In response to the region’s housing crisis, SCAG developed a comprehensive package of guidance materials to help local governments accelerate the CEQA and administrative processes to expedite needed additional residential supply. The materials include user-friendly resources and toolkits to help local planning agency staff with day-to-day housing application processing and simplifying internal entitlement processes, such as expanding the use of ministerial approvals, to avoid delays and added expenses that can exacerbate the housing crisis.
A questionnaire for SCAG’s member agencies began the work to better understand the challenges that local jurisdictions are facing when understanding or implementing streamlining housing approvals with existing tools and resources, as well as preferences for tools that would be most helpful. A suite of resource guides have been prepared to help users determine whether CEQA applies to the project, whether various exemptions may fit to avoid or streamline CEQA documentation, and how to apply the range of streamlining options. A series of workshops and technical assistance office-hour sessions were conducted to share the information and resources with jurisdictions throughout the SCAG region.