Prohousing Designation

Prohousing Designation Program

The City of Soledad is committed to “ensuring access to quality, safe, and diverse housing near schools, jobs, retail, and parks that is affordable to residents of all income levels” as highlighted in the recently adopted housing guiding principle. To achieve this principle, the City has developed an ambitious Housing Element, invested in affordable housing, and has applied for the Prohousing Designation Program through the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

The City of Soledad is currently applying for a Prohousing Designation. The City submitted its application on July 3, 2024, and is actively working with the state’s Housing and Community Development (HCD) department to achieve designation. Please scroll below to find the City’s application, dated July 5, 2024.

Program Overview

Increasing the availability of housing statewide is critical to bettering the quality of life of all Californians and to ending homelessness. The 2019-2020 Budget Act in California provided a spectrum of support, incentives, and accountability measures to meet California’s housing goals, and provided for the establishment of the state’s Prohousing Program.

Benefits to Applying

Receiving a Prohousing Designation documents a jurisdiction’s commitment to implementing local policies that remove obstacles to new housing and recognizes the work that has already been done by a jurisdiction to address California’s severe housing shortage and affordability crisis. Applicants seeking to build affordable housing projects in local governments that receive the Prohousing Designation can receive priority processing or funding points when applying for several funding programs, including Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC), Infill Infrastructure Grant (IIG), Transformative Climate Communities (TCC), and more.

Application Details

The Prohousing Designation application consists of 5 appendices:

Appendix 1: the formal resolution authorizing a jurisdiction to apply for a Prohousing Designation
Appendix 2: the jurisdiction’s proposed policy completion schedule
Appendix 3: the jurisdiction’s project proposal scoring sheet
Appendix 4: examples of enhancement factors
Appendix 5: supporting documentation

There are also threshold requirements that include having a certified Housing Element, engaging in a public participation process, complying with applicable state housing law related to the Permit Streamlining Act and CEQA, and more.

The core of the Prohousing Designation application is focused on Appendix 3, the jurisdiction’s project proposal scoring sheet. There are 4 categories in which jurisdictions receive points. The 4 categories include:

Favorable Zoning and Land Use
Acceleration of Housing Production Timeframes
Reduction of Construction and Development Costs
Providing Financial Subsidies

A minimum of 30 points must be reached to achieve a Prohousing Designation across the 4 categories. There are also enhancement factors, where each category can receive extra points if policies in the 4 categories align with state priorities, such as, but not limited to, mitigating climate change, promoting fair housing, and preventing displacement. Points are received for both enacted and proposed policies. Proposed policies must be implemented within 2 years of application submittal.

Public Process

At a posted City Council meeting on May 1, 2024, the City approved Resolution No. 6073 authorizing the submittal of the pro-housing designation. City staff refined the application and submitted to HCD for review. After submittal, the City was informed that the process now required a more extensive outreach and noticing process. Although the City has been conducted extensive outreach around the Housing Element and the documents are aligned, it is always a goal to be transparent and engage the community around policies and programs.

The draft Prohousing Designation Application is being made available for public comment until August 7, 2024. We will be presenting the application to the Planning Commission on July 10, 2024, and hold a public hearing at City Council on August 7, 2024.

In addition to these meetings, staff will continue to engage the public at various city events and proactively reach out to various stakeholders to discuss the application.

If you are interested in finding out more about the application or wish to make a public comment, please email Beatriz Trujillo, Housing Analyst at btrujillo@cityofsoledad.com or (831) 223-5056.