State accepts Hollister’s Housing Element

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More than two years after it was due, Hollister’s Housing Element was accepted by the state but will remain out of compliance until it completes required rezoning, according to a letter by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

The city submitted the state-required document identifying how it will accommodate the construction of 4,163 housing units through 2030, known as the Regional Housing Needs Assessment, following a public review period which ended on Feb. 11.

“The revised draft element meets the statutory requirements that were described in HCD’s January 31, 2025 review,” a letter dated Feb. 13 states. “However, the housing element cannot be found in substantial compliance until the City has completed and submitted the necessary rezones to make prior identified sites available and accommodate the lower-income Regional Housing Needs Allocation.”

Hollister City Manager Ana Cortez announced the state had approved the Housing Element on Feb. 17 saying it was a “huge milestone.”

She told BenitoLink the Planning Commission is likely to consider Housing Element, including rezoning, in March before it goes for final approval to the City Council.  

Amid a political battle over how Hollister should grow, the latest version of Hollister’s Housing Element increases the total number of units by 614 that can be built, compared to the version that was considered in 2024. 

The 2024 version was tied to the city’s 2040 General Plan, which was adopted in December 2024, but rescinded by the new 2025 City Council after a successful referendum by a local activist group, Hollister Guardians. The three incoming council members ran on slowing growth.

Former Hollister Mayor Mia Casey said she didn’t understand why the city was accommodating more capacity. 

“This is not slow growth,” she said.

She said while the state recommends a “buffer” to the Regional Housing Needs Assessment requirements, the city should make an effort to account for 40% more of the RHNA numbers rather than the current 200%. 

Mayor Roxanne Stephens and councilmembers Rudy Picha and Priscilla De Anda did not respond to BenitoLink’s request for comment.

Casey, who left office a year after the Housing Element was due, said the city was late submitting it during her tenure because it was tied to efforts to update the city’s general plan, which began in 2020.

The Housing Element is the only section of a General Plan that needs to be updated typically every eight years. The General Plan serves as a jurisdiction’s blueprint for growth.

The latest version of the Housing Element says the properties identified for rezoning could accommodate up to 6,043 units in addition to the 2,321 units that can be developed in the existing sites, for a total of 8,364.

By comparison, in the draft released for public review in November 2024, the city identified a maximum of 5,373 units to be potentially developed in properties it intended to rezone, in addition to the 2,377 units that can be developed in the existing sites for a total of 7,750 units.

The Housing Element splits those units differently across different categories of household income levels with 1,413 designated for very low and low income buyers, 1,172 for moderate income buyers and 3,458 above moderate income buyers. 

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