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Planning Commission recommends council adopt 2023–2031 Housing Element after HCD compliance review
Summary
On Jan. 6 the commission voted to recommend the City Council adopt California City's 2023–2031 Housing Element and to submit it to the California Department of Housing and Community Development for certification; staff said HCD issued conditional compliance and the element addresses RHNA and fair-housing analyses.
The California City Planning Commission on Jan. 6 voted to recommend that the City Council adopt the 2023–2031 Housing Element and submit the adopted document to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for certification.
City planner Anu Devari and PlaceWorks consultant Cynthia Walsh presented the element, describing it as the city’s required eight‑year housing policy document. Walsh summarized the HCD review history, saying staff began the formal review process months earlier and that the city had received a conditional compliance letter from HCD following iterative submittals. "So it is compliant the minute we adopt it, that the city council adopts it," Walsh said regarding the submittal and HCD compliance timeline.
Walsh walked commissioners through the element’s core components: a housing needs assessment, a sites inventory to accommodate the regional housing needs allocation (RHNA), a new assessment of fair‑housing issues, and programmatic actions for 2023–2031. Walsh said the city’s RHNA total cited in the presentation is 427 units for Kern County allocations and described how staff assessed vacant sites and capacity under current zoning to show the city’s ability to plan for that number. The presentation noted changes and clarifications made in response to HCD comments, expanded fair‑housing analyses, and a common‑sense CEQA exemption prepared for the element because it proposes no land‑use changes.
During public comment, residents raised questions about vacancy rates, map readability, the distribution of lower‑income sites, and whether the element addresses economic factors such as job access. Dwayne Vasquez urged clearer mapping and expressed concern that some visuals obscure the city’s demographic distribution; a resident in the chamber urged exploring reuse of dilapidated housing. Mayor Hawkins, participating by Zoom, praised staff work and pointed to city programs (a financial‑intelligence training and a Launchpad entrepreneurship program with Kern Community College District) that he said are already supporting household finances and local business development.
After discussion, commissioners moved to adopt Planning Commission resolution PC 2026‑HE‑01 recommending the City Council adopt and forward the housing element to HCD for certification. The motion carried on a unanimous roll‑call vote of commissioners present. Staff said the next step is council consideration and a 60‑day HCD certification review once the city transmits the adopted element.
The commission’s recommendation advances the city’s effort to meet state housing‑element requirements and to preserve eligibility for related state programs and approvals.
