Sutter County Planning Services

Housing Element Background, Purpose, and State Law Requirements

The housing element of the general plan is a comprehensive statement by Sutter County of its current and future housing needs and proposed actions to facilitate the provision of housing to meet the needs of the County's residents at all income groups. The purpose of the Sutter County Housing Element is to establish specific goals, policies, and objectives relative to the provision of housing and to adopt an implementation program action plan to accomplish the intentions. In addition, the County's Element identifies and analyzes housing resources and constraints to meeting the needs. Sutter County has prepared the 2008-2013 Housing Element to address State law requirements and statutory regulations. California State law (Government Code Sections 65580 through 65589) mandates the contents of the housing element. By law, the housing element must contain:

an assessment of housing needs and an inventory of resources and constraints relevant to meeting those needs;
a statement of the community's goals, quantified objectives, and policies relevant to the maintenance, improvement, and development of housing; and
a program that sets forth a five-year schedule of actions that the local government is undertaking or intends to undertake to implement the policies and achieve the goals and objectives of the housing element.

The housing element must also:

be consistent with other general plan elements;
provide clear policy and direction for making decisions pertaining to zoning, subdivision approval, housing allocations, and capital improvements;
identify adequate residential sites available for a variety of housing types for all income levels;
assist in developing adequate housing to meet the needs of extremely low, very low-, low- and moderate-income households;
address governmental constraints to housing maintenance, improvement, and development;
conserve and improve the condition of the existing affordable housing stock;
promote housing opportunities for all persons; and
preserve assisted housing developments for lower income households.

California State law requires housing elements be updated at least every five years. Sutter County is one of the jurisdictions subject to the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) deadline for adopting the updated housing element under the current planning cycle of June 30, 2008. In Sutter County's case, the 2008-2013 Housing Element update preparation coincided with the County's comprehensive 2030 General Plan update, which began in 2007. This occurrence afforded the County efficiencies and an opportunity to closely examine and coordinate the issues of housing and community growth with land use and transportation, resulting in the 2008-2013 Housing Element's adoption being concurrent with the County's updated 2030 General Plan.

Housing Element Organization

The Housing Element is organized into the following eight major chapters and one appendix:

Chapter 1 – Introduction: Discusses the purposes of the Housing Element including statutory requirements, discusses the community outreach process, and describes how the Housing Element is consistent with the County's General Plan.
Chapter 2 – Housing Plan: Describes the housing strategy to address Sutter County's identified housing needs and quantified objectives, including housing goals, policies, and implementation programs.
Chapter 3 – Housing Resources: Analyzes the land available for potential new residential development to address the housing goals in Sutter County and the determination of compliance with the County's Regional Housing Needs Allocation.
Chapter 4 – Housing Needs Assessment: Documents and analyzes the demographic, housing, income, employment, and special needs characteristics and trends within the County.
Chapter 5 – County Housing Programs: Documents the County's Affordable Housing Program and other County housing programs facilitated by the Consolidated Area Housing Authority of Sutter County.
Chapter 6 – Opportunities for Residential Energy Conservation: Describes the County's energy efficient programs and residential energy efficient methods and techniques of design and construction.
Chapter 7 – Potential Constraints on Housing: Reviews potential governmental and market-driven non-governmental constraints which may impact the County's ability to address its housing needs.
Chapter 8 – Review of Previous Housing Element: Evaluation of County accomplishments toward meeting the goals and objectives of the 2002-2007 Housing Element.
Appendix A. – Glossary of Terms: Provides a glossary of housing and development related terms.

California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Review

The 2008-2013 Sutter County Public Review Draft Housing Element was revised based on comments received from HCD and was re-submitted to HCD on July 1, 2010 for a second, 60-day review period. In addition to the revised Housing Element, the comment letter received from HCD as well as a table showing how these comments were addressed are also attached here. Edits and comments received from HCD during the second review period have been incorporated into the attached revised draft Housing Element (revised September 2010). The attached letter from HCD, dated August 30, 2010, states that the draft element will comply with State housing law. The Housing Element will be adopted with the rest of the General Plan in early 2011.

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