For City Council Meeting [June 13, 2023]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Arron Brown, Acting City Manager
FROM: Colby Cataldi, Director of Community Development
Title
Request City Council Approve the Submission of an Application to the Southern California Association of Governments for Consultant and Technical Assistance through the Housing Infill on Public and Private Lands Program.
Body
BACKGROUND
The Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) program, established in 2019 by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), provides funding for planning activities aimed at accelerating housing production. REAP Grants of 2021 (REAP 2.0) expand the program for planning and implementation investments that support infill development.
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) has opened a call for applications under REAP 2.0. The Housing Infill on Public and Private Lands program (HIPP) seeks to support projects that scale up "development of surplus publicly owned land or underutilized privately owned land that can be redeveloped with affordable or mixed income housing and ancillary neighborhood serving businesses and supporting infrastructure."
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
In the City's Downtown Area, the HIPP program may be used to advance the Rialto Downtown Vision and Strategic Plan and redevelopment of underutilized land. While opportunity sites are distributed throughout the Downtown, they have not been developed due to certain constraints. The constraints include small lots that are difficult to develop based on limited size, the need for lot consolidation, the lack of economies of scale, inadequate infrastructure, and the lack of awareness of development opportunities in the development community.
Through the assistance of government real estate services, funded through the HIPP program, the City may better understand opportunities and constraints, identify strategies to overcome those constraints, dispose of p...
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