Housing Production & Capacity Portal

The Housing Production and Capacity Portal (Portal) tracks progress towards implementing the General Plan by illustrating housing production and land use capacity since 2011. The Portal answers questions like how much and where development is occurring, where are developments in the permit process located, and where there is General Plan dwelling unit capacity remaining?

The Portal results are updated quarterly and are made available on this website.

See an introductory presentation on the Portal

Housing Production & Capacity Portal Results

The Portal collects and aggregates information like existing number of dwelling units, changes to land use capacity, production of housing units, and remaining dwelling unit capacity of the General Plan in a series of heatmaps. The Portal results are updated quarterly and can be accessed through the Housing Production & Capacity Portal Summary, unincorporated community heatmaps, or through an online Portal Search Feature to explore remaining dwelling unit capacity of the General Plan. Portal highlights are include (updated as of 12/8/2021):

Number of Dwelling Units produced since 2011: 7,515
Number of Dwelling Units receiving discretionary permit approval since 2011: 7,865
Changes to the General Plan: Net increase of 3,646 units
Total existing, built, and future dwelling units: 244,908
Potential Remaining Dwelling Unit Capacity in the General Plan: 58,048
- (12,776 units in Specific Plan Areas, 21,938 in villages, 18,299 in semi-rural, and 5,318 in rural)

Click here for maps by Community Planning Area and subareas.

General Plan Dwelling Unit Capacity

Dwelling unit capacity is the difference between the amount of existing development today and the likely amount allowed by the General Plan that could occur from development on vacant or developed lands within the unincorporated area. Construction of these units may or may not happen and depends on obtaining approvals from the County. Infrastructure such as roads, sewers, storm drains, and water connections may be needed. Also, site-specific conditions may limit the number of units constructed such as animal habitats, steep slopes, and flood areas; and demand for new homes.

The Portal Tracks the dwelling unit capacity and reports out results for each community planning area and unincorporated area. You can view the remaining dwelling unit capacity below by clicking on the below:

The graphic below shows the remaining general plan housing capacity by regional category including Specific Plan areas.

The General Plan guides development by broadly defining the unincorporated area into land use designations which fall into three regional categories – Village, Semi-Rural, and Rural Lands. These categories reflect the different character and land use development goals of the County’s developed areas. Specific Plan Areas are consolidated plan that guides the future development, housing units, and design of a certain area.