Riverside staff present 2025 General Plan progress report; public urges more affordable housing
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Summary
City planning staff presented the 2025 General Plan progress report with housing figures for 2025 and targets through 2029; residents and a nonprofit director urged the council to account for all units and prioritize affordable housing and support for students experiencing homelessness.
City planning staff presented the Riverside 2025 General Plan annual progress report, detailing housing production and implementation steps and prompting public calls for clearer accounting of affordable units and for more support for students experiencing homelessness.
In the presentation staff described implementation activities and annual benchmarks. The report cited examples for 2025 including 564 total units, 22 lower-income units (noted in the slide deck), 542 moderate-income units (combined or summed across categories), 543 proposed units (297 of them multifamily) and 575 units in construction. Staff also reported that the city has issued 3,000 building permits toward a target of 14,845 permits by year-end 2029.
A member of the public, Becky Waldi, questioned whether certain units (for example, university-linked conversions) were counted in the report and asked why the city had declined state funding that could have supported affordable units. “They mention that there are 18 affordable units proposed — I want to know if the university conversions were included,” Waldi said, pressing staff for clarity about which years various units were tallied.
Clarke Jefferson, executive director of Family Partners in Riverside, urged the council to keep homeless students in view during housing planning. Jefferson said local school districts identified roughly 5,000 students experiencing homelessness or unstable housing during the last school year and asked the council to account for service needs in land-use and housing decisions. “We have about 5,000 students in the city who are in housing instability,” Jefferson said.
Why it matters: The annual progress report informs the city’s housing strategy, required reporting to state agencies and local decisions about zoning, funding priorities and program delivery; members of the public told the council more affordable, service-integrated housing is needed.
What’s next: Staff recommended the council receive and file the report and continue implementing General Plan programs; public speakers requested follow-up information clarifying unit accounting and whether state funding opportunities were fully pursued.
