Loomis, California, was established around 1850 as a stopping point for gold miners traveling to the Sierra Nevada mountains, and was primarily known for its thriving fruit industry, with large orchards and packing sheds like the "High Hand" and "Blue Goose" which are still prominent landmarks today; the town officially incorporated in 1984 to preserve its rural character and prevent annexation by neighboring Rocklin, and its name comes from one of its early pioneers, James Loomis, who held various roles including saloon keeper and postmaster in the town's early days. Today the population approx 8,000.
I. Questions regarding areas of existing housing/neighborhood services
What kind of neighborhood, community, rental, or housing programs does the city have? Mediation Services? (see list below) Are services rendered in partnership with the County or does your city provide these services? Are you in partnership with other jurisdictions to provide tenant protections and rental assistance? If so, what are they? How are these services paid for and are records kept regarding those accessing these resources? We would like to know of any discounts or services that may be rendered on behalf of the residents and unhoused residents in your city
A. Loomis has a limited budget, so they partner with other agencies or refer persons to the other agencies programs as applicable:
1. Affordable housing - if an ADU is less than 750 square feet, Loomis waives development fees. Applicants may also use the County’s pre-approved plans.
2. Fair Housing – Refer to County services
3. Foreclosure Assistance – Loomis says they have no funds, so they refer to County
4. PGE or SMUD – Loomis refers people to utility agency programs for discounts. We don’t have SMUD ( Sacramento Municipal Utility District)
5. Household Hazardous Waste Cleanup – Referred to service provider programs (Recology)
6. Gas Company – we refer people to PG&E and their programs for discounts for lower income households.
7. Landlord Tenant Mediation Services –refers to Placer County
Other Housing Resources in Placer – Referred to Placer County services, see: https://www.placer.ca.gov/8244/47521/Community-Resources Also see Housing Resources for Placer County: https://www.partnershiphp.org/Community/Documents/Placer/Placer_Housing.pdf
8. Besides county mediation services, what kind of local tenant protections are in place for residents? Are they working? They say there hasn’t been an issue in regard to this.
9. How is code enforcement is working in the city? Code enforcement is 100% based on the calls and complaints received. The Loomis department operates 2 days a week and prioritizes code cases that present health and safety risks (fire danger, traffic danger, etc.) to ensure citizens safety. This includes ensuring quick action to rectify any cases of substandard living conditions.
· II. Statistics about Affordable Housing.
A. What percent of the city are homeowners, and what percent renters Most are owners? In 2022, 86.1% of housing units in Loomis, California were occupied by their owners. This was an increase from the previous year's rate of 0.6%.
B. What kind of local tenant protections are in place for residents? Are they working? See the Housing Element. State and Federal protections apply. They say there have been no issues.
C. How many affordable housing units exist in the city?
1. Section 8? Project based Section 8?
2. Developed and subsidized by developers?
3. Inclusionary units? Who manages these?
4. Are affordable units spread throughout the city? There are currently no deed-restricted housing units. There are units that are rented for affordable rates, but it’s not under a program or tracking system. It is difficult to have units spread throughout the Town as many areas are on wells and septic systems, have no transit access, and there are floodplains making a number of sites unsuitable for safe development.
5. What percent of the city is cost burdened, spending more than 30% and 50% of their income on housing? 27 percent of all households are overpaying, with 43.6 percent of those households considered lower income. The rates of overpayment are similar between renters and owners. There was no information on those spending more than 50% of their oncome on housing.
6. What percent of the city’s budget is for historical preservation? What percent on affordable housing? The Town budget can be found here: https://loomis.ca.gov/budget/
III. What is the need for more affordable housing and plans to build some?
A. What is the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA numbers)? How has Loomis faired on meeting the RHNA numbers in the past cycle compared to now taken from the Loomis Housing Element (LHE)?
B. What is the attitude of the City Council and staff about the need for more affordable housing? Are they able to afford living in the city? How far do they need to drive to work? Or if they live in the city, do they hope their children and grandchildren can also afford to live close by? Does the city have plans to build affordable housing?
Program 17 and 18. Program 17 of the Housing Element states that Loomis will seek funding to provide housing rehabilitation loans and weatherization services for all residents. Loomis has not pursued CDBG funding because the Town’s median income is too high and therefore Loomis does not qualify. Loomis will coordinate efforts to match potential developers and sites with funding resources for affordable. There is a small fund for funds collected through Development Fees, but it is not a substantial sum that would allow Loomis to build or substantially contribute to an affordable developer. Nevertheless, the LHE, they will provide financial and regulatory incentives for development of subsidized rental housing.
The city said that they have no funds for affordable housing, yet most cities don’t use their own dollars for this, they apply for funding. Most of the funding is accessed by affordable housing developers once the city has provided zoning or land for this purpose. Loomis indicated that there were no developers who showed interest, but they typically cannot demonstrate interest without properly zoned land. Yet, the Loomis Housing Element (LHE) indicates that they are pursuing affordable housing. A landowner of 7 acres was willing to allow 20 units per acre to but this was overturned by a special election. The LHE says they were to do the following to encourage affordable housing, but it is unclear if these were accomplished:
a) By 2023 they were to establish a local housing trust fund similar to the Placer County Housing Trust either in coordination with the County, through a Loomis program, or through a combination of public and private resources via a Linkage fee, and CDBD funds, and other sources, but staff limitations prevented them from applying or create a linkage fee. Also they say the income of the city was too high to apply for CBDG funding.
b) Loomis was to do land banking by May 2023 using General Fund, development fees, permit fees, with the objective of providing 20 units affordable to lower-income households to help local employees.
a) They are also considering an SRO (Single Room Occupancy) development for extremely low income –less than 30% of the AMI which is allowed, but they say there is no staff to do this—could this be changed?
b) One year after the adoption of LHE states they will provide for 15 ADUs—using reduced fees and other streaming measures. Did this happen? It is unclear in the LHE.
c) A number of local policies to promote affordable housing such as density bonuses and ADUs are about making the city in compliant with State law.
d) They were to craft an inclusionary housing ordinance which they did-see below.
C. Building affordable housing on church land.
Yes, Loomis has had two churches inquire about this. They discussed SB 4 and what they could do to provide housing and also garner community support. These churches may still be considering this.
D. TOD –Transit Oriented Development
Loomis is a small town with large rural lots. Its TOD is focused along the center of town where there are transportation hubs and services. They recently increased the allowed housing density in the Central Commercial area of Town to increase the opportunity for affordable units near transportation services and the commercial heart of the town, as opposed to the areas where there are no commercial uses, large agricultural focused lots and no transit service, or its many floodplains that are not appropriate for high density housing.
VII. Inclusionary housing
Their Inclusionary Housing ordinance applies to projects that comprise of 10 or more rental or for-sale units, 10% of all rental units will be affordable rents to very low and low-income households. Five percent shall be affordable to very low-income households and five percent shall be affordable to lower income households. In the case of for-sale units, 10% of all for-sale units in a residential project shall be made available at an affordable cost to lower income households. For project with less than 10 units, the developer is to pay an in-lieu fee or provide ADUs.
Since adoption of inclusionary, Loomis has not had any new subdivisions that would be subject to it, but they have a number that are currently in review that would be subject to it. This is likely due low density zoning that precludes the opportunity for projects of 10 or more dwelling units, making it hard for this ordinance to take effect. The Inclusionary Ordinance can be found here: https://ecode360.com/44176762?highlight=inclusionary&searchId=6662953824303081
VIII. ADUs and SB 9 lot splits
Has there been interest in building ADUs? What are the city’s policies on this? Is there any interest in creating incentives to help folks get low-cost loans to convert their garage or of other structures into and ADU in exchange for Section 8? Loomis has been encouraging ADUs, and has issued permits per the state’s ADU laws, but has noticed that there are less submittals for them as the costs of materials rises. Since 2020 35 new ADUs have been built or permits issued? It is unclear. Ten SB 9 lot splits have been approved. They have only had to question 2 requests for a lot split, one could not fit all the septic systems and structures on the property (no water or sewer in the area) and so they will build an ADU instead and not split the property. With the second one, a developer who had no intention of living on the property to meet the three-year on site requirement and was therefore ineligible for a split, but they were eligible to build ADUs. While it would be great to be able to offer the services of large cities, Loomis doesn’t have the resources or staff.
IX. Questions about Homelessness.
a) How would you describe the extent of homelessness in your jurisdiction? How many were officially counted in the last count? Do you think this is accurate? What have been the homeless counts in the city for the past 5 years? The staff says there were 3 people in the last count. Typically they seem very transient, in town for short periods, leave and maybe come back for a time, then move again.
b) How would you describe the attitude of the city regarding homelessness and what measures are being discussed and implemented to address this? Do the city leaders generally adopt the housing first model? There is concern about homelessness and Loomis allows housing, but they don’t think the demand/homeless population is great enough. There is concern in the general region and there are churches and charities in Town serving the homeless with aid.
c) What is the general attitude of the City Council regarding homeless issues? If there are fears, how would you describe them? There aren’t fears that the homeless population is expanding in Loomis, but if the population expands, there would likely be concerns with the Council and the public as it would be a shift in the norm and people need sufficient care.
d) Is there an openness to having permanent supportive housing? And if so, are the steps to make this happen? Have they purchased land for this? The Town does not have a budget to purchase land.
e) Are there homeless prevention plans and programs in place? If so, please describe them. All of Placer and Navada Counties have one Continuum of Care plan to address homelessness. See: https://dashboard.nubi.io/customfile/7794b811ac8155d9f9ff8f6d79236542.pdf