EL DORADO COUNTY
PLANNING & BUILDING DEPARTMENT
2850 Fairlane Court, Placerville, CA 95667
Phone (530) 621-5355, Fax (530) 642-0508
Date: November 8, 2019
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Tiffany Schmid, Director Wf
Subject: 2021-2029 Regional Housing Needs Assessment for El Dorado County and
Potential for an incorporated El Dorado Hills
Staff will be presenting a summary of the projected 2021-2029 Regional Housing Needs
Assessment (RHNA) for the unincorporated areas of the county to the Board of Supervisors on
November 19, 2019. The RHNA allocation represents population growth and the housing units
necessary to accommodate that growth for the 2021-2029 Housing Element planning period.
In light of community discussion to incorporate El Dorado Hills, the County submitted a request
that the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) provide El Dorado County with the
estimated number of housing units that the El Dorado Hills area could potentially be allocated
based on the RHNA methodology that SACOG is developing for the 2021-2029 RHNA planning
cycle. The total number of units are factored by the final RHNA methodology and distributed into
four income categories and: 1) Very Low; 2) Low; 3) Moderate; and 4) Above Moderate.
SACOG determines the regional housing allocation to each jurisdiction by multiplying the
proportion of 2016-2035 Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) growth projections and the
Regional RHNA Determination from Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD). The unincorporated area of El Dorado County, including El Dorado Hills, represents
3.27 percent of the total 2016-2035 MTP growth.
California’s Housing Element Law (Government Code, §§ 65580 et seg.) mandates that a city or
county is required to zone adequate sites to accommodate their RHNA allocation. The very low
and low income categories must be accommodated on land zoned for multifamily residential
development. Moderate and above moderate development may be accommodated in a variety
of Zones that allow residential development.
Staff recently received information from SACOG that EI Dorado Hills, if incorporated, could
potentially receive a RHNA allocation of approximately 4,073 housing units for the 2021 to 2029
planning period based on the area’s share of the MPT regional growth. Of those units,
approximately 1,764 would be in the lower income categories. The precise number of lower
income units would depend on the methodology option adopted by SACOG and then would
require SACOG to complete a lengthy re-calculation for all jurisdictions in the region.
2021-2029 Regional Housing Needs Assessment Potential
For an incorporated El Dorado Hills
The County’s west slope, including El Dorado Hills, is anticipating a total allocation of 4,994
housing units. The RHNA allocation for the west slope could potentially be reduced accordingly
if El Dorado Hills was currently an incorporated city.
SACOG staff determined the vast majority of MTP/SCS growth anticipated for El Dorado County
between 2016 and 2035 is located in the El Dorado Hills geographic area as depicted below:
SEE IMAGE ABOVE
Based upon a preliminary analysis of the vacant and underutilized land inventory zoned
multifamily county-wide, staff believes the County has sufficient land use capacity to meet the
anticipated RHNA allocation for the 2021-2029 planning period for very low and low income
housing while providing surplus for future growth. The full analysis for the 2021-2029 Housing
Element Update, including multifamily zoned land by community region, is still in progress.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
c: Don Ashton, Chief Administrative Officer
