Planning commission acknowledges 2025 Housing Element progress report and readies submittal to state

Planning staff presented Half Moon Bay’s 2025 Housing Element and General Plan annual progress report on March 10, describing the city’s progress toward its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) and the steps for transmittal to City Council and to state offices.

Scott Phillips told the commission the housing element cycle runs 2023–2031 and that the city’s housing element was certified last month. He reviewed data used to count progress toward RHNA — building permits issued for new residential units — and noted that ADU affordability categories now include “acutely low” and “extremely low,” which per current HCD guidance count toward very-low-income totals. “We issued 11 building permits in 2025 for ADUs,” Phillips said, and highlighted Creekside and a nearby fourplex as major contributors to this year’s counts.

Commissioners pressed staff on the consequences of failing to meet RHNA targets. Phillips said the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) could find the city out of compliance; that could open the possibility of builders’ remedy in some contexts, though staff stated the city’s position that builders’ remedy does not apply in the coastal zone. Commissioners asked staff to prepare a clearer forecast of ‘probable projects’—projects already in the pipeline and likely to receive entitlements—before the report goes to council so the mayor and council have context on the likelihood of meeting RHNA goals.

The commission moved and approved acknowledgement of receipt of the progress report and directed staff to forward it to City Council on March 17 for submission to HCD and the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation by April 1.