State law is also specific in terms of the issues that the Housing Element must address, and requires that every new and revised Housing Element be submitted to California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to ensure that it meets the State’s minimum requirements. This process of “certifying” a Housing Element’s compliance with state law is unique among the General Plan elements. One requirement for every Housing Element is to demonstrate that the local jurisdiction has made adequate provision to support the development of housing at various income levels (very low, low, moderate, and above moderate) to meet its “fair share” of the existing and projected regional housing need.

In accordance with state law requirements, ABAG recently completed the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process for the fourth revision of the Housing Elements. As part of this process, ABAG worked with regional and local governments to develop a methodology for distributing the nine-county Bay Area's housing need (as determined by HCD) to all local governments in the region. The allocation to each city and county identifies the number of housing units, by income category, for which that jurisdiction must plan in its Housing Element. The planning period for this version of the Housing Element is 2007-2014. In response to these numbers, every jurisdiction in the nine-county Bay Area will have to review and update its Housing Element, with adoption of the new Housing Element by June 30, 2009. 

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