ESCONDIDO — The City Council has agreed to send a letter to the state opposing a bill authored by two local state legislators to create new income categories in the Regional Housing Needs Allocation process.
If passed as written, Assembly Bill 3093, currently being considered by the state Assembly, establishes the additional income categories of “acutely low” and “extremely low income” under state housing element law.
The bill is authored by Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego), co-authored by Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas) and sponsored by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Every eight years, the state Department of Housing and Community Development assesses the housing stock situation throughout California to determine the number of new homes needed based on predicted population growth, job availability and infrastructure capacity through the RHNA process. State and county governments are then assigned a minimum number of new homes to build.
San Diego County must build 171,685 homes by 2029, and Escondido must take on 9,607 or 5.6% of that total. Broken down by household income, the city must build 1,864 very low, 1,249 low, 1,527 moderate and 4,967 above moderate units.
According to the bill, “acutely low” is defined as households making between 0 and 15% of the area median income and extremely low as those earning below 30%. Under RHNA, “very low” is defined as those earning below 50%, “low” as those earning between 50 and 80%, “moderate” as earning between 80 and 120%, and “above moderate” as earning more than 130% of the area median income.
According to the city’s letter, the proposed bill would require Escondido and other cities to account for the housing needs of people experiencing homelessness without funding to develop the plan or support for the construction of affordable housing.
“This will place an undue financial burden on the city of Escondido,” the letter states.
The letter goes on to point out that the city already addresses the needs of people earning between 0 and 50% of the area median income.
“The City of Escondido is concerned that this will only lead to duplicating planning efforts since existing housing element law already requires cities to analyze the special housing needs of homeless residents and assist in developing adequate housing to meet the needs of extremely low-income households,” the letter continues.
State housing element law also requires cities to identify sites and encourage the development of supportive housing and transitional housing.
According to the city, AB 3093 would require specific site inventory for the two new categories without providing “critical information” about how the sites differ from housing already planned for the “very-low” income category.
“Without amendments to clarify these concerns, cities will be set up to fail, leading to even more housing elements being deemed out of compliance,” the letter reads.
An update from city staff earlier in May showed that the city has only built approximately 11.3% of its state-mandated new housing units, and the rest will take five more years to complete.
Additionally, without additional funds to support new housing under the new categories, the city believes the bill “fails to expand or develop local governments’ capacity to address immediate homelessness challenges across California.”
Deputy Mayor Christian Garcia brought forward the letter to the City Council on July 17, which received unanimous approval to oppose the new bill.
Garcia sits on the League of California Cities, a bipartisan group that opposes the bill and has suggested that cities write and send letters of opposition to the state.
According to the group, the law “would add additional, duplicative requirements for local governments when they plan for housing for vulnerable Californians at a time when cities could lose out on critical state affordable housing and homelessness funding.”
“It’s redundant, it’s added bureaucracy, it doesn’t help bring more housing and it doesn’t fund more affordable housing,” said Councilmember Consuelo Martinez.
Martinez said she agrees with the letter’s wording to oppose the new bill “unless amended.”
Councilmember Mike Morasco said the League of California Cities doesn’t usually come out strongly opposed to state bills like this.
“We are wise to get on board with this resolution,” Morasco said.
