ABAG Housing Needs Data Packets

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State law requires local jurisdictions to analyze their communities’ housing needs and the resources available to address them. ABAG/Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has compiled demographic, economic, and housing stock data required by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for each Bay Area jurisdiction so that local planning staff can focus on developing meaningful policies and programs.

These jurisdiction-level data packets for all 109 Bay Area jurisdictions contain tables, figures and accompanying text that can be placed directly into the Housing Needs Section of the Housing Element or used as an attachment to help ensure compliance with state requirements.

The data packets have been pre-reviewed by HCD for consistency with state requirements to increase predictability in the Housing Element approval process.

The data packets include some data related to the state’s requirement to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH), with additional AFFH data products released separately in summer 2021.

Local planning staff can download an editable Word Document version of their respective jurisdiction’s Housing Needs Data Packet from their Housing Element Site Selection (HESS) Tool account. If staff have not yet accessed the HESS Tool, they can create an account to download the data packets. Please note that it may several 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.

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH)

In 2018, the State of California passed legislation mandating that each jurisdiction’s Housing Element must affirmatively further fair housing. The state and ABAG are creating tools to help jurisdictions better understand how to comply with state requirements.