The state auditor is reviewing the housing element process: Here’s how to participate

By Brady Guertin, legislative affairs lobbyist

The California State Auditor is currently conducting an audit of the state's housing element review process. The auditor will select 10 cities that vary in population, geography, and compliance with housing element standards to review. However, all cities are encouraged to provide comments and feedback to the auditor's office.

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee unanimously approved the audit this spring after a request from Sen. Steve Glazer - a move strongly supported by Cal Cities. Cal Cities supported the audit after hearing from cities about the challenges they faced in the 6th Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) cycle and achieving housing element certification from the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

The audit provides an opportunity to highlight ways to improve the housing element review process in the future. Cities can assist in these efforts by submitting comments and feedback about their individual experiences with HCD during the last RHNA cycle to the auditor's office. These comments will help the state auditor's office better understand the complexity of the housing element review process and how more technical assistance, financial resources, and other solutions could help cities plan more effectively for much-needed housing.

The state auditor will work into early next year to provide independently developed and verified information about HCD's review, procedures, and oversight during the 6th RHNA Cycle.

The auditor's office plans to examine some common issues that cities faced while interacting with HCD during the current housing element cycle, focusing on the following key areas:

• Requirements and guidance for local housing elements.
• Responsiveness when reviewing housing elements for the 10 selected cities.
• Comments and feedback to each of the 10 selected cities.
• Staffing levels and turnover rate to the extent data is available.
• Policies and procedures for training new and existing staff assigned to review housing elements.

The state auditor will also review and assess any other issues that are significant to the audit. More detailed information about the scope of the audit is available online. The auditor expects to release its report this summer.

All cities can participate in the audit by submitting comments about their experiences with the 6th RHNA Cycle to [email protected].