The Board of Supervisors, having reviewed and considered Yolo County’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, finds and determines as follows:
(a) The State of California requires local governments to plan to meet the housing needs of all income groups. Specifically, “local governments have the responsibility to use their powers to facilitate the improvement and development of housing to meet the housing needs of all economic segments of the community (Government Code Section 65580) and to assist in the development of adequate housing to meet the needs of low and moderate income households (Government Code Section 65583(c)(2)).”
(b) It is a public purpose of the County, as expressed in the Housing Element of the County’s General Plan, “to provide for the county’s regional share of new housing for all income groups (Yolo County General Plan, Goal One).”
(c) As documented in the Housing Element of the County’s General Plan, there is a housing shortage for very low and low income households in the County and a shortage of ownership housing for moderate income households. Increasingly, very low, low and moderate income persons who work or live within the County are unable to locate suitable housing at prices they can afford and are increasingly excluded from living within the County. Federal and State housing subsidy programs are not sufficient by themselves to satisfy the housing needs of very low, low-income and moderate-income households.
(d) The County finds that newly constructed housing does not, to any appreciable extent, provide housing affordable to very low, low and moderate income households. New development, which does not include or otherwise provide for affordable housing will further aggravate the current housing shortage for very low and low income households and the shortage of ownership housing for moderate income households, as it will reduce the supply of developable land and increase land costs, thus making affordable housing prohibitively difficult and expensive to develop.
(e) This ordinance implements the adopted Housing Element of the County General Plan and carries out the mandates of State Housing Element law, meeting the regional fair share housing requirements by ensuring that the benefits of economic diversity are available to the residents of the County. It is essential that new residential development contain housing opportunities for all income levels, and that the County provide a regulatory and incentive framework, which ensures development of an adequate supply and mix of new housing to meet the future housing needs of all income segments of the unincorporated Yolo County population.
(f) The County further finds that the housing shortage for very low and low-income households, and the shortage of ownership housing for moderate income households, is detrimental to the public health, safety and general welfare of the County.
(Ord. 1451, eff. January 1, 2015)