Regional Housing Needs Assessment

SANDAG is responsible for overseeing the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) process for the region. It identifies the need for housing and guides land use planning by addressing existing and future housing needs resulting from population, employment, and household growth.  

As part of the RHNA process, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) in consultation with SANDAG, identified a need for over 171,000 new housing units between 2021-2029. With input from its member agencies, SANDAG prepared a draft plan identifying each jurisdiction’s responsibility for addressing housing needs. 

The RHNA Plan allocates housing units to the 19 jurisdictions in the region through its methodology on the availability of transit and jobs and applies an equity adjustment to promote equity and fair housing, as well as to meaningfully address patterns of segregation. 

On July 10, 2020, SANDAG adopted the final RHNA plan and allocated a share of housing needs to each jurisdiction in four income categories. Each jurisdiction must update the Housing Element in its General Plan to accommodate the RHNA determination.

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