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Esco Housing Element Deficient

In an August 2 letter sent by the Ca Housing and Community Development Dept (HCD) to Escondido found the revised draft Housing Element also deficient and the element still in non-compliance. Here are some excerpts (emphasis added)
…The revised draft element addresses many statutory requirements; however, the following revisions will be necessary to comply with State Housing Element Law …

…While the element included revisions, it still should be revised with significant programs to enhance housing mobility and include quantifiable metrics or numerical objectives to target beneficial impacts for people, households, and  neighborhoods (e.g., number of people or households assisted, number of housing units built, number of parks or infrastructure projects completed)...  

… As the year has passed and Program 1.1 (Sites Inventory and No Net Loss…) and Program 1.3 (Byright Approvals on Reuse Sites…) has not been completed, the housing element is out of compliance and will remain out of compliance until the rezoning have been completed. 

Public participation in the development, adoption and implementation of the housing element is essential to effective housing planning. Throughout the housing element process, the City should continue to engage the community, including organizations that represent lower-income and special needs households, by making information regularly available and considering and incorporating comments where appropriate. 

The letter goes on to say that Escondido will not be eligible for significant grant funding options due to non-compliance Housing Element… Several federal, state, and regional funding programs consider housing element compliance as an eligibility or ranking criteria. For example, the CalTrans Senate Bill (SB) 1 Sustainable Communities grant; the Strategic Growth Council and HCD’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities programs; and HCD’s Permanent Local Housing Allocation consider housing element compliance and/or annual reporting requirements pursuant to Government Code section 65400

Escondido Community Housing Coalition will continue to follow this issue and fight for affordable housing programs and projects and the green infrastructure to support those residents that our city desperately needs.  

Letter  at this link   https://www.escondido.org/Data/Sites/1/media/Planning/HCIS/SdiEscondidoDraftOut080222.pdf 
and  https://escohousingcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/HCD_to_Esco_HousingElement080222.pdf 

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