Eureka officials weigh formal appeal after HCOG’s RHNA methodology increases low‑income share
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
City staff told council HCOG’s adopted RHNA method would assign Eureka a larger share of below‑moderate units; council members signaled support for filing a formal appeal while staff will continue work on the city’s housing element.
City staff recommended that the council consider filing a formal appeal to HCOG over the regional housing needs allocation (RHNA) methodology adopted Dec. 18, arguing the process and weighting could perpetuate concentrations of lower‑income housing in Eureka.
Kenyon, the department services director, said the state set the regional need at 5,962 net new housing units for the seventh RHNA cycle and HCOG first allocated jurisdictions by a jobs/population formula before adjusting the distribution among income categories. HCOG’s adopted adjustment — weighting 30% to opportunity score and 70% to workplace vehicle‑miles‑traveled (VMT) — produces a net increase in below‑moderate units assigned to Eureka compared with the earlier draft methodology staff favored.
“Because our opportunity score is relatively low and our VMT score is low, this adopted methodology results in more below‑moderate units being assigned to Eureka,” Kenyon told the council, noting staff already submitted a comment letter to the Department of Housing and Community Development expressing concerns.
Council members debated tradeoffs: some argued an appeal could delay the regional schedule and simply shift obligations to another jurisdiction, while others said the methodology sets precedent and that the principle of equitable distribution warranted a formal appeal. Council member Bauer said he favored a formal appeal; Council member Castellano urged broader state‑level reform and said she would not want the city’s own RHNA work to be delayed.
No formal roll‑call vote to file an appeal was recorded in the meeting minutes; several council members expressed support for pursuing a formal appeal while directing staff to continue local housing‑element preparations.
What happens next
Staff will continue preparing the housing element work plan and consultant scope while coordinating with HCOG and HCD. If the council formally directs a filed appeal in a subsequent meeting, the appeal would trigger a 45‑day process that might push HCOG’s final adoption later by several weeks to months.