Riverside housing committee weighs replacing the city's ADU ordinance with state law and reviews homelessness services goals
A staff report for the Housing and Homelessness Committee's Oct. 26 meeting says yearly changes in state law keep putting Riverside's accessory dwelling unit rules out of step. A review of the homelessness plan found two of nine service objectives met.
In a report for the City Council Housing and Homelessness Committee's Oct. 26 meeting, Riverside planning staff recommended that the city repeal its accessory dwelling unit ordinance and rely instead on state law plus the state housing department's ADU handbook.
The committee's agenda also included a review of progress on the second goal of the city's 2022 Homelessness Action Plan.
The records reviewed do not show what direction the committee gave on any item. No minutes for the meeting were found.
ADU rules
In past years the city updated its ADU ordinance annually to keep up with new state laws and interpretations, according to a Community and Economic Development report. The changes keep creating conflicts, staff wrote.
As an example, the report says the state's 2024 handbook interpreted the law as requiring cities to permit three units beyond a main home: one detached ADU, one junior ADU and one that is attached or converted. The 2026 edition raises that to four by allowing two detached units.
Staff say Riverside's rules generally match the most permissive state standards and in some cases go further. The city requires no added parking for ADUs and treats tiny homes built on a chassis as movable ADUs, which state law does not address, the report says.
The parking rules sit in a separate ordinance and would not change, according to staff.
The committee was also asked how to handle SB 1123, which allows small subdivisions with as many as 10 lots to be approved ministerially. Questions included whether to allow ADUs on those lots, whether to let owners sell ADUs separately as condominiums under AB 1033 and whether to set standards for leftover remainder parcels.
Staff recommended adopting remainder parcel standards.
In the report's survey of other cities, Fontana, Ontario, Corona, Rialto, Moreno Valley, Redlands, Jurupa Valley and San Bernardino had not adopted ordinances allowing ADUs with SB 1123 projects or the separate sale of ADUs, while Los Angeles and San Diego had.
Homelessness plan
The council adopted the six-goal plan on Oct. 11, 2022. The committee is reviewing one goal a month, with homelessness prevention scheduled for Nov. 23 and the last goal for Feb. 22, 2027.
Goal two calls for more physical health, mental health and substance use treatment services. Of its nine objectives, staff marked two achieved, four in progress and three not achieved.
The two achieved were a 15% yearly increase in social work interns and launching CARE Court by Oct. 1, 2023.
The three not achieved were 5% yearly reductions in chronic homelessness and in homelessness among people with substance abuse problems, plus a 25% yearly increase in people accepting help from the street nurse and the Public Safety and Engagement Team. Staff noted that data for those three comes from the Point-in-Time Count, which is not taken every year.
Staff proposed dropping the street outreach placement target and the completed CARE Court objective, and rewriting others with more measurable results. The report also cites a new rule requiring agencies awarded state HHAP homelessness grants to put up a 30% match.
Housing pipeline
A separate Housing Authority update says the agency's pipeline holds 343 affordable units, 41 transitional units and 24 units of permanent supportive housing. Forty of the affordable units came through the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 and the state's density bonus law.
