Over the past five years, the city of Riverside has permitted less than 4% of state-mandated housing units for residents making below $90,000 a year, according to data provided by the city. The same data also showed the city has permitted more than 40% of its required market-rate housing units for residents making more than $90,000 per year.
“I see that there are too many homeless people due to the fact that the rent is so high right now,” Rose Mayes, executive director of the Fair Housing Council of Riverside County, told The Riverside Record. “We have reported time after time to the city of Riverside that they needed to build more affordable housing.”
If left unaddressed by the deadline, local housing advocates previously warned the city that it could be at risk of state intervention, and the city’s own documentation noted that it could be “vulnerable to lawsuits” if it didn’t proactively meet its housing needs.
The Riverside City Council reviewed the figures as part of its annual General Plan review at the March 10 meeting. The data is set to be submitted to the state to show the city’s implementation progress. Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes was absent.
Riverside first adopted its General Plan in 2007, and updated it in 2021 to incorporate new state policies for housing, public safety and environmental justice, including a regional housing needs allocation (RHNA).
The RHNA, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), is the minimum number of additional housing units each jurisdiction needs to permit over an eight year period to keep up with projected household growth.
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The state, as part of the 2021 general plan update, said the city needed a total of 18,458 units, with that number split between four income brackets: very low, low, moderate and above moderate.
“In 2025, the city issued permits for 564 housing units, 22 of which were in the very low income category, and 542 of which were in the above moderate income category,” Clarissa Manges, the city’s assistant planner, told the council. “From the start of the planning cycle in 2021, until the end of 2025, the city issued permits for a total of 3,613 units.”
Of those units, 3,203 were above moderate, meant for residents making over $90,000 a year. The remaining 414 units were split between the other three designations..
This report was presented months after the city council voted to reject millions in state funding for an affordable housing project that would have created 114 units for low income individuals and people exiting homelessness.
An email sent to the city by HCD representatives in response to the council’s decision, and shared with The Record, the state agency said the city was “far behind” in meeting its RHNA requirements.
The email added that the state housing agency’s data between 2022 to 2024 showed the city permitted 0% of the mandated very low-income units, but more than 31% of its mandated above moderate units.
Last week, local housing advocates urged the council to reconsider that decision, expressing concern that HCD could take legal action if the city does not take action.
“The city is not behind across the board, it is specifically behind on housing for its lowest income residents,” Veronica Garcia, the Inland Counties Legal Services’ housing practice group director said at a March 3 press conference. “Rejecting [the state funding] deepens the deficit [and] it raises serious housing element compliance concerns.”
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