The city of Ceres is making progress in updating the state mandated Housing Element.

Community Development Director Lea Simvoulakis said it “good news” that the city received a pre-approval letter from the state Department of Housing and Community Development for the draft document. That means the Housing Element – a hefty lift of 518 pages – will be scheduled to be evaluated by the Ceres Planning Commission on Monday, March 17. Following approval, the Ceres City Council has final authority on its adoption.

EMC Planning Group, Inc., was the consultant hired by the city to prepare the 2024-25 Housing Element, which is a chapter of the city’s General Plan. It addresses housing resources in Ceres and identifies community needs for housing, establishes goals and objectives for housing production, rehabilitation and conservation and inventories existing housing.

The Housing Element, last crafted in January 2016, is long overdue for an update – it should have been completed in 2023 – but hit a snag requiring significant edits to comprehensively respond to the state’s 90-day “findings letter.”

“We’re obviously behind – it’s taken a long time for us to get through,” Simvoulakis told commissioners last week. “It’s a milestone.”

Because the document is lengthy, commissioners were advised to begin studying it before the meeting.

“We won’t be printing the entire document so it is available online,” said Simvoulakis.

The document may be reviewed by the public by visiting to and www.ceres.gov/193/Planning-Division, clicking on the Housing Element link or going directly to:

https://www.ceres.gov/DocumentCenter/View/7626/City-of-Ceres-6th-Cycle-Housing-Element_Final-Initia-Study-2?bidId=

State law requires the city to regularly update its Housing Element to identify programs to accommodate sufficient housing capacity in the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation to the satisfaction of the state.

Although cities plan for housing needs, construction of new units is completely dependent on the private sector, which is currently hamstrung by a number of factors. They include the high cost of materials, land, and building fees, interest rates that are still higher than they were years ago, an inadequate supply of construction workers and state regulations.

Some estimates suggest that by the end of this year, the state will need 3.5 million additional homes to meet demand, but building is expected to fall significantly short. The housing shortage is why the median home price in California is over $800,000, more than double the national average.

The Housing Element document, which covers the time between 2023 and 2030, notes that Ceres has the potential to see the building of 2,631 housing units in the West Landing Specific Plan area south of Service Road in southwest Ceres; and 372 units in the Whitmore Ranch Specific Plan south of Whitmore Avenue and east of Moore Road. Another 670 units are potential in the rest of Ceres.

The document notes that like many other cities in California, “Ceres has had little success in meeting its housing needs.”

Between 2014 and 2023, the city issued only 79 housing permits, a small fraction of Ceres’ Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), which called for the construction of 2,571 new housing units.

Of the units built, 71 were for above-moderate-income housing, seven were for moderate-income housing, and one was for low-income housing.

The 6th Cycle Housing Element update notes that California is experiencing a housing crisis, but Ceres is committed to playing its role in meeting the growing demand for housing.

Specifically the Housing Element notes that in the next 30 years, Stanislaus County is projected to add 64,266 jobs – a 27 percent increase – which will only increase demand for housing across all income levels.

Part of the Housing Element states: “If the region can’t identify ways to significantly increase housing production, it risks worsening the burden for existing lower-income households, many of whom don’t have the luxury or skill set to move to a new job center but that are nonetheless faced with unsustainable increases in housing cost.”

For the eight-year time frame covered by the updated Housing Element, the HCD has identified the region’s housing need as 34,344 units.

Ceres would need to build 3,361 units for its part in meeting regional housing demand.

To help facilitate the building of more housing, Ceres will:

• Provide incentives for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) as required by state law through streamlined permits, reduced setback requirements, increased allowable square footage, reduced parking requirements and reduced fees. In March 2020, the city amended its regulations and procedures to make it easier and less expensive to build ADUs. In addition, the city invested in designing eight distinct ADU building plans that owners may choose from, eliminating costs of structural design plans.

Also, with the construction of new single-family units in the West Landing Specific Plan, the city will require construction of at least 10 percent of new single-family development to include either an ADU or JADU (Junior Accessory Dwelling Units).

• Provide a density bonus to development projects that restrict 100 percent of their units as affordable to lower and moderate-income households.

• Allow “low-barrier navigation centers” by-right in areas zoned for mixed uses and in nonresidential zones permitting multi-family uses, if the center meets specified requirements.

• Pursue becoming a “Pro-housing” community to be given preference and, in some cases, additional points when participating in various state-funded programs including the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) for disadvantaged communities, and Infill Infrastructure Grant (IIG) programs.

• Encourage mixed commercial/housing developments when they contribute to the city’s balance of housing in relation to jobs and/or provide affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households.

• Streamline processing and permit procedures by updating the Ceres Municipal Code to simplify and clarify both the required permit type(s) for multi-family residential uses and the decision-making authority. In addition, the city will develop an easy-to-read handout that illustrates the process and develop a universal application for planning permits. These changes will increase certainty and improve the transparency of the entitlement procedure. Also, the city will establish permit processes that take four months or less.