Regional Housing Technical Assistance
When the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) received $23 million in technical assistance funding from the State of California, they engaged Community Planning Collaborative to help strategize how best to apply it for maximum impact. From formulation of the regional strategy to designing and delivering key aspects of the program, Community Planning Collaborative has worked hand-in-hand with ABAG staff to provide an unprecedented level of regional technical support and facilitate collaboration among the 109 jurisdictions in the nine-county region.
Building on the successful model of 21 Elements, we worked with ABAG staff to fund and facilitate creation of county-level planning collaboratives across the region to deliver tailored technical assistance and provide a platform for sub-regional learning, collaboration and action. The funding also delivered nearly $11 million in local grants, and has supported the development of a rich array of tools, templates and work groups—many of which have been developed and delivered by the Community Planning Collaborative team and our partners.
Examples of our work include design and delivery of multi-jurisdiction work groups focused on Missing Middle Housing, Wildlife Mitigation and “Leading with Equity” as well as ongoing work sessions between planning and housing staff from “The Big Three” (San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose). We have also created tools such as a Housing Element RFP template; powerpoint templates and fact sheets to support local staff in explaining new state requirements to their councils and communities; and sample ordinances and legal guidance for implementation of recent state laws. All of the resources we created are found on the program website and technical assistance resource library.
