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City of San Leandro 2023-2031 Housing Element Update 1-16 Housing Opportunity Sites and Housing Plan to Meet the RHNA:  Community members, representatives of special needs populations, and housing service providers indicated a desire for vertical efficiency and walkability, as well as increased affordable housing, particularly near BART stations and along major streets such as East 14th Street. Community members and organizations expressed concern that the City’s existing development standards posed a constraint to housing development. The City also received input that housing for seniors should include elevators rather than stairs; therefore, housing developments should be higher than two- to three-story townhomes. The City’s housing plan to increase allowable FAR and densities in areas around transit, as described in Chapter 4, Housing Resources, and included in Program 5, is designed to achieve multiple-story multi-family development, and would accommodate the desired type and intensity of development near transit.  Through the Balancing Act tool, most participants expressed a desire to concentrate new residential development in Downtown San Leandro and the Bay Fair TOD area. The City’s housing opportunity sites distribution focuses was developed to align with this opinion. Many community members also wanted greater diversification of housing opportunities in predominantly single-family residential neighborhoods to increase moderate-income housing opportunities and a greater distribution of housing development. Program 7 directs the City to identify opportunities to increase a greater mix of housing types, such as triplexes and fourplexes, in lower density neighborhoods.  Community members desired a relatively large buffer of low and moderate-income housing sites over the RHNA. The City’s housing plan achieves a 29 percent buffer over the RHNA for low-income units and 26 percent buffer over the RHNA for moderate-income units. Maps have been created to illustrate for the community the areas that allow for multi-family and mixed-use development.  Stakeholders, developers, and community members stated that development of nonvacant sites, such as infill sites with outdated commercial uses, would be favored over vacant sites to maximize use of space and reduce costs associated with utility connections. The nonvacant housing opportunity sites for this housing element update were mainly infill sites selected via certain characteristics, including age of existing structure, improvement to land ratio (how much the building is worth over the land it is on), and likelihood of redevelopment. Housing Policies and Programs:  Community members indicated a desire for the City to create an incentive program for homeowners to lease accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to low-income renters. This incentive program is included as an objective in Program 13.  Community members and stakeholders desired changes to the inclusionary housing requirements, in-lieu fee structure, development impact fee structure, and development standards to increase affordable housing development. The City will examine its current requirements and standards as part of Program 12.  Community members desired prioritization of affirmatively furthering fair housing (AFFH) in housing policies and programs. Many of the policies and programs in this housing element update were developed with an AFFH component, and Programs 17 and 18 address fair housing services and actions to actively counter and remedy historic segregation patterns, including improving neighborhood conditions through focused investment of City programs and funding resources and supports for first time homebuyer programs and economic development programs in areas with sizeable low-income and minority populations, increasing housing options for special needs populations, and focusing on mixed-income neighborhood development.