Housing Element

 

The 2023 Adopted Housing Element is available for public review.  The Tulare County Planning Board of Supervisors adopted the Housing Element on December 12, 2023, by Resolution No., 2023-1110.  Minor revisions have been made (December 18, 2024) and can be viewed by going to the redline version.  A clean version is also available to view below.  To comment on the Housing Element, please E-mail Russell Kashiwa at Rkashiwa@tularecounty.ca.gov by December 27, 2024, for consideration.  Please see the links below:

Tulare County Adopted Housing Element 2023-2031 Updated 12/18/2024 (Clean)

Tulare County Adopted Housing Element 2023-2031 Updated 12/18/2024 (Redline)

Final Sites Inventory Updated 12/18/2024

 

What is a Housing Element

The County adopted the Housing Element of the Tulare County General Plan for the 2023-2031 planning period. A housing element is a section of the County’s General Plan that is intended to guide local planning efforts towards future housing development in unincorporated Tulare County. A housing element is required for every city and county in the state of California according to California state law and is to be completed on an eight-year planning period basis. Through the housing element, the County must make an honest effort to plan for the development of an estimated 9,243 housing units to obtain adequate housing supply for current and future residents of all incomes, this number is also known as the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA).

Get Involved

CLICK HERE to Take the Housing Element Survey

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is included in the Housing Element?

Different from some housing elements, the County of Tulare’s Housing Element is organized into 8 distinct chapters that seek to accomplish and include the following:

— An analysis that identifies the housing needs of current and future county residents

—  An analysis that identifies the barriers to housing development

—  An inventory that identifies sites for future housing development for very low, low, moderate, and above moderate-income households and special needs.

— An assessment of fair housing that identifies and addresses historic patterns of segregation and disparities in housing opportunities based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, disability, and income.

What is the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) and how was the number decided?

The Regional Housing Needs Allocation is an estimated number of housing units a jurisdiction must plan and accommodate for. In other words, it is commonly referred to as a jurisdiction’s fair share of housing. First, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) determines the total number of housing units for all of Tulare County. Second, the total number of housing units is assigned to the Tulare County Association of Governments who then allocates a share of the total number of housing units between all unincorporated and incorporated jurisdictions in Tulare County including the County of Tulare (unincorporated Tulare County) and all 8 incorporated cities.

Regional Housing Needs Allocation
June 30, 2023 – December 31, 2031


Very Low
< 50% AMI


Low
< 80% AMI


Moderate
80% < 120%

Above
Moderate
> 120%



Total

1,563

963

1,870

4,847

9,243

*AMI = Area Median Income

Source: Tulare County Association of Governments 6th Cycle regional Housing Needs Plan

 

Will the County be building housing to accommodate housing needs?

No, the County does not have the ability to build housing to accommodate housing needs and the RHNA. Instead, The County can improve zoning codes (R-1 Single Family Residential, C-2 General Commercial, A-1 Agricultural, MU Mixed-Use etc.), land-use designations, and development standards (parking requirements, Lot size, minimum width in addition to applying for state and federal grants for funding of housing-related projects.