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Sonoma County and its nine Cities have officially recognized the need for Affordable Housing but not all have fully endorsed the Regional Housing Needs Allocation or met earlier goals. Santa Rosa Response: Disagree, partially. The City has accepted and planned for its Regional Housing Needs Allocation and has sought to meet its goals for every cycle. The City has little control over the private housing market and recognizes that the extreme needs of housing construction for rebuilding efforts after the 2017 and 2020 fires have contributed to the lack of new housing constructed in recent years. The City has exercised all available tools and strategies to encourage housing developmenl and to streamline the entitlement process. This includes the adoption of a Housing Action Plan, multiple specific plans including the Downtown Station Area Specific Plan which offers extreme flexibility to the development community including the elimination of parking requirements and density, as well as reductions in impact fees. The City also committed $10 million to the Renewal Enterprise District which provides gap financing to housing developments. ln addition, the Housing Authority provides an annual average budget of $6 million to housing developments.

There is great variability in the planning and approval processes and procedures for developing Affordable Housing in the County and its Cities, thus complicating and slowing development. Santa Rosa Response: Disagree, in part. Santa Rosa acknowledges that there is variability between jurisdictions, but this is not a primary cause for slowing development. Santa Rosa's approval process for housing is streamlined and has aided affordable housing development. The complications of affordable housing generally stem instead from unpredictable financing, over which the City has little control.

Funding of Affordable Housing is often directed to specific groups such as seniors, veterans, or agricultural workers. Santa Rosa Response: Disagree. While some funding for affordable housing is directed to certain populations, many sources of funding are not overly prescriptive and are available to all applicants. The greatest challenge for financing affordable housing is the limited and competitive nature of the funds available.

Design review and project approval are often slow and very complex and hinder the development of Affordable Housing. Santa Ros Resoonse: Disagree. As noted, local jurisdictions, including Santa Rosa, streamline and prioritize affordable housing projects. The greatest challenge for financing affordable housing is the limited and competitive nature of the funds available. ln April 2018, the Santa Rosa City Council adopted an ordinance amending the Zoning Code to reduce the review authority for housing projects in order to streamline the development of new units. The ordinance provides an expedited Design Review process for new housing developments located within any of the City's Priority Development Areas, developments that would otherwise have required review by the Design Review Board, are now reviewed by the Zoning Administrator. As a result, processing times and entitlement permit costs were significantly reduced. Additionally, in some zoning districts, the ordinance further reduced the entitlement process for new housing, allowing housing to be constructed "by-right", rather than requiring a use permit.

Mitigation fees vary by individual projects and jurisdictions, complicating the building of Affordable Housing. Santa Rosa Resoonse: Disagree, in part. Mitigation fees do vary by individual projects, because infrastructure and potential environmental impacts can vary depending on the size and nature of the project. Moreover, providing consistent mitigation fees across agencies may not be feasible due to the varying circumstances in different regions in the County.

Payment of in-lieu fees to the housing jurisdiction results in fewer inclusionary affordable housing units and houses being built. Santa Rosa Resoonse: Disagree. Over the course of time, Santa Rosa has allocated over $32 million in in-lieu funding into affordable housing projects providing over 1 ,800 units.

Development of commercial projects such as hotels and big box stores is often favored over housing due to lesser demand on public services and increased sales or occupancy tax revenue. Santa Rosa Response: Disagree, in part. The City agrees that commercial projects have tax revenue benefits, however they are not developed in lieu of housing, or favored over housing. The General Plan land use dictates what type of 2022 Revised June Response to Grand Jury Response Form development can be built in which locations. The General Plan is written to ensure a balanced approach to development and is required by law to identify sufficient housing sites to meet the City's Regional Housing Needs Allocation. Furthermore, state law requires there is "no-net-loss" if housing sites are developed for other USCS. Fl7. Changes to city boundaries by annexation of land within their Spheres of lnfluence could allow the development of more Affordable Housing but is resisted due to the high costs of additional infrastructure. Santa Rosa Response: Disagree. Santa Rosa has successfully completed annexations in numerous areas of the City, with no resistance. lnfrastructure is a central part of the agreements associated with annexation but is not ahrays a barrier to annexation. The pre-zoning of annexation areas usually includes a mix of uses, which may or may not include affordable housing depending on the variable factors as discussed within this report.

lnclusive Affordable Housing must be equivalent to market rate units and be dispersed throughout a project making it harder to identify and stigmatize them. Santa Ros Resoonse: Disagree, in part. Santa Rosa requires affordable units to be distributed throughout a market rate project (Santa Rosa Zoning Code Section 21-02.1OO). Exceptions, however, are provided when issues related to financing reduce the opportunity for affordable developments to accomplish this type of distribution. @: R'|. By December 31,2022, Permit Sonoma and the nine Cities should begin to streamline their procedures, from preliminary review through the permitting process, related to the development of Affordable Housing. (F7, F10, FI1 ,

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