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Palm Desert staff say city is making progress on state RHNA targets but key gaps remain
Summary
City staff told the City Council that Palm Desert has issued permits on many above‑moderate units and is behind on moderate- and low-income permit targets; staff offered to provide a current inventory of existing affordable units and highlighted city-owned opportunities to meet allocations.
Palm Desert — City staff told the City Council on Oct. 23 that the city is making measurable progress toward its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) targets for the 2022–2029 cycle, but that significant work remains to meet lower‑income requirements.
Carlos Suarez, deputy director of development services, opened the session with an overview of the RHNA cycle and said Palm Desert was allocated 2,790 units for the current cycle. Senior Planner Seehee Fernandez gave permit and entitlement figures, saying, “As of 2025, we've issued building permits for a 144 very low, 15 low, and a 187 above moderate,” and reported progress rates of about 85% for very low, 48% for low and 13% for moderate categories, while the above‑moderate requirement has already been satisfied.
The update also summarized entitlement activity: Fernandez listed four projects in active entitlement review — The Shores, Portola Springs, Affirmed Housing and Catabina — which together represent roughly 1,440 potential residential units. Staff emphasized that RHNA reporting counts newly issued building permits within the cycle rather than the city’s existing inventory of affordable properties; existing public and privately owned affordable developments are documented separately in the housing element.
Councilmembers asked for more context about the city’s current affordable‑housing inventory and how Palm Desert compares with neighboring jurisdictions. Staff said they do not have a consolidated tally at the table but offered to provide the total number of existing affordable units to the council. On median income context, staff provided Riverside County figures used for eligibility calculations, citing a single‑household median of $72,750 and a two‑person household value of $83,103.
Staff framed next steps as a combination of continuing private entitlements and making use of city‑controlled parcels to help meet allocations. Suarez highlighted the University Neighborhood Specific Plan site (discussed separately in the meeting), and told councilmembers that new land‑management software will improve the city’s ability to report permit and affordability data.
No motions or votes were taken during the study session. Councilmembers requested that staff circulate a current, written tally of existing affordable units and follow up with comparative RHNA information for nearby cities before future RHNA milestones.
