California State law requires that the City of Hayward 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 Hayward City Council no later than January 2023, or the City of Hayward could lose eligibility for significant sources of funding currently provided by the State.

The Hayward 2040 General Plan, adopted in 2014, identified policies and programs needed to achieve the City’s 2020 greenhouse gas emission target. The updated Climate Action Plan will focus on how the City will achieve its 2030 greenhouse gas emission target and put the City on a path to carbon neutrality by 2045.

Safety elements are now required to be updated at the same time as Housing Elements.

State law requires that when communities update two or more elements of the General Plan, an Environmental Justice Element must be prepared if there are disadvantaged communities present in the community. Disadvantaged communities are neighborhoods with low-income households that are exposed to pollution (e.g., freeways, landfills).

The Housing Element is a housing plan that identifies policies and programs the City will implement to meet housing demand.

Housing Element components 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.
  • 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 the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA).

Because the Housing Element is updated frequently, the City of Hayward’s existing element provides a foundation for this update. This update gives the City an opportunity to evaluate the previous element and determine which parts have been effective and which should be improved. Read the 2015-2023 Housing Element for more information on existing policies and programs.

For more information, please view the Housing Element page!

The City is required to facilitate the production of housing that is affordable to households across various income levels. These income categories are defined by the state and are based on varying percentages of the Area Median Income (AMI), in which earning 30% of AMI is considered extremely low income, 50% of AMI is considered very low income. 80% of AMI is considered low income and between 80-120% is considered moderate income. For each income category, housing is considered “affordable” if occupants pay no more than 30% of their income on housing costs.

The chart below shows 2020 income limits and affordable rents for a family of four in Alameda County as set by the State. Extremely Low is income up to 30% of the Alameda County median income.

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 San Francisco Bay Area. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) takes that larger number and devises a methodology to allocate the units among the ABAG region. As part of the Housing Element, Hayward must demonstrate to the State that there is available capacity for the units allocated to the city.

This year the regional allocation, and therefore the Hayward allocation, was significantly larger than it has been in past years. This larger allocation was a result of the State responding to the housing crisis by considering “existing need” (i.e., units we need to alleviated challenges, like overcrowding and homelessness) and “projected need” (i.e., units we need to accommodate new residents). The allocation also takes affordability into account by identifying the percentage of units that are needed at each income level, including very low, low, moderate, and above moderate incomes.

The RHNA allocation for Hayward, as released by ABAG in May 2021 is 4,624 units.

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

Housing construction will be solely reliant on the private market. Through the RHNA process, the City must establish the regulatory framework and implement policies and programs to allow for and even incentivize a certain amount of housing construction should private developers and homeowners seek to build new housing in the city. As part of the Housing Element update, properties that can accommodate future residential development will be identified in the housing sites inventory for purposes of meeting the RHNA. However, identification of a properties’ capacity to accommodate new housing 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 sites that need to be rezoned to allow for more residential units to increase housing capacity.

The City is in the early stages of the Housing Element, but initial analysis shows some zoning changes may be needed. The City is not required to build housing as part of the Housing Element, but rather, show capacity for the private sector to build required housing units. The City’s role in meeting the RHNA is to ensure that enough land is zoned to accommodate the units identified in the RHNA. The City accounts for housing potential on vacant and underutilized land that is currently zoned residential or residential mixed-use before changing zoning or densities in Hayward.

State law gives the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) the authority to review local Housing Elements and issue findings regarding the elements’ compliance with the law. When HCD issues a letter stating that the Housing Element is “in compliance” it is referred to as “certification” of the Housing Element. Certification is important for several reasons:

• • Local control. The General Plan and its various elements provide the foundation for the City’s planning programs and land use regulations. If the City were challenged in court regarding the validity of the General Plan or zoning regulations, and the General Plan were found to be invalid, a court could assume control over local land use decisions. HCD certification establishes a “rebuttable presumption of validity” that the Housing Element is adequate under state law, which would support the City’s legal defense.
  • More frequent Housing Element updates. When a city does not adopt its Housing Element within the established time frame, subsequent updates must be completed on a four-year schedule rather than an eight-year schedule. A four-year update requirement would create an administrative and cost burden.
  • Grant funds. Some state grant funds are contingent upon Housing Element certification or give a higher priority to those jurisdictions with a certified Housing Element.
  • Enforcement and Litigation Exposure. Per State law, cities are required to adopt a compliant Housing Element, and failure to do so could result in the State pursing enforcement action against a non-compliant city.

Please sign up to be notified of the next meeting or opportunity for online input. The success of this update requires extensive community input and engagement. There will be multiple opportunities to participate throughout the update, both in-person and online.