Albany staff report 215 building permits and 314 of 1,114 RENA units to date

Leslie Menddees, planning manager for the City of Albany, told the Planning Commission that the city's 2026 Annual Progress Report (APR) shows 215 building permits issued this year and 89 certificates of occupancy completed, results she described as "a banner year." The APR is an informational report the city must submit to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) by April 1.

Menddees said Albany's regional housing needs allocation (RENA) for the 20232031 planning period is 1,114 units and that the city has reached 314 units to date, leaving roughly 800 units remaining. "We did issue 215 building permits," she said, noting a large number came from a 207-unit mixed-use project at the Albany Bowl site and that some deed-restricted units associated with that project will count toward the city's targets.

Why it matters: the APR documents whether a jurisdiction is making progress toward its RENA targets and reports implementation of programs in the adopted housing element, including zoning amendments, tenant-protection work and rehabilitation programs. Commissioners pressed staff on how newly defined income tiers (extremely low and acutely low) will be tracked in future cycles and on crediting units that fall into newly defined categories.

Staff noted several program-level and policy-level actions taken in the past year: zoning amendments and single-family zoning reforms, updates to allow residential care facilities and navigation shelters, adoption of an administrative citation ordinance to strengthen code enforcement, and participation in a county housing rehabilitation program that offers up to $3,000 for minor repairs and up to $5,000 for aging-in-place retrofits (combinable, for eligible homeowners, up to $8,000). Menddees said the city committed to roughly 57 programs in the housing element and is tracking progress in Table D of the APR.

Commissioners asked whether the RENA allocation will be revised this cycle to account for the new income categories; staff said the allocations will not be revised for the current cycle but that Albany will begin tracking the new categories now and expect allocations for them in future cycles. Commissioners also raised whether student housing on UC property and development on district-owned land could be counted toward Albany's RENA; staff said jurisdictions statewide are working with HCD on accounting but that progress has been limited.

Policy and legal constraints came up in discussion. Staff advised that changing Measure K (a voter-approved density limit on a private hillside parcel) and related general-plan provisions is complex: while zoning changes tied to a housing element may be exempt from SQA, related general-plan amendments may still require SQA/EIR work. Menddees told commissioners that an environmental review for a zoning or general-plan amendment can be resource-intensive; staff gave a low-end estimate of roughly $250,000 for such an EIR. "It depends. An EIR can run easily a half a million dollars. Generally 250 or on the lower end," the presentation said.

Chair Pearson thanked staff for producing and presenting the APR to the commission before the City Council hearing. Menddees said staff will present the APR to the City Council on Monday and then submit the report to HCD; she said staff would also consider resubmitting a modified APR to claim additional extremely low-income unit credit from prior years if warranted.

Next steps: the APR goes to City Council for placement on the consent calendar; after council action staff will submit the APR to HCD and watch for HCD's posting and feedback.