Special General Assembly Focused on Bay Area Regional Housing Needs Allocation

Speakers, men in suits on left, woman at podium with ABAG sign, man on right

Special General Assembly Focused on Bay Area Regional Housing Needs Allocation

The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG)’s Special General Assembly —Regional Housing Needs Allocation: The New Normal and Business Meeting — held Friday, February 7, 2020, kicked off with a dynamic panel discussion on Bay Area housing featuring state Sens. Scott Wiener and Jim Beall, and Assemblyman David Chiu, who discussed the hot-button topic. A question-and-answer period with local electeds and city and county staff followed. 

Housing in the Bay Area and throughout the state is a topic that has dominated headlines. The General Assembly brought more than 150 attendees together to hear information on the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process, while providing an opportunity for local governments to share their concerns about the process.

Funding Accepted

ABAG’s delegates also approved an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2019-20 Budget to accept $23.7 million in Regional Early Action Planning Grants Program (REAP) from the State. Technical assistance using REAP funding will be rolled out to assist local governments.

View the day's events on video:

View the afternoon powerpoint, addressing RHNA and Housing Element Sites Overview presentation (PDF).

Check out the day's photos.

Local Government Funding Workshop

New Funding Opportunity, LEAP Workshop

February 21, 2020, 1:30 p.m.

375 Beale Street, San Francisco

To help cities and counties, California Housing and Community Development (HCD) is also providing funding, incentives, and resources to local governments and regional entities. One of these funding incentives — the Local Early Action Planning Grants Program (LEAP) — is available to local governments. 

LEAP provides over-the-counter grants and  technical assistance to local governments for the preparation and adoption of planning documents, and process improvements that accelerate housing production and facilitate compliance to implement the sixth-cycle Regional Housing Needs Assessment.

Applications are due by July 1, 2020; however, HCD strongly encourages jurisdictions to submit their applications as soon as possible.