Laserfiche WebLink
WORKING DRAFT FOR HCD REVIEW <br />INTRODUCTION 1-2 SAN LEANDRO HOUSING ELEMENT <br />Map. The two Elements both called for specific strategies to stimulate housing construction on vacant <br />land and underutilized commercial sites close to public transit and City services. <br /> <br />In 2014, the City initiated a General Plan update. The new Plan will have a horizon year of 2035 and will <br />provide the long-range policies needed to guide San Leandro forward for the next 20 years. Adoption of <br />the updated Plan is anticipated in 2016. This Housing Element was prepared early in the General Plan <br />process, before revisions to the Land Use Map were completed. However, the basic philosophy that <br />underpins the 2002 General Plan is not expected to change. A more rapid rate of growth is envisioned by <br />the new Plan, recognizing city and regional projections and regional initiatives to focus growth near <br />public transit and create more walkable neighborhoods throughout the Bay Area. Additional housing <br />opportunities may be created as a result of future General Plan changes. <br /> <br />The previously adopted General Plan places great emphasis on the preservation and improvement of the <br />city’s established residential neighborhoods. It recognizes the benefits of a diverse, well maintained <br />housing stock and promotes the conservation and maintenance of the more than 32,000 housing units in <br />San Leandro. The Plan also defined the City’s role in regional efforts to coordinate land use and <br />transportation planning, improve environmental quality, and grow in a more sustainable way. The 2035 <br />General Plan is expected to carry these principles forward. <br /> <br />Housing is a fundamental part of the City’s long-range plans. The Bay Area continues to be one of the <br />most expensive housing markets in the United States. Thousands of San Leandro residents face economic <br />hardship because of high housing costs or have trouble finding suitable housing in the city. Looking <br />forward, housing demand is expected to continue to outpace supply. The updated General Plan will <br />continue to encourage higher density development around San Leandro’s BART stations and along East <br />14th Street. New infill housing, along with the services to sustain that housing, are important parts of the <br />City’s vision. <br /> <br />San Leandro needs new housing to survive as a healthy city. It needs housing for its workforce, which is <br />expected to grow by the thousands during the next decade as older industrial and commercial sites are <br />redeveloped. It needs housing for its seniors and others with limited mobility or fixed incomes. It needs <br />housing for its teachers, its police and fire personnel, its nurses and child care workers, and the retail and <br />service workers who are the lifeblood of the local economy. It needs housing for families, some of whom <br />are living in small apartments or overcrowded quarters. It needs housing for those at risk of homelessness <br />and those who are already homeless. <br /> <br />While the city witnessed a large volume of residential construction in the 1990s and early 2000s, the <br />market has been sluggish for several years. After two years of rapid price inflation in 2013 and 2014, new <br />market rate housing is less affordable than it was when the last Housing Element was adopted in 2010. <br />Construction of some housing types—rental apartments, for instance—has been lagging for decades. The <br />Housing Element provides a strategy for producing a more balanced housing stock—and for <br />supplementing “market rate” housing with housing that is affordable to a larger segment of the city’s