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Dana Point City Hall. Photo: File
Dana Point City Hall. Photo: File
The annual housing element progress report for cities all over California, showing their efforts and progress toward the housing goals set in previous years, is preparing to be sent out by April 1. Like in previous years, housing is still in short supply for Dana Point, as efforts are made to change that.
Two years into the progress of working toward the share of regional housing needs, the Dana Point City Council met on Tuesday, March 19, to discuss the 2023 progress report before submitting it by the deadline.
In 2022, the City Council adopted the City’s General Plan Housing Element for 2021-2029. Each year, a report is due to be sent to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to show the progress toward the set goals.
“This year, the 2023 APR will be the third report of the 2021-2029 housing element,” said Natalie Tran, the assistant planner for community development. “It was reviewed by the Planning Commission on February 26 and is brought forth today for City Council to receive and file. The city's progress is in the sixth cycle RHNA by income category, and for this cycle, the city was allocated a total of 530 units.”
The RHNA, or Regional Housing Needs Assessment, allocates a “fair share” of different types of housing into four different income categories. Of the 530 units allocated to Dana Point, 231 must be designated as very-low- and low-income housing, 101 must be moderate-income, and 198 must be above-moderate-income.
Though cities must show in their Housing Element that they can accommodate projected housing demands over the eight-year planning period, they are never required to build any units. However, through the Housing Element, cities must include programs that facilitate development.
In 2023, the City of Dana Point finalized 23 of its previously issued building permits. Only five of those are being classified as accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to meet the standards for low-to moderate-income housing, which has been the majority of what has been built.
Twenty-eight total building permits, the only permits counted toward RHNA, were also issued last year. Only six counted toward low-income to moderate-income housing as, again, ADUs.
According to the report, Dana Point and other Orange County cities are in a marketplace that naturally meets the demand for housing in the above-moderate-income levels. Construction of any substantive number of units in the very-low and low-income household categories requires innovative applications and partnerships of city, county, state, and nonprofit groups to meet these housing allocations.
During last year's meeting for the 2022 progress report, the city mentioned minor updates to the zoning ordinances in compliance with state housing laws related to emergency shelter parking, manufactured homes, residential care facilities (six or fewer persons), supportive housing, and low-barrier navigation centers. A fully digital system has now been implemented to streamline the permitting process and, hopefully, get developments moving faster.
“These efforts really do aim to remove local constraints to housing development, assist in the development of low-income and moderate-income units, and promote fair housing opportunities,” Tran said
Another item mentioned during last year's meeting was the commitment to working with the Orange County Council of Governments (OCCOG). The goal of the relationship was to develop model ordinances, including a Density Bonus Ordinance to encourage future development projects to include affordable housing.
The city anticipates adopting the model ordinance provided by OCCOG this year and currently has one preliminary application for a density bonus under SB 330.
The Orange County Housing Authority and Dana Point also have a relationship built from this program. In coordination with the Orange County United Way’s WelcomeHomeOC program, 22 Orange County Housing Authority (OCHA) tenants utilized their Housing Choice vouchers in Dana Point in 2023.
Additionally noted in the progress report, the Housing Initiatives Program, operated by Mary Erickson Community Housing in collaboration with the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach, provided rental assistance to 38 Dana Point hotel employees, exceeding the goal of 20 employees annually.
The city also mentioned in the report that it continues to fund a full-time Community Outreach Worker to assist the city’s homeless population and connect individuals with its housing resources assistance program.
Along with that program, the city continues to work with Age Well Senior Services to provide seniors in Dana Point with free home assessments. In 2023, 51 seniors received Case Management services, and eight received in-home and telephone assessments from Age Well.
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