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Measuring Success - Housing

Overview

Measuring Success

Production

Guidelines for measuring and evaluating the success creating new affordable housing:

  • Building permits and certification of occupancy by income level targets set out in the RHNA and type of housing (senior, family, veterans, ADA accessible).

Preservation

Guidelines for measuring and evaluating the success of encouraging preserving affordable housing:

  • Create an inventory of at-risk subsidized affordable housing units as well as lost units/properties. The inventory should include enough information to understand how many properties there are with existing income and rent restrictions and when those restrictions will expire. [i]
  • Identify areas that should be prioritized for preservation, based on: [ii]
    • Current and future transit investment and planning initiatives that are likely to change rental markets.
    • Demographic and neighborhood change indicators: median income, percentage of renters, and displacement risk.
    • Concentrations of rental units affordable to lower-income households, especially: deed-restricted or rent-controlled buildings, and Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers.
    • Number of people in waiting lists for subsidized housing; and number of Section 8 holders able to access subsidized housing
    • Track the report on the following housing code violations:
      • The number and types of complaints received.
      • The number of rental units inspected in response to complaints.
      • The number of rental units inspected under a Proactive Rental Inspection program.
      • The number of code enforcement violations issued, by type.
      • The number of units not brought into compliance within the timeframe.
      • The number of cases requiring enforcement, the enforcement measures used, and the outcome of any enforcement activities (including any fines collected).
      • The number and types of referrals to other agencies (e.g., Child Protective or Adult Protective Services)

Protection

Guidelines for measuring and evaluating the success of jurisdictions to protect tenants from housing instability or displacement:

  • Report on a yearly basis the impacts of plan implementation on all residents but with attention to low-income residents and communities of color living in the plan area or adjacent to the plan area. Include impact indicators such as housing affordability and displacement risk of low-income residents and communities of color.
  • Assess neighborhood change and risk of displacement. For data and methodologies to assess risk of displacement refer to MTC’s vital statistics displacement risk methodology or UCB’s Urban Displacement Project.
  • Report on job-housing fit on a yearly basis.
  • Document neighborhood-level mobility patterns, its relationship with rental market and segregation and access to opportunity. See Healthy Housing Appendix for technical information.
  • Use Health Impact Assessments and Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) to enhance understanding of neighborhood change and risk of displacement. [iii]
    • A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) can provide recommendations to increase positive health outcomes and minimize adverse health outcomes that can be associated with development.
    • Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) can be modified to include socio-economic impacts and displacement analysis.
  • Use the Housing and Transportation (H+T) Affordability Index to provide comprehensive view of affordability that includes both the cost of housing and the cost of transportation at the neighborhood level.

Placement

Guidelines for measuring and evaluating the success of jurisdictions to place housing near transit, jobs, and other amenities, as well as in healthy environments away from sources of pollution:

Equitable TOD
  • Job-housing balance and fit.
  • Housing-transportation affordability index.
  • Affordable housing sites identified near TOD or transit corridors.
Healthy Housing
  • Identify zoned housing sites in relation to sources of pollution and vulnerable areas (flood, fire prone sites).
  • Report on criteria air pollutants, toxic air contaminants, and greenhouse gases (GHG) to measure air quality around new and existing affordable housing development.[iv]
  • To measure exposure to sources of toxic or hazardous report on: [v]
    • Industrial facilities in operation that may be emitting toxic substances through the course of their operations.
    • Brownfields, which are properties that are contaminated, or thought to be contaminated, and are underutilized due to perceived remediation costs and liability concerns.
    • Hazardous waste cleanup sites, where hazardous materials are known to have been released, and waste disposal facilities, such as landfills.

References

[i] California Housing Partnership Corporation, “Preservation of Affordable Homes Near Transit Toolkit.”
[ii] California Housing Partnership Corporation.
[iii] Association of Bay Area Governments, “Development Without Displacement: Development with Diversity.”
[iv] California Environmental Justice Alliance and PlaceWorks.
[v] California Environmental Justice Alliance and PlaceWorks.