Housing Element

The Housing Element of the General Plan provides both an analysis of the City’s housing needs for all income groups, and a set of policies and actions the City will undertake to meet identified needs.

2020 Update Process

The City of Paso Robles has adopted the 6th cycle Housing Element, which covers the planning period of December 31, 2020 through December 31, 2028. The previous Housing Element was adopted in 2014.

What is the Housing Element?

The Housing Element is a required Element of the City of Paso Robles General Plan and includes goals and objectives to achieve housing for all economic segments of the community, including affordable housing.

The City of Paso Robles seeks to create policies that provide opportunities for the development of housing to meet local demand. An effective housing element provides the appropriate conditions for developing and preserving a healthy supply of housing for the entire community, while reducing constraints where possible.

Housing Element FAQs

Curious to know more about the Housing Element? Click here for FAQs

How You Can Help

You’re encouraged to attend a series of meetings and public workshops the City will be holding over the next several months. See below for additional details.

Housing Element Workshop #1

The City of Paso Robles held a Housing Element Update Workshop on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM in the City Council chamber at 1000 Spring Street. More details

1/29/20 Housing Element Workshop #1 Presentation

Housing Element Workshop #2

The Paso Robles City Council held a joint public workshop with the Planning Commission on Tuesday, August 4, 2020 at 6:30 PM at which time they reviewed the Draft Housing Element and engaged the public for an in-depth discussion. Copies of the project staff report from the public workshop were available for review on the City website on the Friday preceding the hearing.

8/4/20 Housing Element Workshop #2 Presentation

Public Hearing Draft Housing Element

HCD has reviewed the draft Housing Element and had minor comments and clarification edit requests. With these changes, HCD found the Housing Element to be fully in compliance with State law (i.e., “conditionally certified”). The City must adopt substantially the same Housing Element by December 31, 2020 to be fully certified.

A copy of the updated Public Hearing Draft Housing Element was provided for the November 10, 2020 Planning Commission hearing. At this meeting, the Planning Commission recommended the City Council approve the the project on a 5-0-2 (2 absent) vote.

The City Council considered this item during a public hearing on December 1, 2020, and on a 5-0 vote adopted the Housing Element.

HCOC Meetings

The Housing Constraints and Opportunities Committee (HCOC) was established as part of the 2014 Housing Element. The Committee has been appointed by the City Council to review housing issues and its task is to make recommendations to the City Council on ways to increase housing production. The HCOC will act as a steering committee during the process of updating the 6^th cycle General Plan Housing Element, which is due for completion by December 2020.

The most recent Housing Constraints and Opportunities Committee was held on October 22, 2020. More Details

2014 Update Process

State Law (Government Code Section 65588(e)) required that the City’s Housing Element be updated in 2014. The previous Housing Element was adopted in 2011.

Initial Draft

On June 9, 2014, the City posted a draft Housing Element on the City’s website.

Public Workshop

On July 8, 2014, the City Council and Planning Commission conducted a joint public workshop to obtain comments from the public about the draft element.

Draft Revisions

Following the workshop, per the direction of the City Council, minor revisions were made to the Draft Housing Element; the revised draft was submitted to the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for its review and comment as required by Government Code Section 65585.

On August 22, 2014, HCD sent a letter to the City stating that, subject to the city’s making certain additional minor changes to the Draft Housing Element, as recommended by HCD, the Draft Housing Element would conform to State Housing Element Law (Government Code Sections 65580 et seq.).