Housing Element Update

The Housing Element is one of seven State-mandated “elements” of the General Plan and contains goals, policies, and programs that respond to local existing and future housing conditions and needs. The required contents of the Housing Element are described in Section 65583 of the California Government Code.  The Board of Supervisors approved the 2010 Housing Element revisions on June 28, 2011.

The County Housing Element is contained within Chapter 3 of the Goals, Policies, and Programs and the Land Use Appendix of the General Plan. To view the most recent Housing Element click here. These two documents contain a comprehensive review of current and future housing needs, an evaluation of existing land inventory and constraints to residential development, and General Plan policies and programs to meet identified housing needs for the time period between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2014.

Pursuant to state law, the adopted 2008 Housing Element was subsequently submitted to the California State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for a required review for consistency with state law. On November 10, 2008, HCD determined that further revision was necessary to comply with State housing law (Article 10.6 of the California Government Code). In response to HCD’s determination, County staff revised the Housing Element along with other mandated updates to the General Plan. The following is a summary of the Housing Element revision process:

• June 28, 2011 - The Board of Supervisors approved the 2010 Housing Element revisions. The approval includes, among other things, the re-zoning of six (6) parcels to high density residential (RHD) which is a new General Plan designation and zone in Ventura County.  In addition, one of the Housing Element programs was completed to comply with the provisions of SB2 that mandates all local jurisdictions in the State of California to identify a zone where emergency shelter can be built.
  
  
• June 2, 2011 - Planning Commission public hearing whereby the Planning Commission recommended approval of the revisions to the Board of Supervisors.
  
  
• Sept. 2010 – May 2011- A Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (Draft SEIR) was completed and circulated for public review and comment. After the close of the comment period, significant new information regarding groundwater quantity, water supply and distribution was presented requiring modifications to the SEIR. The County re-circulated the revisions for public review and comment.
  
  
• August 2009 - The Board of Supervisors reviewed the draft General Plan and ordinance amendments and directed staff to prepare a Supplemental EIR (SEIR) to tier off of the 2005 Focused General Plan Update Subsequent Environmental Impact Report.
  
  
• February 10, 2009 - Planning staff presented HCD’s comments along with a proposed work program to bring the Housing Element into compliance with state law to the Board of Supervisors. The work program included revisions to the Ventura County General Plan, Non-Coastal Zoning Ordinance (NCZO), Coastal Zoning Ordinance (CZO) and Subdivision Ordinance. The Board directed staff to proceed with the work program.

Public Meetings and Hearings