California is in an unprecedented housing crisis. This is due in part to rising housing costs, a lack of new housing supply, and cuts in state and federal funding for housing especially for the preservation and construction of affordable housing. According to the California Housing Partnership California Affordable Housing Needs Report, though California has more than doubled production of new affordable homes in the past 5 years, the state is only funding 12% of what it needs to build. Renters, particularly Black renter households, are disproportionately affected by the crisis with the highest rates of both housing burdened and homelessness of any group.^1,2 Furthermore, median rent in California has increased 37% since 2000 while median renter household income has only increased 7%. Renters in Los Angeles County need to earn $48.04 per hour to afford the average monthly asking rent of $2,498. Extremely low-income households are hit the hardest, with 77% paying more than half of their income on housing costs compared to 3% of moderate-income households. With lack of funding for affordable housing coupled with increased living costs, minimum wage not keeping up with inflation, and permanent supportive resources geared more towards homeowners, more and more residents are left with few options.

---

The Current Picture in Long Beach
In Long Beach, where 60% of all residents are renters, this affordable housing crisis is happening throughout the city. Our local legacy of racist policies such as redlining, restrictive covenants, exclusionary zoning, and housing discrimination continues to affect communities of color and lead to stark inequalities across places and spaces. In 2016, Long Beach completed a federally-mandated Assessment of Fair Housing demonstrating our lack of affordable housing and housing in general and the need for policies such as inclusionary housing, rent stabilization, and expanded tenant protections. Fifty-five percent of renter households are housing cost-burdened, with Black renters being the most affected at 64%, and rents increased locally by 20% from 2010 to 2020 exacerbating our local housing crisis and leading to overcrowding, substandard housing, and unsustainable housing burdens.

The City’s Housing Element, last updated in 2022, is one of 7 state-mandated elements set forth by the General Plan. It is the guiding document that sets the City’s policy and program direction related to housing including adopting new city ordinances into practice. The goals of the Housing Element include accommodating projected housing demand, increasing housing production, preventing displacement and protecting existing affordable housing, improving housing affordability, facilitating the development of housing for all income levels and household types, and improving the livability and economic prosperity of all City residents and promoting fair housing choice for all. Long Beach is in its 6^th cycle for the Housing Element, coinciding with the planning period of 2021-2029, which projects a need of 26,502 total housing units, 15,346 of those being affordable, under the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA).

The City can meet the fair housing goals of the Housing Element and address historic inequalities by:

• Ensuring fair and equal housing opportunity by increasing production and access to housing in high resource and high opportunity areas,
• Increasing the feasibility of development of underused sites throughout the City, and
• Avoiding overconcentration of lower income housing in neighborhoods of low resources

---

How Can We Do This?
One key way to expand housing affordability and access is for Long Beach to create a local ordinance for a Religious Facility Housing Overlay (RFO). The ordinance will incentivize institutions such as religious institutions and medical centers to develop affordable housing on underutilized portions of an institution’s land. The RFO is a committed action (Program 1.5) of the City’s Housing Element, which means that is required in order to maintain compliance with the California Department of Housing and Community Development and State Housing Element law. Furthermore, the State of California recently adopted Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) known as the Affordable Housing on Faith and Higher Education Lands Act of 2023 which allows for by right affordable housing on any land owned by an independent institution of higher education or religious institution. The City is looking to build upon SB 4 by expanding eligible sites and development potential to facilitate affordable housing in high resources areas to help meet Long Beach’s fair housing goals and obligations. By adopting local regulations that go above and beyond SB 4, the City can work on meeting their affordable housing production goals, utilize undeveloped sites to create much-needed housing, and disperse affordable housing throughout the City with a focus on creating opportunities in high resource neighborhoods. This zoning overlay will take into account the unique needs of our residents, provide quality affordable housing, and encourage a more equitable and resilient Long Beach.

---

What’s Next?
Building upon SB 4, the Advance Planning team is working on a Religious Facility Overlay to allow for by-right housing that has a minimum percentage of affordable units and streamline the permitting process on religious and institutional sites. The team is looking forward to hosting a workshop for interested congregations and affordable housing developers to learn more about the overlay with examples of potential projects and explore partnership opportunities. To receive updates or express interest in this project, please fill out this survey.