Alameda County seeks MTC planning grants, readies housing ordinances to meet new transit-oriented rules

County planning and housing staff briefed the Alameda County Board of SupervisorsTransportation & Planning Committee on Nov. 4 on an application to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission(MTC) Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC) planning and implementation grants intended to help local governments meet new TOC policy requirements starting in 2026. Michelle (county housing/planning staff) said the county could be eligible for "up to $2,000,000 in a combined of 4 grants, 1 per policy topic area."

The TOC program asks jurisdictions to adopt or demonstrate policies in four areas: affordable housing production/preservation/protection and commercial stabilization; parking management; station access and circulation; and zoning density/intensity near major transit stations. "So in order to continue to receive those funds, we do need to meet the TOC requirements," Michelle said. Staff identified Castro Valley BART and Bay Fair BART as station areas within the unincorporated county that would need policy work.

Planning lead Liz McElligott, of the county planning department, told supervisors the countys draft housing element includes a program to develop an inclusionary zoning ordinance but that details such as percentage set-asides and whether to allow in-lieu fees have not been finalized: "It's not written yet, so I can't tell you the details of what will be included." She said staff will look to other jurisdictions for best practices as they draft the ordinance.

On preservation, staff noted the county already funds capacity-building for the Eden Area Land Trust as one preservation policy that counts toward TOC requirements; staff described the trust as a new organization that the county has helped with technical assistance and an attempted acquisition that did not close. On tenant protections, staff said the county is considering a standalone anti-harassment ordinance (moved out of a broader just-cause draft) as a likely way to meet one of the protection-policy options.

Staff cautioned elected officials that several MTC policy options would require ongoing county spending. Michelle gave rough annual funding estimates to meet certain policy options: roughly $4 million per year if the county used direct subsidies to meet production goals, $1.2 million per year for preservation. For protection-related programs such as tenant legal assistance or foreclosure assistance, staff estimated minimum annual commitments in the low hundreds of thousands ("about $300,000" to qualify certain options) and noted that fair-housing programs could require roughly $450,000 per year. "Those dollars are not in our budget," she said.

Supervisors pressed staff about whether existing county awards (HAP funds, ARPA resources) could be redirected to satisfy the TOC protection requirement. Michelle and other staff said much of the recently awarded HAP funding supports previously authorized county programs and cannot be treated as a net new, unencumbered source without reallocations; staff also said countywide rental-assistance programs are administered through coordinated entry and cannot easily be earmarked solely for unincorporated residents without explicit set-asides.

Supervisor Meili asked staff to return with concrete options and a timeline for funding rental assistance and other measures so the county can meet MTC requirements on a schedule staff described as "shooting for the end of 2025" to be safe ahead of the 2026 program year. Staff confirmed they will seek funding and prepare ordinance drafts for future committee and board review.

Next steps: staff said they will finalize scopes for grant applications and draft ordinances (including inclusionary zoning and an anti-harassment tenant ordinance) and return to the committee with options for how to fund the ongoing programs MTC requires. The committee did not take action at the Nov. 4 briefing; staff will bring detailed drafts and budget options back to supervisors.