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Project Goal
Like every city in California, the City of Riverside was challenged by the State Department of Housing & Community Development to identify adequate sites for the future development of a minimum quantity of new housing units, affordable to households at all income levels, over an 8-year planning period (2021-2029). Riverside's allocation was over 18,400 units. The project goal was to use geospatial data and analytical tools to streamline the identification, validation and selection of sites that met the State's criteria to fulfil this obligation.Business Problem Solved
Analyze over 90,000 parcels to assess suitability for potential residential development based on a number of pre-determined factors and, once identified, conduct a yield analysis to identify a sufficient number of adequate sites to meet the State's stringent expectations for planning to meet the City's projected housing needs. The City was successful in identifying adequate sites with a sufficient existing or prospective development capacity to exceed the minimum State allocation of 18,458 units by over 20%. This achievement was instrumental in the City receiving an official Prohousing Designation from the State of California, which awards the City preferential scoring for a number of competitive State grant programs that fund affordable housing construction, infrastructure improvements and more.
Technology Implemented
ArcGIS Urban
Development Team Biography
The project team was lead by Principal Planner Matthew Taylor with major support by former City Planner Mary Kopaskie-Brown and Community & Economic Development Deputy Director Chris Christopoulos. Primary expert consultant expertise, including project management, facilitation and design of ArcGIS Urban modeling, was provided by Houseal Lavigne of Chicago, IL.