Planning commission recommends City Council approve code amendments to allow supportive and transitional housing and low‑barrier navigation centers

The Arroyo Grande Planning Commission on Sept. 2 voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council adopt development code amendments to implement the city’s housing element provisions for supportive housing, transitional housing and low‑barrier navigation centers.

Andrew Perez, the city’s planning manager, told commissioners the amendments implement programs J0.2-2 and J0.2-3 from the housing element (certified May 2021) and state legislation requiring changes in land‑use treatment. Perez said Assembly Bill 2162 (2018) requires cities to treat supportive and transitional housing as residential uses for permitting purposes, and Assembly Bill 101 (2019) established low‑barrier navigation centers as a use that must be allowed by right in residential and mixed‑use zones that permit multifamily housing.

Perez summarized key definitions and standards that the proposed code section would place in the municipal code. He said supportive housing is “housing for the target population with no limit of stay,” while transitional housing is a subset intended to be temporary — typically a…