Regional Housing Needs Allocation

Cycle 6 Regional Housing Needs Plan

On September 22, 2022, the SJCOG Board of Directors approved the draft Regional Housing Needs Plan for 2023-2031.

Draft Regional Housing Needs Plan Public Hearing and Adoption

At its September 22, 2022 meeting, the SJCOG Board of Directors will conduct a public hearing and consider adoption of the Draft Regional Housing Needs Plan. The board meeting will begin at 4pm. Members of the public have the right to observe and offer public comments in real-time during the meeting. The public may participate via Zoom or attend the meeting in person at 555 E. Weber Ave., Stockton.

Final RHNA Methodology

At its June 23, 2022 meeting, the Final Regional Housing Needs Allocation Methodology was approved by the SJCOG Board.

Draft Methodology

On March 23, 2022, SJCOG submitted the draft RHNA Methodology to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for a required 60-day review. After this 60-day review period, HCD completed its review of the methodology and notified SJCOG staff that the methodology satisfies state requirements.

Proposed RHNA Methodology

The comment period window for the Proposed RHNA Methodology was from February 2, 2022 through March 4, 2022. It is closed now. 

The Board considered public comments during a Public Hearing on the Proposed RHNA Methodology at their meeting on Feb. 24, 4 pm. Members of the public participated in the meeting via Zoom and had the right to observe and offer public comments in real-time during the meeting.

For information on public comments received, please see Attachment 1.

Stakeholder Workshops

As part of SJCOG's Community, Diversity and Displacement Study, SJCOG hosted a Regional Housing Symposium on Feb. 22-23, 2022, 11:30 am to 1:00 pm.

For more information on this event and the study, please visit the Community, Diversity, and Displacement Study webpage.

SJCOG hosted the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) Cycle 6 virtual workshop for San Joaquin County housing stakeholders on Jan. 12, 2022, 1:00-2:30 pm.

SJCOG’s team discussed the RHNA process and how total housing needs are divided among San Joaquin County and the cities in it. Stakeholders were able to recommend solutions to meet the region’s housing needs and how to stay involved. 

RHNA Cycle 6 workshop material:

RHNA Background

California state law recognizes that local governments play a vital role in developing affordable housing. In 1969, the state-mandated that all California cities, towns and counties must plan for the housing needs of our residents—regardless of income.

This state mandate is called the Housing Element and Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA. As part of RHNA, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, or HCD, determines the total number of new homes San Joaquin County needs to build—and how affordable those homes need to be—in order to meet the housing needs of people at all income levels. SJCOG, working with the Ad Hoc RHNA Committee, then distributes a share of the region’s housing needs to each city, town and county in the region. Each local government must then update the Housing Element of its general plan to show the locations where housing can be built and the policies and strategies necessary to meet the community’s housing needs.

Visit the HCD website and get the full RHNA details. 

View the 2014 Regional Housing Needs Plan. 

SJCOG’s RHNA Responsibilities

SJCOG conducts the RHNA process every eight years as required by state law. The last completed cycle is from 2014 to 2023. The schedule of key milestones provides more details on how SJCOG is conducting the RHNA process from 2023 to 2031.

SJCOG’s primary RHNA responsibility is developing the methodology to allocate a portion of housing needs to each city, town, and county in the region. The RHNA is required to meet the five statutory objectives summarized below:

  1. Increase housing supply and mix of housing types, with the goal of improving housing affordability and equity in all cities and counties within the region.
  2. Promote infill development and socioeconomic equity; protect environmental and agricultural resources; encourage efficient development patterns; and achieve greenhouse gas reduction targets.
  3. Improve intra-regional jobs-to-housing relationship, including the balance between low-wage jobs and affordable housing units for low-wage workers in each jurisdiction.
  4. Balance disproportionate household income distributions (more high-income allocation to lower-income areas, and vice-versa)
  5. Affirmatively further fair housing

RHNA must also be consistent with the growth pattern from the region’s long-term land use and transportation plan otherwise known as 2022 Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy.