The deadline has now passed for all Bay Area cities to submit a “housing element” to the state. The element is supposed to outline specifically how each city will add mandated housing over the next eight years.
California’s department of housing and community development is in charge of approving the housing elements, which tells cities how many homes they need to prove they can build in the next 8 years.
In the Bay Area, the state has only approved housing element plans for Alameda and San Francisco so far.
Louis Mirante, vice president of public policy for housing at the Bay Area Council, estimates between 65 to 70 Bay