Updated Malibu Housing Element Is Almost Ready for State Review Process

• Affordable Housing Provision Remains Issue

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council was informed this week it is once again time for Malibu’s General Plan Housing Element to be updated and the completed document reviewed for state certification.

The state requires that the city’s housing element be updated and certified every eight years. The exercise always seems academic to many people in Malibu until the issue of affordable housing rears its head.

Council members were told Monday night that based on the current numbers of various agencies, the city must accommodate 115 very low housing units, 73 low, 79 moderate and 174 above moderate income households through June 30, 2014.

John Douglas, the consultant hired by the city to assist in the preparation of the updated housing element, told council members the city does not have to build out that housing but must show it has created specific zoning designations to accommodate such numbers.

The updated element must be certified by the state’s Housing Community Development agency. HCD reviews the update, makes comments and determines if it is consistent with state laws and accommodates the targeted number of units which total 441.

If the update fails to meet HCD’s requirements, the city may revise the update to incorporate HCD’s changes.

“However, if the Housing Element is adopted without HCD’s changes, or if the plan fails to be updated at all, the city would be regarded as noncompliant,” wrote the city’s planning manager Joyce Parker-Bozylinski.

Failure to adopt a HCD compliant Housing Element could result in the loss of eligibility of some funds, an increase in exposure to legal challenge and the potential loss of local control of the planning and development process, according to current state law.

The status of Malibu’s Housing Element revealed that the element was adopted as part of the city’s General Plan in 1995, has been amended twice and has not been certified by HCD or comprehensively updated since its adoption.

“The objective of the Housing Element update is to obtain certification from HCD. Obtaining certification by the HCD is important because a certified Housing Element is presumed to be legally valid and in substantial conformance with state laws,” added Parker, in her staff report.

Douglas explained state law requires cities to demonstrate that their land use plans and regulations could accommodate the type and amount of housing identified in the agency numbers, but there is no penalty for not achieving the allocations.