Housing Element Draft Chapter 4

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4.0 Site Inventory and Opportunities

4.1 Introduction
4.2 Regional Housing Needs Allocation
4.3 Site Inventory
4.4 Summary and Conclusions

In the column to the right, you’ll find navigation to links for viewing, downloading and leaving comments.

The following are ways to engage:

  • Table of Contents and links to all chapters.
  • Download the pdf of this Chapter to read offline or print.



4.0 Site Inventory and Opportunities

4.1 Introduction
4.2 Regional Housing Needs Allocation
4.3 Site Inventory
4.4 Summary and Conclusions

  • 4.1 Introduction

    CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

    The Plan Bay Area 2050 Final Blueprint forecasts that the nine-county within the Bay Area will add 1.4 million new households between 2015 and 2050. For the eight-year time frame covered by this Housing Element Update, the HCD has identified the region’s housing need as 441,176 units. As introduced in previous chapters, the total number of housing units assigned by HCD is separated into four income categories that cover housing types for all income levels, from very low-income households to market rate housing. This calculation, known as the RHNA is based on population projections produced by the California Department of Finance as well as adjustments that incorporate the region’s existing housing need. The adjustments result from recent legislation requiring HCD to apply additional adjustment factors to the baseline growth projection from California Department of Finance, in order for the regions to get closer to healthy housing markets. To this end, adjustments focus on the region’s vacancy rate, level of overcrowding and the share of cost burdened households, and seek to bring the region more in line with comparable ones. These new laws governing the methodology for how HCD calculates the RHNA resulted in a significantly higher number of housing units for which the Bay Area must plan compared to previous cycles.

  • 4.2 Regional Housing Needs Allocation

    CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

    In January 2021, ABAG adopted a Draft RHNA Methodology, which is currently being reviewed by HCD. For Belvedere, the proposed RHNA to be planned for this cycle is 160 units, a slated increase from the last cycle.


    RHNA Summary

    Belvedere’s share of the regional housing need for the seven-year period from 2023 to 2031 is 160 units, which is a 1,000 percent increase over the 16 units required by the 2015 to 2023 RHNA. The housing need is divided into the five income categories of housing affordability. Table 4-1, Belvedere’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation – 2023–2031, shows Belvedere’s RHNA for the planning period 2023 through 2031.

    Progress to Date

    The RHNA planning period for the 2023-2031 Housing Element (6th Cycle) is June 30, 2022 through December 31, 2030. The statutory adoption date for the 6th Cycle Housing Element is January 1, 2023—a full six months after the beginning of the planning period. To account for this discrepancy, the City of Belvedere achieves credit for the number of housing units permitted in this six-month period prior to adoption of the 6th Cycle Housing Element and this number of units will apply towards meeting the 2023-2031 RHNA. The units permitted between June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2022 count towards the 2023-2031 planning period RHNA and are subtracted from the 6th Cycle RHNA. Table 4-2, Belvedere’s Adjusted RHNA, shows the City of Belvedere’s adjusted RHNA, which accounts for progress made prior to the adoption of the updated Housing Element document.

  • 4.3 Site Inventory

    CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

    The purpose of the sites inventory is to identify and analyze specific sites that are available and suitable for residential development from 2023-2031 in order to accommodate Belvedere’s assigned 160 housing units. The City doesn’t build the housing but facilitates the programs and policies to plan for where it should go and how many units could be on potential sites.

    Table 4-3, Vacant/Partially Vacant and Available Sites, provides details and capacity estimates for the 2023-2031 planning period.


  • 4.4 Summary and Conclusions

    CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

    The vacant, partially vacant, and underutilized sites identified in this report are sufficient to accommodate approximately 140 percent of the Belvedere’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation for the 6th-Cycle planning period. This “cushion” is highly recommended because of the state’s no-net-loss policy, which precludes jurisdictions from approving development that results in an overall housing site deficit. It essentially provides a degree of flexibility for policy makers as they make development decisions. Many of the sites identified in this report have existing uses that would need to be demolished before new housing could be constructed.

    For communities like Belvedere that are largely built out and surrounded on all sides by other communities and the Bay, redevelopment and densification is the only practical solution to providing a fair share of housing for the San Francisco Bay Area. By its nature, such redevelopment is more costly and more time consuming than building new units on vacant land. To offset these constraints, City Officials have coordinated closely with Hirsh-Bedner Associates (HBA) and Brookdale Living Communities LP (BLC-LP), both of whom have expressed interest in remodeling existing multi-family housing to add additional units alongside existing units. These properties alone represent over 80 percent (130 units) of Belvedere’s RHNA (160 units). As these properties are almost entirely multi-family housing, they represent Belvedere’s best opportunity to provide affordable housing in an otherwise high-end housing market.

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