Palo Alto's 2023 to 2031 Housing Element

Every California city has to adopt a housing plan, called a Housing Element, every eight years. The plan has to show where the city could fit its share of the region's housing need and what it will do to remove barriers to building. For Palo Alto, the current cycle covers 2023 to 2031 and the target is 6,086 homes. Council member Pat Burt called that "triple the largest number of units of any previous Element," according to Mountain View Voice reporting in 2024.

This page explains how the plan works, how the city reached certification and what has been reported since. It is general information, not legal advice. For the documents themselves, go to the city's Housing Policies and Projects page. For the history behind today's debates, our page on Palo Alto in the 2010s covers the earlier housing fights.

How a Housing Element works

The state Department of Housing and Community Development, or HCD, sets a housing need for each region. In the Bay Area, the Association of Bay Area Governments divides that number among cities and counties. Each city's share is its Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA, broken down by income level.

A few points are often misunderstood:

• Cities plan; builders build. The city must zone enough land at enough density for its RHNA. It does not have to construct the homes itself.
• Sites must be realistic. The plan lists specific parcels in a site inventory. HCD looks hard at whether sites already in use, such as offices or shopping centers, could actually turn into housing.
• Programs are promises. The plan includes programs the city commits to carry out, such as rezoning, fee changes or faster permits. Progress is reported to the state each year.
• Certification matters. Without a certified plan, a city can lose state funding and faces the builder's remedy, explained below.

Palo Alto's RHNA by income

The city lists its sixth-cycle allocation this way. Income levels are based on area median income, or AMI.

The lower-income categories are the hardest to meet, because those homes usually need subsidies or inclusionary requirements. Palo Alto's below market rate program and nonprofit developers produce most of them.

The road to certification

Bay Area cities had to adopt certified plans by January 31, 2023. Palo Alto missed that date and took about 18 more months to get there. Based on reporting by Palo Alto Online and the Mountain View Voice, the steps went like this:

1. March 2023. HCD rejected the city's first submission, finding it did not do enough to identify local constraints, analyze past housing discrimination or show that its sites could realistically become housing.
2. May 2023. The City Council adopted a revised plan.
3. August 2023. HCD rejected it again, asking for more analysis of sites already in use and of local rules such as the tree protection ordinance and the ground-floor retail requirement.
4. December 2023. The council created a housing focus area on El Camino Real between Page Mill Road and Matadero Road, allowing heights up to 85 feet instead of the historical 50.
5. January 2024. The council upzoned more sites on the housing inventory.
6. April 15, 2024. The council and Planning and Transportation Commission re-adopted the plan.
7. August 20, 2024. HCD found the plan in substantial compliance.

HCD's Melinda Coy wrote that "HCD may revoke housing element compliance if the local government's actions do not comply with state law." That keeps the pressure on the city to carry out its programs.

The builder's remedy proposals

While a city lacks a certified Housing Element, state law lets developers propose projects with a share of affordable homes that do not have to follow local zoning. This is called the builder's remedy. Palo Alto Online counted seven such applications by April 2024, including a 17-story, 177-foot tower on California Avenue. Projects named in local reporting included:

Proposals are not buildings. Some may change, stall or be replaced by other plans, so check the city's project pages for current status. Our California Avenue neighborhood guide covers that district.

Where the plan puts new homes

The certified plan spreads growth across several areas, according to Mountain View Voice reporting on certification:

• El Camino Real. The housing focus area between Page Mill and Matadero, plus looser height and density limits on commercial sites south of Page Mill.
• San Antonio Road and Fabian Way. Commercial and industrial land expected to hold about 2,000 homes. The city is preparing a San Antonio Road Area Plan.
• Transit-friendly residential zones. Upzoning, for example from 40 to 50 homes per acre.
• Downtown parking lots. Some city-owned lots are proposed for housing. The council named Lot T, at Kipling Street and Lytton Avenue, a priority site for a fully affordable project with Alta Housing. Our downtown parking guide notes which lots could change.
• Stanford sites. Three Stanford University opportunity sites.

Backyard cottages count too. Accessory dwelling units are part of the city's production numbers. The city has also worked to streamline ADU permits. See our ADU and SB 9 guide.

Progress and recent developments

The city reports progress in several places. Here is what it has published.

• Numbers through spring 2025. A May 9, 2025 city update reported 522 homes permitted since 2023 (168 of them affordable) plus 2,755 homes in submitted applications, 707 of them affordable. It said the city had invested or committed over $57 million in affordable housing since 2017.
• Annual reports. The city posts Annual Element Progress Reports to HCD, with the 2025 report now listed.
• Housing Dashboard. A dashboard tracking RHNA progress, multifamily projects and ADUs, which the city says is updated monthly.
• Site inventory. The city posted updates to the plan's site inventory appendix in 2026, most recently in August.
• Prohousing Designation. The city applied for the state's Prohousing Designation, which can help with state funding. Drafts went out on May 18, 2026 and the city planned to submit the final application on July 30, 2026. It expected a decision in the fall. We found no announced decision as of November 1, 2026.
• Buena Vista. The county Housing Authority paused redevelopment of the mobile home park at 3980 El Camino Real over cost and funding deadlines and concluded the project as first envisioned is no longer feasible. It is upgrading the park's failing infrastructure instead.

Because 522 permits over roughly two years is well short of the pace needed for 6,086 homes in eight years, expect continued debate over zoning, fees and city-owned land. New housing can also shift school enrollment, as our school boundaries guide explains.

Following and taking part

Frequently asked questions