Planning commission recommends City Council submit Claremont's 2025 Housing Element Annual Progress Report

The Claremont Planning Commission on March 17 recommended that the City Council submit the city's 2025 Housing Element Annual Progress Report (APR) to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

City planning staff presented the APR and told commissioners that Claremont's RHNA allocation for the 6th housing element cycle is 1,711 units, with the allocation broken down as 556 units in the extremely/very-low category, 310 low, 297 moderate and 548 above-moderate. City staff reported the city issued building permits for 319 dwelling units between 2021 and 2025 and described category-by-category shortfalls: 468 units short in the very-low category, 242 short in the low category, 273 short in the moderate category and 409 short in above-moderate units.

"It is my pleasure to present the 2025 Housing Element Annual Progress Report to you," city planner Catherine Lin said, noting the APR is required by Government Code section 65400 and must be submitted before April 1. Lin said AB 3093, effective Sept. 2024, created a new "acutely low" income category, and that many of the acutely low units reported in the APR are accessory dwelling units (ADUs). "We asked the applicant at the submittal stage, who is your intended tenant to occupy the ADU? And over half of them responded that it will be occupied by their own family member with no rent charge," Lin said.

Commissioners focused questions on compliance, data reporting and program effects. Commissioner Emert asked whether a tenant preference policy exists; Lin replied the city does not have such a policy. Commissioner Callaway asked whether the city is on track to meet RHNA; Lin said most California jurisdictions are not and described how RHNA counts and forgiveness for no net loss are applied at the end of an 8-year cycle.

Commissioner Rosenbluth questioned HCD's auto-populated APR tables and why the new acutely-low and extremely-low rows did not appear in some automated calculations; Lin said the HCD table templates do not always separate categories that were added recently and staff manually reconciled the APR entries.

Commissioner Davis noted the city experienced a period without a certified housing element last year and asked if the city remains at risk of enforcement actions. Lin said Claremont is currently in compliance but that HCD has a newly staffed enforcement division that can scrutinize jurisdictions and that enforcement risk depends on HCD priorities and complaints.

Several commissioners praised the staff's work and said recent ADU production and zoning changes have helped increase permitted housing. "We have produced momentum," one commissioner said, noting the city's permit totals rose substantially in recent years.

After discussion, Commissioner Williamson moved to recommend the APR's submittal to the City Council; Commissioner Rosenbluth seconded. On roll call the motion passed with six yes votes and one absence.

At the end of the meeting staff briefly summarized recent City Council actions of interest to the commission: the council approved an operating covenant and a transient-occupancy-tax sharing agreement for a proposed Residence Inn by Marriott (staff reported a sharing amount not to exceed $4,500,000 over the first 10 years), discussed authorizing polling for a possible local sales-and-use tax measure for November 2026, and accepted the final tract map for the La Porta former school site (about 55 single-family homes). Staff said the carousel code amendment and council priorities will return to the commission for review.

The commission will transmit its recommendation to the City Council; the APR must be submitted to HCD by April 1. The Planning Commission's next regular meeting is scheduled for April 7, 2026, at 7 p.m. in the Claremont Council Chamber, 225 West 2nd Street.