Governor Gavin Newsom announced today that the City of El Cerrito has been designated a “Prohousing Community” and is now eligible for funding incentives and additional resources through the state grant programs to speed the production of housing.
El Cerrito joined Sacramento County and Placer County as additional communities to receive the designation. To date, there are now 10 California Communities with designation of Prohousing.
The governors office called the designation important because it is vital for local governments to cut red tape and implement policies that increase needed housing in California. Accountability measures and incentives like the Prohousing Designation are critical to help meet the goal of 2.5 million new homes over the next eight years, with at least one million serving the needs of lower-income Californians.
Communities that earn the Prohousing Designation receive incentives such as additional points or other preferences in the scoring of competitive funding programs administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), giving them an advantage over other jurisdictions.
“The Prohousing Designation is the result of communities stepping up and being proactive when it comes to their commitment to build more housing, faster in California,” said Governor Newsom. “Under my Administration, the old practices of stalling and denying developments by local governments will not be tolerated. Jurisdictions can either be part of the solution or be held accountable. I commend this latest group added to our Prohousing Designation and look forward to seeing more communities throughout the state join us in this effort.”
According to the release, the City of El Cerrito is promoting innovative housing types, notably the multi-phase Mayfair Project, which received local housing trust funds and utilizes modular housing technology to reduce cost and building times. In addition, El Cerrito implemented a post-entitlement process to further accelerate and streamline housing development. As another example, the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan prioritizes mixed-use housing in conjunction with transit-oriented development and implements form-based zoning with program-level environmental review. Lastly, a variety of housing types are approved ministerially, such as multifamily residential land uses and projects complying with objective design standards, thus significantly reducing review times and providing increased approval certainty to project developers.
“El Cerrito has worked very hard to bring new housing to our community over many years through our San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan and its recent amendment, supporting streamlining and flexibility to support all types of housing development, but especially more affordable housing,” said El Cerrito Mayor Lisa Motoyama. “We know that is what keeps our city vibrant. We are so excited to achieve the ProHousing designation so that we can be an example to other small cities of what can be done when we are good partners with HCD. Kudos to our city staff for making it happen!”
Prohousing jurisdictions are also eligible for community development resources through the new Prohousing Incentive Pilot (PIP) Program. The competitive program has $25.7 million in additional flexible funding available to help accelerate housing production and expand the preservation of affordable housing.
To earn the Prohousing Designation, cities and counties must demonstrate they are promoting climate-smart housing by enacting Prohousing policies, including but not limited to streamlining multifamily housing development, up-zoning in places near jobs and transit to reduce emissions, and creating more affordable homes in places that historically or currently exclude households earning lower incomes and households of color.
For more information on HCD’s Prohousing Designation and Prohousing Incentive Pilot Programs, please visit www.hcd.ca.gov.
