Data Tools & HESS
ABAG launched its Regional Housing Technical Assistance program to aid local jurisdictions in adopting and implementing compliant Housing Elements, ensuring that Bay Area jurisdictions remain competitive for various state funding programs to increase housing opportunities.
To avoid duplication of effort, assistance includes development of regionally applicable products that can be customized by local staff to meet their respective needs.
The Housing Element Site Selection (HESS) Tool
This tool identifies potential sites in all Bay Area jurisdictions for Housing Element site inventories, and flags those that will likely require rezoning to be used under new state laws. By using a variety of datasets, HESS allows planners to visualize and screen sites based on HCD’s minimum zoning and density requirements, natural hazards, proximity to transit, access to opportunity and much more. Recent updates to the tool include data layers identified in HCD’s Guidance Memo on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) and Housing Element Site Inventory Guidebook.
The tool also automatically populates many sections of HCD’s new mandatory electronic reporting form.
Local planning staff who have not yet accessed the HESS Tool can create a HESS Tool account. Please note that it may take a couple of business days for the ABAG-MTC team to verify and activate the account. If your jurisdiction has a consultant working on your Housing Element update, you may request direct access to the HESS Tool and Housing Needs Data Packet on their behalf by emailing HousingTA@bayareametro.gov.
Local Housing Element Data Packets
These are editable data packets compiled by ABAG staff for all 109 Bay Area jurisdictions. The data packets contain tables, figures, and accompanying text for over 60 data points that can be placed directly into the Housing Needs section of each jurisdiction’s housing element. The data packets also include some data related to the state’s requirement to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH). The data packets have been pre-reviewed by HCD for consistency with state requirements. Download the PDF versions of the Housing Needs Data Packets, as well the underlying data tables in Excel, for all 109 jurisdictions. Local planning staff can also download an editable Word Document version of their respective jurisdiction’s Housing Needs Data Packet from the Housing Element Site Selection (HESS) Tool.
Data Webinar Recordings
For a full listing of webinars and resources from the webinars see the RHTA Training page
- 10/19/21 HESS Tool 1.0 Tutorial Webinar This virtual tutorial walked local planning staff and consultants through the HESS Tool 1.0 interface. It also demonstrated how to perform the actions to assist with building a Site Inventory.
- 3/23/2021: ABAG Housing Element Series: Using Data Effectively in Housing Element Updates: Webinar video recording and Webinar presentation. This webinar introduces the ABAG housing needs data packets and provides information on accessing the U.S. Census.
- 3/9/2021: ABAG Housing Element Series: Creating Capacity: An Overview of the Sites Inventory: Webinar video recording and Webinar presentation
- 10/29/2020: Planning Innovations Webinar: Regional Data Tools for the Housing Element: Webinar video recording and Webinar presentation
For more information about Regional Data Products contact:
Joshua Croff, GIS Planner/Analyst
Email: jcroff@bayareametro.gov
Phone: 415-778-6618
Templates
- Jurisdiction Housing Element RFP Template a request for Proposals (RFP) template for local jurisdictions to hire consultants to assist with Housing Element updates
- Housing Element Staff Report Template
- Housing Element Timeline Template
- What is a Housing Element? Briefer Template
- Housing Element FAQs Template
- Housing Element Site Inventories: Why Buffers and Excess Capacity Matter
Contact Information
For More Information
Email: housingta@bayareametro.gov
Civic Engagement
Clair McDevitt, Associate PIO, REAP Programs
Email: cmcdevitt@bayareametro.gov
Phone: 415-778-6737
Data Tools
Joshua Croff, GIS Planner/Analyst
Email: jcroff@bayareametro.gov
Phone: 415-778-6618
Housing Equity/AFFH
Daniel Saver, Assistant Director, Housing & Local Planning
Email: dsaver@bayareametro.gov
Phone: 415-778-6789
Resilience
Michael Germeraad, Associate Planner
Email: mgermeraad@bayareametro.gov
Phone: 415-820-7945
Online Training Series
Clair McDevitt, Associate PIO, REAP Programs
Email: cmcdevitt@bayareametro.gov
Phone: 415-778-6737
Peer Cohorts and Topic-Specific Workgroups
For more information, email HousingTA@bayareametro.gov.
County Planning Collaboratives
Hannah Diaz, Associate Regional Housing Planner
Email: hdiaz@bayareametro.gov
Phone: 415-778-4406
Local Grants & Regional Planning Consulting Bench
Heather Peters, Principal Regional Housing Planner
Email: hpeters@bayareametro.gov
Phone: 415-778-6752
Other Technical Assistance
ABAG and its regional partners offer a variety of programs to city and county agencies to provide planning and technical support to reach local and regional goals of greenhouse gas reduction, equity, affordability and resilience.
Visit this Technical Assistance web page for a listing of assistance programs by various categories.