Planning commission unanimously recommends city council accept 2025 housing element progress report

The La Habra Heights Planning Commission on Feb. 24 voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council accept the 2025 housing element annual progress report and direct staff to file the document with the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

Rafferty, community development staff, walked commissioners through the state form, noting the packet’s presentation issues but explaining the underlying data: "In 2025, we had 9 new projects submitted — 3 new single‑family homes and 7 ADUs — and only one certificate of occupancy issued for an ADU," Rafferty said. He explained that many ADUs are counted as non‑deed‑restricted, low‑income units for RHNA accounting.

Commissioners questioned numeric fields and totals that did not print cleanly in the merged PDF. Fernandez pressed staff on the remaining obligation: Rafferty said the jurisdiction still needs to accommodate about 161 units in the current RHNA cycle (and that number can rise when prior unaccommodated obligations are included). "So it's a 161," Rafferty said; "we really need, like, 272 when we include past cycles." Commissioners acknowledged the report is a "living document" and said corrections can be made before final submission to HCD.

The commission moved, seconded and recorded a unanimous vote to forward the report. Several commissioners asked staff to correct spreadsheet errors and return a finalized version with the transmittal materials to council.

The commission did not change policy at the meeting; it recommended council acceptance and filing of the state required report. Staff will submit the corrected document to HCD after making the amendments the commission requested.