TO: PLANNING COMMISSION
FROM: BRAD JOHNSON, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
DATE: MARCH 17, 2026
SUBJECT:
Title
HOUSING ELEMENT - 2025 ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT (FUNDING SOURCE: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT BUDGET)
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SUMMARY
Pursuant to Government Code Section 65400, the City must provide an Annual Progress Report (APR) to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and the Office of Planning Research (OPR) regarding our progress on the implementation of the City’s Housing Element. The APR provides information on the number of housing units for which applications were submitted, received entitlement approvals, and for which building permits were issued, and those for which construction was completed in calendar year 2025. We are currently in the 6th-Cycle Housing Element Planning Period, covering 2021-2029, and unit tallies are compared against the 6th-Cycle Regional Needs Housing Assessment (RHNA) numbers for the City of Claremont.
The APR also provides an update on the implementation of housing programs contained in the City’s newly certified Housing Element. Since the Housing Element was certified by HCD on September 12, 2024, this APR is the second time the City has reported on its progress on the 6th-Cycle Housing Element implementation programs.
The APR is required to be considered, received, and filed by the City Council at a public meeting no later than April 1, 2026. At this meeting, the Planning Commission is being asked to review the 2025 Annual Progress Report, included herein as an Attachment and make a recommendation to the City Council.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommended Action
Staff recommends the Planning Commission recommend approval to the City Council of the attached 2025 Annual Progress Report.
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ALTERNATIVES TO RECOMMENDATION
In addition to the staff recommendation, there is the following alternative:
• Continue the item, while noting that a continuation will delay the submittal of the 2025 Annual Progress Report beyond the State’s April 1, 2026 deadline.
Staff notes that in California, jurisdictions face potential revocation of Housing Element compliance and/or referral to the Attorney General for failure to submit timely annual progress reports, with penalties ranging from fines to court actions.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
The staff cost to prepare the report is approximately $8,147.00, which is included in the operating budget of the Community Development Department. The action involves the status of programs that have a financial impact on the City as they are unfunded State mandates for which funding sources have already been identified in the adopted 2021-2029 Housing Element.
2025 HOUSING ELEMENT ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
New Housing Units
The APR includes information on the City’s progress in meeting its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) target for the planning period of 2021-2029 (6th-Cycle). This includes the number of housing units for which applications were submitted, received entitlement approvals, for which building permits were issued, and those for which construction was completed in calendar year 2025.
Claremont has been allocated 1,711 new housing units as its fair share of the 1,341,827 total number of units needed to meet forecasted population growth in the six-county Southern California Council of Governments (SCAG) region for the 6th-Cycle planning period. The allocation of units is distributed across five income categories, as follows:
As of the date of this report, the City has issued building permits for 88 very low-income units, 65 low-income units, 24 moderate-income units, and 139 above-moderate units in this planning cycle (from 10/15/2021 to 12/31/2025). This means the City is short of the required number of very low-income units by 468, low-income units by 245, moderate-income units by 273, and above moderate-income units by 409.
The City approved several housing projects in the recent years including American Avenue, a 70-unit townhome subdivision with inclusionary units; the La Puerta School Site Specific Plan, a 55 unit, small lot single family development; Village South Development, which would provide 711 new units, including 105 units affordable to moderate-income households; the Descanso Walk project by Olson Company, which would provide 56-unit townhome and live/work units including four low-income units along Foothill Boulevard; the Mercy Housing project which would provide 74 affordable housing units including 19 permanent supportive housing units along Towne Avenue; and the National CORE project which would provide 59 affordable housing units along Bonita Avenue at the St. Ambrose Episcopal Church site. Of these recently approved projects, only the Olson Company obtained building permits for a portion of the approved units. Permits for the Olson project are currently being issued in phases, which is typical for townhome and tract home developments.
Implementation Status of Programs
In July 2023, the City Council adopted the 6th-Cycle Housing Element Update with direction to staff to make modifications if acceptable to HCD. In September of 2024, the Housing Element was certified by HCD. The certified Housing Element outlines the City’s strategy for satisfying the City’s RHNA obligation for the Sixth Cycle Planning Period through a suite of housing programs, including a re-zoning program to ensure the City has sufficient capacity to accommodate the 1,711 new units identified as Claremont’s fair share.
The APR covers the implementation status of the programs contained in the City’s certified Housing Element for calendar year 2025. Since the City did not have a certified Housing Element until September of 2024, the City has had little time to implement the Housing Element programs. Nonetheless, as indicated in Table D of the Housing Element APR, the City has already completed or made progress on many implementation programs.
