City PRocessing update: REPLACEMENT UNIT DETERmination APPLICATION (RUD)

The Housing Crisis Act of 2019, as amended by SB 8 (California Government Code Section 66300 et seq.), commonly referred to as the “HCA,” prohibits the approval of any proposed housing development project on a site that will require demolition of existing dwelling units or occupied or vacant “protected units” unless the project replaces those units. Additionally, the HCA requires new housing development projects to provide at least as many residential dwelling units that exist on the property within the past five (5) years before submitting the project application.

The owner/applicant/agent MUST complete the RUD process with the Planning Division PRIOR to submitting the application(s) for land use entitlements associated with the project if existing residential units are proposed for demolition. Additionally, proof of completion of the RUD application is REQUIRED as part of the land use entitlement application.

Please click here to view the application packet which provides additional information on the RUD process.

For more information, please contact Christine Delostrinos at 310-285-1125 or cdelostrinos@beverlyhills.org.

VERY LOW INCOME AFFORDABLE UNIT AVAILABLE

250 North Crescent Drive, Beverly Drive, CA 90210

UPDATE: The application window for this unit closed on November 3, 2023, and the lottery drawing has been completed. If you have applied for this unit, an email from the City's housing consultant, HouseKeys, was sent on January 9, 2024. This email provides your placement on the lottery list, instructions for creating an account on the HouseKeys portal, and that HouseKeys will notify you if your lottery number has been selected in the placement process. 

For additional questions or if you did not receive an email please email the City at affordablehousing@beverlyhills.org.

Thank you! Your patience and understanding are greatly appreciated!

GENERAL INFORMATION ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING

To download a PDF guide on the affordable housing program, click HERE.

The Affordable Housing Guidelines, which guide the affordable housing application and placement process for both developers of affordable housing and the City can be found HERE. 

*However, please note that the occupancy priority list was updated in 2019 and has not been incorporated into the Affordable Housing Guidelines document.  The current updated occupancy priority list can be found HERE, which the City currently implements in the affordable housing placement process. The ordinance that adopted this priority list can be found here: Occupancy Priority List Ordinance.

What is “affordable housing”?

Although this term can have various meanings, when the City refers to affordable housing it is meant to describe housing units that have been constructed as part of a private development project and are required to be set aside and rented at a rate that is affordable to a certain income level.

The role of the City’s affordable housing program is to work with the developer to ensure that the affordable housing unit is rented out to a household that is qualified based on their level of income. The City also works with the developer to ensure that the application process for the affordable housing units complies with the City’s affordable housing guidelines, which set forth the appropriate process for accepting and processing applications for the housing unit.

The income levels are determined using the Area Median Income (AMI) at the county-level, which are based on household size, and are are set by the state Department of Housing and Community (HCD) each year. The current AMI for Los Angeles County is $98,200, which is then used to set the limit for income levels for various household sizes.  The income levels are generally calculated as follows:

• Acutely low income: 0-15% of AMI
• Extremely low income: 15-30% of AMI
• Very low income: 30% to 50% of AMI
• Low income: 50% to 80% of AMI
• Moderate income: 80% to 120% of AMI

The current income levels set for Los Angeles County in 2023 can be found here, and are copied below:

What are the affordable levels of housing costs?

The affordability level of the housing unit is based on an assumption that a household should not spend more than 30% of gross monthly income on housing costs.  Housing costs typically include rent and certain utilities costs.

Table 2 below shows the total monthly housing cost that would be affordable for the various income levels in Table 1. It is calculated by taking 30% of the income amount, divided by 12. This can be used to estimate the amount of rent that would be affordable on a monthly basis for the income levels in Los Angeles County:

For example, if a development project includes an affordable housing unit that is set aside for a very-low income household, a 1-person household would qualify for this unit if their gross annual income falls within the range of: $26,500 to $44,150, and their monthly housing cost would be limited to the range of: $662.51 to $1,103.75.

Does the City require that developers provide affordable housing units?

The City recently enacted an inclusionary housing ordinance, which requires a certain number of affordable housing units to be provided in new multi-family residential developments (apartments or condominiums) that are built in the City and contain a certain number of units.  For projects with 5-9 units, one affordable unit is required (or a developer can pay a fee in lieu of physically providing the units that will be placed into the City’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund). For projects with 10 units or more,  10%  of  the  housing  units  are  required  to  be  affordable units.

Will the affordable housing units be rental or for-sale units?

The inclusionary housing ordinance also requires that units in multi-family residential developments (apartments or condominiums) are rental units. The ordinance requires that affordable for-sale units are provided if a single-family subdivision is being constructed, but these types of development are rare in the City.  Therefore, the majority of affordable housing units in the City currently existing or that will be built in the future will be for rent.

How do I apply for affordable housing units?

Once affordable housing units become available (if existing units are vacated or if new units are constructed), the City will begin the application process with the developer.  During this process, the developer will advertise the start date on which they will accept applications for the housing unit in advance, and the City will also notify the affordable housing notification list of this date. This will provide notice for any interested party to fill out the affordable housing application, and provide the required documentation.  Once the developer and the City receives applications, they will process them to determine whether an application qualifies for the unit based on their income level.

If the household qualifies for the unit based on their income level, the City will then rank the applications based on the priority list for affordable housing placement.  The Affordable Housing Occupancy Priority Ranking was determined by the City Council, and is summarized below.  More information on the ranking categories can be found here. Additionally, the adopted City Ordinance can be found here. 

Once the income-qualified applications are sorted per the above ranking categories, the units will be offered to qualified households in Tier 1 first, then Tier 2, and so on, until the units are occupied.

How do I sign up to be notified about affordable housing opportunities?

If you would like to receive email notifications when an application period for an affordable housing unit(s) begins, please email: affordablehousing@beverlyhills.org and ask to be added to the notification list, or sign up through the form on this webpage.  Once an application period for an affordable housing unit(s) is opened, an email notification will be sent to this list, as well as in advance of the start date for the application period.

QUESTIONS

For general questions and to receive emails about affordable housing in the City, please email: affordablehousing@beverlyhills.org.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

The Housing Rights Center provides a resource for affordable housing listings located in the greater Los Angeles and Ventura County areas.  Please check their webpage Project Place for these listings, and please note that they update these on a monthly basis.