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Peer Cohorts are designed to connect community planners sharing similar challenges, to provide targeted technical assistance and facilitate longer term peer-to-peer networking. Work Groups are short-term, issue-specific trainings and work sessions for jurisdictions adopting similar legislation or working on similar projects. Cohorts and Work Groups will be staffed and funded at the regional level by ABAG.

ADU Work Group

The RHTA Program is convening an ADU Work Group to help jurisdictions encourage ADU development and meet housing goals. The Work Group will feature five 90-minute sessions and weekly office hours with the consultant team on Wednesdays from 10 am - 11 am. . For more information, email Samantha Dolgoff at Community Planning Collaborative, dolgoff@planningcollaborative.com.

Session 1

ADU Landscape 101: Where are we now?

Date: July 17, 2024

Overview of current ADU building trends, new laws, and best practices. Community context discussion to help identify regional trends in ADU policies, programs, and barriers to inform work plan. Review workshop schedule, work group expectations and products.

and view the slides.

Session 2

Zoning, Streamlining, Preapproving: Steps to Promote ADUs

Date: September 18, 2024

Best practices for improving policies, process, and pre-approved plans. Reducing barriers to ADU production. Speeding up internal reviews. Setting up pre-approved plans programs and processes.

and view the slides.

Session 3

Hot Topics: Amnesty and Condoization

Date: November 20, 2024

Complying with Amnesty state law, best practices and options to legalize safe and habitable ADUs. Review of new ADU condoization state law and case studies.

and view the slides.

Session 4

Affordable ADUs: Fee Waivers, Loan Programs, Affordability and Financing

Date: January 22, 2025

Overview of incentives and strategies to make ADUs affordable to build and rent. Practical review of case studies and best practices for affordability policies, programs and financing.

and view the slides.

Session 5

Helping Homeowners Build ADUs: Putting it all Together

Date to be determined.

Developing public information that is easy to understand and thorough, to help residents through every step of the way and get more ADUs built. Ideas for future tools and resources.

Zoning For Affordability

The Zoning for Affordability Work Group was held in late 2023. These sessions were aimed at jurisdictions looking to:

• Adopt an inclusionary zoning ordinance, density bonus policy or affordable housing overlay zone or similar program; or
• Update their existing ordinance or program to make it more effective.

View details about all the work group sessions, or see details for each of the sessions below.

• Session 1a: Introduction
• Session 1b: Evaluating an Inclusionary Housing Policy
• Session 2: Evaluating Economic Feasibility
• Session 3: Compliance Alternatives
• Session 4: Working with State Policies
• Session 5: Communicating with the Public

Transforming Aging Malls & Office Parks

Completed in the fall of 2022, this work group was designed for local planning, housing and economic development staff interested in learning about the challenges and opportunities involved in transforming aging malls and office parks into neighborhoods affordable to households across the income spectrum.

The work group included six workshops focused on planning, housing and implementation. Each session included practical takeaway information, resources and tools that local staff could readily integrate into their work. Review the sessions here.

In advance of the Work Group, a from a white paper on mall and office reuse challenges and opportunities in the Bay Area and beyond. View the presentation from the webinar.

Leading with Equity

This work group convened in 2022 and was comprised of 15 planning and housing department staff seeking to advance racial and housing equity policies and programs within their Housing Element work. The work group focused on promoting leadership development, capacity building toward navigating institutional change, peer-support and one-on-one coaching. The lessons from the work group helped participants develop tools and products to aid jurisdiction staff in embedding equity into their housing policy and planning work.

Making Middle Housing Work

This work group focused on "missing middle" housing and how to develop and implement a middle housing strategy. The group explored a sequence of topics, as shown in the list below. Materials from each session, including session recordings, slide decks and notes are posted below as well as a list of key products that were created which will be useful to jurisdiction staff. This includes an interactive Middle Housing Feasibility Tool that lets jurisdictions test how changes to development standards can support or hinder middle housing feasibility.

• Session 1: What is the Missing Middle?
• Session 2: The Middle Housing Market
• Session 3: Making Middle Housing Happen
• Session 4: Making Middle Housing Affordable
• Session 5: Projecting Middle Housing Production
• Session 6: Talking about Middle Housing

Key Products

• Middle Housing Feasibility Tool: Accessing this tool requires a password. Email Clair McDevitt for more information.
• Bay Area Middle Housing Market Report
• "Zoning for Middle Housing" Guidebook
• "Making Middle Housing Affordable" Guidebook
• Middle Housing Zoning Changes and RHNA
• Middle Housing Mythbusters
• "What Is Middle Housing?" customizable slide deck

Wildfires – How to Preserve and Protect Housing

This work group was designed for local planning and housing staff interested in learning about how the emerging regular reality of wildfires can be included in agencies land use planning efforts, including Housing Elements and Safety Elements. The work group held four virtual sessions with experts presenting current information and best practices, case studies, and recent experiences. These sessions helped local agencies gain a better understanding of the evolution and behavior of wildfires, defensible space, home hardening, evacuations (new laws, practical approaches, and new models), and responsive land use planning in the (WUI) Wildfire/Urban Interface.

View details about all four Wildfires work group sessions, or see details for each of the sessions below:

• Session 1: Wildfires & Housing 101
• Session 2: Defensible Space & Home Hardening with CAL FIRE Updates
• Session 3: Evacuations – The Law, Practical Approaches & Technology Tools
• Session 4: Land Use Planning in the WUI including ADUs

Peer Cohorts and Work Groups Contact:

For more information, email HousingTA@bayareametro.gov.