Prohousing Designation Program

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Increasing the availability of housing statewide is critical to bettering the quality of life of all Californians and to ending homelessness. The 2019-2020 Budget Act in California provided a spectrum of support, incentives, and accountability measures to meet California’s housing goals, and provided for the establishment of the state's Prohousing Designation Program.

The City of Walnut Creek has earned a Prohousing Designation! On August 1, 2024, HCD announced that the City was awarded the designation.

Benefits to Applying

Receiving a Prohousing Designation documents a jurisdiction’s commitment to implementing local policies that remove obstacles to new housing and recognizes the work that has already been done by a jurisdiction to address California’s severe housing shortage and affordability crisis. Applicants seeking to build affordable housing projects in local governments that receive the Prohousing Designation can receive priority processing or funding points when applying for several funding programs, including Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC), Infill Infrastructure Grant (IIG), Transformative Climate Communities (TCC), and more.

Application Details

The Prohousing Designation application consists of 5 appendices:

Appendix 1: the formal resolution authorizing a jurisdiction to apply for a Prohousing Designation
Appendix 2: the jurisdiction’s proposed policy completion schedule
Appendix 3: the jurisdiction’s project proposal scoring sheet
Appendix 4: examples of enhancement factors
Appendix 5: supporting documentation

There are also threshold requirements that include having a certified Housing Element, engaging in a public participation process, complying with applicable state housing law related to the Permit Streamlining Act and CEQA, and more.

The core of the Prohousing Designation application is focused on Appendix 3, the jurisdiction’s project proposal scoring sheet. There are 4 categories in which jurisdictions receive points. The 4 categories include:

Favorable Zoning and Land Use
Acceleration of Housing Production Timeframes
Reduction of Construction and Development Costs
Providing Financial Subsidies

A minimum of 30 points must be reached to achieve a Prohousing Designation across the 4 categories. There are also enhancement factors, where each category can receive extra points if policies in the 4 categories align with state priorities, such as, but not limited to, mitigating climate change, promoting fair housing, and preventing displacement. Points are received for both enacted and proposed policies. Proposed policies must be implemented within 2 years of application submittal.

Application Process

The City submitted its Prohousing Designation application to HCD on March 6, 2024.

A publicly noticed meeting was held by the City Council Housing and Community Development Subcommittee (“City HCD Subcommittee”) on February 14, 2024. The draft ProHousing Designation Application and related supporting documents were published on February 9, 2024, in advance of the meeting on the City’s website for public review. The draft documents were also sent to the City HCD Subcommittee listserv on Friday, February 9, 2024. The listserv has over 1,900 subscribers, and contains a mixture of stakeholders (general public, developers, etc.). The City received two public comments and provided responses.

Next, the "final" version of the draft Prohousing Designation Application was published for public review in advance of it being heard by City Council on March 5, 2024. The documents were posted on March 1, 2024, and were also sent to the City's large subscriber list. No public comments were received. At the City Council meeting, Council gave authorization to City staff to submit the application to the state.

From March 6, 2024 to May 3, 2024, the City was frequently collaborating with the state's Housing and Community Development (HCD) department to achieve designation. Check out the City's final Prohousing Designation Application:

On August 1, 2024, HCD announced that the City was awarded the Prohousing Designation and given an award letter.