April 26, 2022
By Kyle Westra, Senior Analyst
On April 5th and 6th, Tara Matthews, Brandon Fender, and I had the opportunity to attend the Housing California Conference in person in Sacramento, California. It was an eye-opening experience to visit the space where our state’s legislation is created while simultaneously learning from some of the state’s biggest housing actors. We attended various sessions at the conference with topics ranging from providing equal access to housing opportunities to the use of solar power in affordable housing development. My favorite session was hearing the California Department of Housing and Community Development discuss how they will be more strictly enforcing their Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocations on cities who do not comply. I gained an important perspective from the Department of Finance’s side which will help when I engage with my clients on the topic.
Speaking of RHNA allocations, RSG was a sponsor and exhibitor at the conference and hosted a booth with a “guess the marbles in the jar” type game revolving around RHNA allocations. RHNA allocations from the State require local jurisdictions to adequately plan to meet housing needs for everyone in the community by setting goals for themselves. With the 7th cycle of RHNA allocations rapidly approaching, we had our conference attendees guess how many housing units the state needs to meet its goals, along with the state’s current progress towards those goals. Our marble game was an interactive way to help others visualize how far behind the state is in meeting its goals. This activity, and the conference as a whole, highlighted the fact that so much work still needs to be done to meet housing needs in California. RSG looks forward to partnering with our clients to do our best to provide those needs, one unit at a time.