Oakland staff present 2025 housing-element APR showing 14% RHNA progress, requests more moderate-income data

City planning and housing staff presented the 2025 Housing Element Annual Progress Report (APR) to the Zoning Update Committee, reporting that Oakland has permitted roughly 14% of its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) for the current sixth cycle and that affordable housing accounted for the bulk of permitting activity in 2025.

"The APR is required by California law," said Bibi Lagarda, Planner II in the Planning & Building Department, noting the report was submitted on March 30 and that it follows California Government Code reporting requirements. Lagarda told the committee the APR tracks units proposed, entitled, permitted and completed and that, in 2025, the city recorded 1,007 proposed units, 1,944 entitled units, approximately 712 permits issued and roughly 1,391 units completed.

Lagarda said Oakland has been relatively successful permitting very low- and low-income units while production of moderate-income and market-rate units has lagged. "Over the first three years of this housing element cycle, only 14% of Oakland's total RHNA has been met," she said, adding that entitled affordable units are typically a strong predictor of future permitted units when funding is available.

Faye Darmawi, Deputy Director of Housing in the Housing and Community Development Department, described 2026 priorities and financing strategies, saying Measure U funds are being used to advance new construction, acquisition-and-conversion projects and rapid-response homeless housing. "We are investing Measure U in shovel-ready projects and ensuring projects are positioned to apply for tax credits and bonds in 2026 and 2027," Darmawi said.

The staff presentation included affordability and AMI context: Lagarda explained the six affordability categories used in APR reporting and noted that, for 2025 in the Alameda County metropolitan area, area median income (AMI) for a four-person household was cited in staff materials. The APR also reported ADU activity for 2025 (entitled 244 ADUs, permitted 192, completed 183) and explained that since 2023 the city has applied a 30/30/30/10 distribution across AMI bands for ADU reporting because ADUs are not deed-restricted.

Commissioners pressed staff for additional data and context. Commissioner Rank complimented staff on the report but asked whether the city has a healthy development pipeline and whether state streamlining tools such as AB 130 (and related CEQA pathways) are being widely used. Lagarda said entitlements and applications this year were slightly lower than previous years but remain higher than permitted unit counts and offered to follow up on CEQA exemption usage.

Committee members and staff also discussed the SMAP/streamlining pathways available for jurisdictions that did not meet certain RHNA thresholds. Staff explained eligibility differences (market-rate pathways versus lower-income pathways) and said many developers choose a menu of approaches; staff noted that few 50%-affordable projects use the SMAP path and that many fully affordable projects use other streamlined processes.

On fees, staff explained the Mitigation Fee Act five-year evaluation process for impact fees — what has been collected, spent and remaining — and said the five-year impact-fee report will be published in December and go to council in the first quarter of 2027.

Several commissioners requested more granular analysis on moderate-income deed-restricted units, including rent and vacancy data, and asked staff to include that material in the planning commission packet. "We will be bringing a review of moderate-income deed-restricted units and market-rate units in the full planning commission report," Lagarda said.

The committee did not take formal action at the study session. Staff said they will present the APR to the full Planning Commission and supply the requested additional analyses at upcoming hearings; the meeting was adjourned at 4:23 p.m.