DISCUSSION
The Board of Supervisors adopted the 2020-2028 Shasta County Housing Element on July 28, 2020, which was certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) on August 14, 2020. Government Code Section 65400(a)(2) requires that all local jurisdictions in California provide an APR on the status of program implementation and residential construction activity using statutorily required standards, forms and definitions. The forms that constitute the 2022 APR proposed for the Board’s acceptance are attached.
A total of 200 building permits were issued for new dwelling units in 2022. Based on the number of building permits issued in 2021 (206) and 2020 (211) residential construction activity in the County has trended slightly downward over the last three years. The building permits issued for new dwelling units in 2022 consisted of 99 single-family homes, 41 mobile homes, 30 accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and 30 dwelling units issued as part of the Burney Commons project, a multi-family residential project in the community of Burney. The County continues to rebuild after catastrophic fires that have occurred in recent years. In 2022, permits for single-family homes were issued to replace 43 homes lost in the Carr Fire, 10 lost in the Fawn Fire, six lost in the Zogg Fire, three lost in the Salt Fire, one lost in the Delta Fire and one lost in the Peter Pan Fire. In addition, permits for manufactured homes were issued to replace 13 homes lost in the Carr Fire, six lost in the Fawn Fire and five lost in the Zogg Fire. Of the 200 permits issued for new dwelling units in 2022, 88 were to replace units lost to these fires.
Planning staff conducted a market rate analysis to assess the affordability of ADUs constructed in 2022. Owners who constructed ADUs in 2022 were surveyed by phone. Fourteen respondents stated that their units were being occupied at no cost for family members. Three other respondents provided rental rates for their units. In addition to these responses, online listings for permitted ADUs built in prior years were considered. From this data it was determined that ADUs located in the unincorporated area of the County are offered at an average rental rate of $1.29 per square foot. Based on this rental rate and respondents who indicated that their ADUs were occupied at no cost for family members, of the 23 ADUs permitted in 2022, 16 were affordable to very low-income households, six were affordable to low-income households, and one was affordable to moderate-income households.
For the second year in a row, permits issued for new single-family homes decreased from the year before, with 40 (29%) fewer permits issued in 2022 compared to 2021. Permits for manufactured homes decreased slightly in 2022 compared to 2021 with 40 issued permits compared to 42 in 2021. The number of permits issued for ADUs continued to rise, increasing by 17% in 2022 compared to 2021 and having increased every year since ADUs were made legal to build in 2018. ADUs have proven to be a key dwelling unit type in meeting the County’s 2020-2028 Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) targets as shown in 2022 APR Table B (attached and presented below). Based on MLS listings, no single-family homes could be demonstrated as affordable to very low-, low- or moderate-income households.
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