Danville Likely To Lose Housing Need Allocation Appeal

DANVILLE, CA — Danville appears unlikely to succeed in its quest to lower the number of new housing units it must plan for, meaning officials could have to make way for at least 2,240 additional housing units in the town.

The town is not required to ensure these units are built, but it must update planning documents to ensure there is space for these new units. The 2,240 units Danville was assigned to plan for is four times higher than the 560 units for which the town was responsible for planning in the current cycle.

Danville was one of 27 local governments that appealed its Regional Housing Needs Allocation to the Association of Bay Area Governments, a planning agency that focuses on finding regional solutions to issues such as housing, water or environmental matters.

The association's administrative committee recommended Danville's appeal for rejection Sept. 24, along with those of six other cities that made their cases to the committee that day.

The state seeks to address the housing shortage and decides how many housing units, including affordable housing, must be planned for in various regions. The Association of Bay Area Governments was tasked with figuring out how many of those units should be built in various local towns and cities.

Danville sought to punt a portion of its allocated units to cities with economic hubs, arguing that a larger share of housing units should go to places where Bay Area workers already are.

San Ramon, Pleasanton and Dublin all made similar arguments that were recommended for rejection.

"The likelihood of success for any RHNA appeal is very low due to two main factors: the narrowly defined legal grounds for an appeal and because any reduction in one city's RHNA means it must be offset with increases to other cities," the town wrote in a statement.

The state determined that local governments in the Bay Area must make way for more than 441,000 new housing units, including 26 percent for people who are considered very low income; 15 percent for people who have low incomes; 17 percent for people with moderate incomes; and 43 percent for people who have incomes above moderate.

The Association of Bay Area Governments will continue to hear appeals through October and adopt final housing unit allocations in December. Local governments must submit updated plans to the state by January 2023.