Association of Bay Area Governments
(ABAG) - Central Valley IRP

The ABAG-Central Valley Inter-Regional Partnership was the founding IRP in California. It began in 1998 as a forum for local policy-makers to address the inter-relationships between future jobs and housing development, and the concurrent impacts on transportation and air quality. The ABAG-Central Valley IRP covers portions of two separate, yet, economically linked regions, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley.

Through this IRP, fifteen elected officials, representing five counties - Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, and Stanislaus, have joined forces to pursue a number of programs and actions to improve inter-regional cooperation on transportation and growth-related issues. Three Council of Governments, the Association of Bay Area Governments, the San Joaquin Council of Governments, and the Stanislaus Council of Governments provide staffing, financial support and regional expertise to the IRP.

In the summer of 2000, state legislation (AB 2864, Torlakson, 2000) was passed that created the IRP Pilot Project to Improve the Balance of Jobs and Housing. It was established as a "pilot" project to determine whether or not the placement of jobs and/or housing could be influenced through the use of focused economic development and housing incentives. Assembly Bill 2864 was also the enabling legislation for the creation of additional IRPs throughout the state.

Existing Conditions: Jobs/Housing Balance Problem
The San Francisco Bay Area is facing a housing crisis with housing costs far exceeding those found in the rest of the state and job growth surpassing the development of housing. With housing costs at prohibitive levels, many people are moving to the neighboring Central Valley where housing is relatively affordable. To learn about the jobs/housing imbalance in this region, click here.

Solutions/Strategies
The strategy employed by the ABAG-Central Valley IRP to address jobs/housing imbalances was to use incentives to redirect jobs and housing growth to appropriate areas. This was done through the selection of ten Jobs/Housing Opportunity Zones through a rigorous evaluation process designed to identify and select the best opportunities to improve current development patterns. The Zones were selected on their ability to improve conditions over the entire five-county area and to remedy inter-regional problems. To learn more about the Zones click here.

GIS
Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis is identified in the enabling IRP legislation as "…a crucial tool for use in determining the location of Jobs/Housing Opportunity Zones." With this in mind, the IRP developed an integrated GIS and process that could be used to evaluate proposed Jobs/Housing Opportunity Zones. For more information on this IRP's use of GIS, click here.

Final Reports
The ABAG-Central Valley IRP contracted with an independent consultant to evaluate its effectiveness in resolving jobs/housing balance issues. The final report was crafted in two parts, the Ongoing Monitoring Report (996K PDF), which offers recommendations on monitoring the "Jobs/Housing Opportunity Zones" and the Final Evaluation Report (1.6MB PDF), which examines the broader policy questions of the project.

IRP Website
For additional information about the ABAG-Central Valley IRP, including all reports, meeting information and members, please visit the ABAG-Central Valley IRP website.

Maps

GIS Home |  ABAG |  Planning |  Bay Area |  Services |  Contact