Regional Housing Technical Assistance
RHTA Program Delivers Innovative Technical Assistance
The Regional Housing Technical Assistance (RHTA) Program provides one-of-a-kind technical assistance to support local governments in complying with rapidly evolving laws and adopting and implementing compliant Housing Elements.
The program, funded by a $24 million state Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), launched in 2020 and has delivered 20 trainings and more than 150 pieces of technical assistance, and has saved each jurisdiction more than $30,000 by providing shared consultant services, tools and resources. Additionally, sub-grants to each jurisdiction provided $10.88 million in support of local housing planning priorities.
The program’s components work together to provide holistic support for the region’s 101 cities and towns and nine counties; and their elected officials and planning staff as jurisdictions update their housing plans. Work products are being shared statewide through a recently established Technical Assistance Portal.
Technical assistance is being delivered through:
- Interactive trainings
- County-based planning collaboratives that share consultant support
- Suballocations of REAP funding to all jurisdictions in the nine-county Bay Area
- Work Groups and Peer Cohorts for in-depth, targeted technical assistance.
- Data tools, products and resources tailored to assist in meeting state requirements.
New Products
View our newest products and services available to jurisdictions in the Bay Area:
- Let's Talk About Housing: Communications Guide for Local Government
- Best Practices for Equitable Engagement Primer
- Customized communications and meeting facilitation support
- Learning from Southern California and Sacramento: Analysis of HCD comment letters and lessons for Bay Area jurisdictions as they prepare their 6th cycle Housing Elements.
- Template housing survey
Upcoming Events
Mall and Office Reuse Challenges and Opportunities |
Aug. 24 @ 10 am |
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Terner Center and ABAG Present: Best Practices to Implement SB 9 and Missing Middle Housing in the Bay Area |
Sept. 13 @ 10 am |
Details to come. |
How to Rectify HCD Comments for Certification |
Sept. 27 @ 10 am |
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Staff Contact
Heather Peters
Email: hpeters@bayareametro.gov
Get More Information
Sign-up for the RHTA mailing list to get additional program information.
Get Trained
ABAG has completed more than 20 training webinars to equip local planners with knowledge, tools and resources to update housing elements to meet the new state requirements. More webinars are planned. You can view recordings of past sessions and register for new ones on the RHTA Training page.
Get Tools and Resources
Visit the Data Tools & HESS page to find the HESS tool and other regional data tools to help you increase housing opportunities in your community.
Get Tailored Assistance
Recognizing that a top-down approach to the historically local issue of housing will be counterproductive, ABAG granted nearly $5 million in RHTA funding to Bay Area counties to support Planning Collaboratives, Peer Cohorts and Work Groups to spark a culture of innovation via peer-to-peer learning, sharing of best practices and lessons learned. More information can be found on the Planning Collaboratives and Work Groups web pages.
Work Groups & Collaboratives
- County Planning Collaboratives meet regularly. To get more information, contact the coordinators.
- Leading With Equity Work Group launched in early 2022.
- Making Middle Housing Work Group completed its work in early 2022. View this webpage for details and presentation resources.
- Wildfires – How to Preserve & Protect Housing Work Group completed its work in late 2021. All presentation resources and additional information are available on this webpage.
