Affordable Housing Ordinance Update

The City of Brea adopted its Affordable Housing Ordinance in 1993, which requires developers of new residential projects of 20 or more units to designate at least 10% of the units as affordable. With the assistance of housing specialists from Kimley-Horn, the City completed its evaluation and update of the existing Affordable Housing Ordinance (link below) to meet the current and future housing needs of the community. In preparation of the update, Kimley-Horn prepared an Affordable Housing Ordinance Update Considerations Memo to guide the update process (link below).

Existing Affordable Housing Ordinance and Affordable Housing Guidelines

 Affordable Housing Ordinance Update Considerations Memo

Public Outreach Meetings

Stakeholder Workshop

The City and Kimley-Horn held a virtual workshop in November 2022 with representatives from professional organizations and developers to discuss challenges faced when constructing affordable housing and feedback for the City to consider when updating the Ordinance.

Community Workshop 

A City-wide community workshop was held in February 2023 at the Civic and Cultural Center to learn about the Affordable Housing Ordinance and provide comments on the draft recommendation of updates.  For those who were unable to attend the workshop a link to the presentation is below.

Community Workshop Presentation

Public Review/Comment Period - Closed

City staff took into consideration feedback from the community, recommendations from Kimley-Horn, as well as current affordable housing trends, and finalized the updated Affordable Housing Ordinance and Guidelines draft.  For reference, a link to the current Ordinance and Guidelines can be found above ("Existing Affordable Housing Ordinance and Affordable Housing Guidelines").  Below are links to view redline and clean versions of the draft updated Ordinance and Guidelines.

Affordable Housing Ordinance and Affordable Housing Guidelines Final Draft (redline)

Affordable Housing Ordinance and Affordable Housing Guidelines Final Draft (clean)

Ordinance Adoption

The updated Affordable Housing Ordinance and Guidelines final draft was presented to the Planning Commission on June 13, 2023, where the public also had an opportunity to provide comments during the Public Hearing.  With a 5-0 vote, the Planning Commission recommended the Ordinance proceed to City Council for adoption.

The updated Affordable Housing Ordinance and Guidelines final draft was introduced to the City Council on July 18, 2023, where the public also had an opportunity to provide comments during the Public Hearing.  The Ordinance and Guidelines were approved by the City Council with a 5-0 vote on August 15, 2023.  The adopted updated Affordable Housing Ordinance and Guidelines will go into effect 30 days from August 15, 2023.