Escondido planners review 2025 Housing Element progress; staff reports 24% of RHNA met

Escondido planning staff on March 24 presented the city’s 2025 Housing Element Annual Progress Report, saying issued building permits to date represent 24% of the city’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) of 9,607 units and outlining next steps including state and regional submittals.

Priscilla Arvoldon, a long‑range planner in Development Services, told the Planning Commission the report is informational and that staff’s request was that the commission “receive and file this presentation.” She listed the five‑year permit counts in the planning cycle—249, 231, 608, 408 and 379 building permits respectively—totaling 1,875 permits that count toward the RHNA goal. Arvoldon also said the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has approximately 400 additional credited units tracked separately.

The report breaks progress down by income tiers: staff reported 28% of the above‑moderate goal, 4% of moderate, 17% of low, and 10% of very low income goals achieved to date. Arvoldon said only issued building permits are eligible to be counted toward RHNA compliance under state reporting rules.

Staff highlighted several projects that contributed to this progress. Entitled projects noted in 2025 include the Iscon Density Bonus subdivision—expected to subdivide into 10 lots with eight market‑rate and two low‑income single‑family units—the city’s first package of pre‑approved accessory dwelling unit (ADU) plans intended to streamline permitting, and an Assembly Bill 2011 conversion project proposing 136 units (including 55 extremely low, 21 very low, 58 low and 2 market‑rate units). Staff also said previously entitled subdivisions such as Amanda Estates, Sonora Hills and the Northeast Gateway project resurfaced into the building permit issuance stage, contributing to the mix of housing types in 2025.

Several completed projects were cited as having passed final inspection, including Palomar Heights (now Marlo Apartments), the Dixon Trail subdivision and roughly 87 single‑family units across various subdivisions. Staff reported that multi‑family developments comprised the majority of entitled units in 2025 and that multi‑family projects also represented the largest share of permits completing final inspection this year.

On program delivery, staff said the city launched a pre‑approved ADU program in 2025, Housing and Neighborhood Services completed a $4.5 million request for proposals for affordable housing, and updates to the consolidated park plan proceeded under Housing and Neighborhood Services’ lead.

Commissioners asked about the timing and staffing for the next Housing Element update cycle. One commissioner asked whether the next cycle would begin in 2027, 2028 or 2029; Arvoldon said regional and state agencies begin work as early as 2027 and that the city likely will engage outside subject‑matter experts to support a future update given the increasing legislative complexity.

The staff report notes next procedural steps: the APR will be submitted to HCD, the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) by April 1, and staff will present the APR to City Council on April 8. The commission took no formal action at the meeting.

The commission’s calendar items that followed included an unnamed city planner’s preview of upcoming work over the next three to six months—chiefly an ADU ordinance update, the El Cabrillo Park Master Plan adoption and environmental review, and a pipeline of private subdivisions and larger residential projects that will require forthcoming Planning Commission review.