The Goleta City Council unanimously adopted the city’s 2023-2031 Housing Element at its meeting this week.
As a result, the city will submit its housing element to the state for review in advance of the Feb. 15 statutory deadline.
The adopted housing element addresses comments received from the California Department of Housing and Community Development and provides zoned residential capacity that meets the city’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation for the 6th Housing Cycle (2023-2031).
Goleta’s Housing Element establishes policies and programs for maintaining and improving existing housing and plans for sufficient residential capacity to meet the city’s share of the regional housing need, both overall and by affordability level. That’s according to a news release from the city.
The adopted housing element plans for a total residential capacity of 2,614 housing units. Goleta’s mandated RHNA is 1,837 units.
Meeting the state’s housing mandate requires the city to identify adequate housing sites. The city is not required to build housing on these sites itself. Rather, the housing element planning process paves the way for private builders to develop housing projects on those sites.
According to the city, a major focus of the plan is on underutilized sites within the urban area. The plan relies on sites already zoned for residential uses, and none of the sites identified for potential housing is on land zoned for agriculture.
“A big thank you to city staff for crafting this updated plan and meeting the state’s mandate. I am hopeful that over time we can address local needs for increased availability and affordability of housing for residents,” Mayor Paula Perotte said in the news release.
For more information, see cityofgoleta.org/housingelement or email questions to housingelement@cityofgoleta.org.
email: kzehnder@newspress.com