One notable accomplishment in 2025 was the City entered into a contract with RRM Design Group to develop Objective Design Standards for qualifying housing developments as mandated by the State. The State mandates local governments evaluate these projects using only measurable, objective criteria. Without locally adopted objective design standards, the City must rely on baseline State rules, limiting its ability to shape development consistent with Claremont’s character. As of this writing, a draft objective design standards document is being prepared by RRM Design Group to satisfy Housing Element Programs 10 and 23. In addition, significant progress was made in developing pre-approved ADU plans in 2025, enabling their release in the spring of 2026.
Standardized APR Form Content
As part of the update, the State requires that a standardized APR form be completed and submitted by local jurisdictions. The following is a summary of the City’s completed forms for 2025, included herein as an Attachment:
• Table A includes new housing units by income level for which a discretionary application has been submitted within the calendar year 2025:
- 29 units reported in this category, including 15 acutely low-income units, 3 extremely low-income units, 7 low-income units, and 4 above moderate-income units.
Staff notes that “acutely low-income” is a new income category that HCD introduced for the 2025 Housing Element APR. Of the 29 applications, 28 were for ADUs and JADUs. Since 15 ADU applicants reported that their ADU would be occupied by a family member and that no rent will be charged, this APR reflected that there were 15 acutely low-income units proposed in 2025.
• Table A2 includes net new housing units by income level that have received an entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy (or final inspection) during the calendar year 2025:
- 126 units reported in this category, including 32 acutely low-income units, 20 extremely low-income units, 23 low-income units, 8 moderate-income units, and 43 above-moderate income units.
Staff notes that “acutely low-income” is a new income category that HCD introduced for the 2025 Housing Element APR. Since 63 ADUs were reported in Table A2 and a majority of the applicants indicated that the ADU would be occupied by a family member with no rent charged, this APR reflected that 32 acutely low-income units were produced in 2025.
• Table B summarizes prior permitting activity in the current planning cycle and permitting activity for the calendar year being reported:
- 52 units received building permits in 2025 and are reported in this category.
• Table C includes sites identified or rezoned to accommodate a shortfall of housing sites from the previous planning period to meet a shortfall of sites noted in the Housing Element, or to provide additional sites required by the no net loss law under Government Section 65863. If applicable, this data would serve as an addendum to the site’s inventory in the adopted Housing Element:
- No sites were identified or rezoned as no significant “net loss” or shortfall has been identified since the Housing Element was certified by HCD.
• Table D is the report on the status of the 2021-2029 Housing Element Implementation Program for the 2025 calendar year.
- Most of these programs are either ongoing or in the process of being implemented.
• Table E includes commercial development bonuses approved by the City during the 2025 calendar year.
- No units reported.
• Table F includes units rehabilitated, preserved, and acquired for alternative adequate sites during the 2025 calendar year.
- No units reported.
• Table F2 includes above moderate-income units converted to moderate income units.
- No units reported.
• Table G includes locally owned lands included in the Housing Element sites inventory that have been sold, leased, or otherwise disposed of during the 2025 calendar year.
- No properties reported
• Table H includes locally owned or controlled lands declared as surplus or identified as excess.
- None reported.
• Table J includes student housing development for lower income students for which a density bonus was granted during the 2025 calendar year.
- None reported.
• Table K includes reporting on Tenant Preference Policies.
- None reported.
• Table L is a new request from HCD. It includes any sites that were newly added to a National, State, or Local register of historic places within the reporting year
- Two new local historic register listings are reported for 611 West 8th Street and 1230 Harvard Avenue.
• LEAP Reporting. This table is for jurisdictions that have applied for and received the Local Early Action Plan (LEAP) grant to report on their activities.
- None reported. The City did not participate in the LEAP grant.
CEQA REVIEW
This item, adopting Annual Progress Report as required by the State Housing Element Law, is not subject to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and Section 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a “project” as defined in Section 15378). CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(2) and (5) excludes “continuing administrative or maintenance activities” and “organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes to the environment” from its definition of “project.”
Even if this item were a “project,” it would be statutorily exempt under CEQA Guideline Sections 15282(r) and 15283 because it merely implements HCD’s directives with respect to the City’s allocation of the RHNA and categorically exempt under CEQA Guideline section 15306 because it consists of information collection.
PUBLIC NOTICE PROCESS
The agenda and staff report for this item have been posted on the City website and distributed to interested parties. If you desire a copy, please contact Nhi Atienza at natienza@claremontca.gov.
Submitted by: Prepared by:
Brad Johnson Catherine Lin, AICP
Community Development Director Senior Planner
Reviewed by:
Christopher Veirs, City Planner
Attachment:
2025 Housing Element Annual Progress Report