Nearly three years after the state’s deadline, a Bay Area county and three cities across the region still haven’t finalized their state-mandated housing plans, leaving them vulnerable to fines, loss of grant funding and the dreaded “builder’s remedy,” which can cost them control over land use decisions.
San Mateo County and the cities of Half Moon Bay, Belvedere and Clayton have yet to secure state approval for their plans, which were due by Jan. 31, 2023.
Every eight years, local governments across California are required to submit the plans, known as housing elements, which serve as roadmaps for how cities and counties aim to permit a specific number of homes across a range of affordability levels.
Following decades of sluggish development and skyrocketing housing costs, state officials have significantly increased the homebuilding targets for most jurisdictions — and added new penalties for those failing to complete their plans on time.
In total, the Bay Area’s 110 local governments are responsible for adding 441,000 new homes between 2023 and 2031, up from 187,990 in the previous eight-year cycle. So far, the region is far behind schedule in meeting the ambitious new goal, in part because of high interest rates and other market forces.
Despite the threat of stricter penalties, housing advocates say the few remaining municipalities without completed housing elements appear to lack a sense of urgency in obtaining the state’s sign-off.
“They’re mostly small and wealthy jurisdictions that probably feel they don’t have any obligation and that they can hire enough lawyers to get out of whatever obligation the state imposes on them,” said Matt Regan, a housing policy expert with the Bay Area Council, a pro-business group.
Some local officials rejected the claim, saying they’ve worked closely with regulators to finalize the complex plans, which are typically hundreds of pages and outline a broad range of housing policies and practices.
“There hasn’t been any foot-dragging happening in the city of Half Moon Bay,” said Leslie Lacko, community development director with the city.
Earlier this month, the San Mateo County coastal city adopted a fifth draft of its plan to update policies on accessory dwelling units and other concerns from regulators. The city aims to submit the plan to the state officials this month.
Since phasing in the new housing element rules, the state has only pursued serious penalties against a handful of cities, primarily in Southern California, for failing to secure approval for their plans. In 2023, state officials sued Hunnigton Beach, which has openly flouted the housing element process, putting it at risk of potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in monthly fines.
The state’s Housing and Community Development department did not provide a response to questions about whether the state would seek to impose penalties against any Bay Area jurisdictions.
Still, Bay Area communities that were late submitting their housing plans have been subject to the builder’s remedy, a provision in state law that allows developers to push through massive housing projects that exceed local zoning limits. Local governments are only required to accept such projects during periods when the state determines their housing elements are out of compliance.
As of last year, cities and counties across the region had received at least 98 builder’s remedy proposals, totaling more than 13,000 units. Despite a flurry of headline-grabbing applications and the subsequent uproar from suburbanites that the builder’s remedy would “Manhattan-ize” their communities, it remains unclear how many projects have actually broken ground.
In Belvedere, however, one developer used the threat of a large builder’s remedy proposal to persuade local officials last year to approve a smaller, 40-unit duplex project along the affluent Marin County city’s waterfront.
Even so, Belvedere has yet to complete its housing element. In September, regulators sent the city a letter urging it to complete a required rezoning process to allow for more housing, a key aspect of its plan. The letter also reminded the city about potential fines and penalties for noncompliance, including ineligibility for certain state housing and transportation grants.
Belvedere officials did not respond to a request for comment.
On the Peninsula, San Mateo County received a similar letter from the accountability unit in September. County officials said they are working as “expeditiously as possible” to finish their required rezoning process by the middle of next year, attributing the delay to “difficulties of navigating the many new housing laws” passed in recent years. They said the county had not received a builder’s remedy application.
In Half Moon Bay, officials said the slow progress is necessary to ensure the city’s housing plan complies with regulations outlined by the state’s Coastal Commission. The commission aims to protect coastal habitats and maintain public access to the shoreline, but critics have long blamed it for stalling new housing. Officials said the city has not received a builder’s remedy proposal.
City officials in Clayton, a small suburban enclave near Concord, did not respond to a request for comment on the delay in obtaining approval of its plan.