e., units we need to alleviate challenges like overcrowding and homelessness). The allocation also takes affordability into account by identifying the percentage of units that are needed at each income level (very low, low, moderate, and above moderate).

The final RHNA allocation as released by SCAG is 19,168 units. Of this total allocation, approximately 36% should be available to very-low and low income units, 17% to moderate income, and 47% to market rate.

Visit the SCAG website for more information on RHNA and the RHNA allocation process.

Does RHNA require us to build housing?

Through the RHNA process, we must show that the City has the regulatory and land use policies to accommodate housing needs, but the actual development of housing is largely conducted by the private market. The Housing Element is required to demonstrate potential sites where housing can be accommodated. Identification of a site’s capacity does not guarantee that construction will occur on that site. If there are insufficient sites and capacity to meet the RHNA allocation, then the Housing Element is required to identify a rezoning program to create the required capacity. It is important to note that if we fall significantly behind on our RHNA targets, the City of Garden Grove could be deemed out of compliance and risk losing important sources of funding currently provided by the State.

What is the relationship to other Elements of the General Plan?

The Housing Element must remain consistent with the other elements of the General Plan. The City of Garden Grove has created an Environmental Justice Element, as well as updated it’s Safety Element and Land Use Element (including adoption of necessary amendments to the Zoning Map/Code).

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Focused General Plan Update and Zoning Amendments - EIR Scoping Meeting

Presented on Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Environmental Justice Virtual Community Forum

Presented on Wednesday, April 21, 2021