Prohousing Designation Program (PDP)

What is the Prohousing Designation Program?

The Prohousing Designation Program is an initiative by the State of California that incentivizes local governments to adopt policies and practices to proactively meet California housing goals and promote housing development. By attaining Prohousing Designation, the City of Placentia is acknowledged by the state for demonstrating a strong commitment to housing production and implementing policies that facilitate housing development, streamline approval processes, and remove barriers to development.

What are the benefits of being Prohousing Designated?

Prohousing Designation is crucial for creating affordable housing as these projects depend on federal and state funding assistance to be viable. Attaining this designation will allow for more funding opportunities and infrastructure grants for developers to build their projects through programs such as Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC), Transformative Climate Communities (TCC), Infill Infrastructure Grant (IIG), and more. Furthermore, these projects will propel forward with less delays and foster a more favorable environment for housing development that will ultimately increase housing availability, attract more residents, and enhance the local economy.

Public Involvement

Your input is vital to the success of our efforts in attaining Prohousing Designation. To hear your thoughts and ideas on this next step and how we can improve housing availability, we are asking you to take a few moments to complete our survey (English) or (Spanish). Participating in this survey will help shape the future of housing development in the City of Placentia and ensure our actions aligns with the needs and aspirations of communities and residents. If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact Lesley Whittaker, Associate Planner, at (714)993-8149 or email LWhittaker@placentia.org. 

Application Information

Applying for Prohousing Designation requires jurisdictions meeting a series of requirements such as having a certified Housing Element, engaging in Public Participation, being in compliance with applicable state housing law, and more. Additionally, the application consists of five appendices:

Appendix 1: Formal resolution
Appendix 2: Proposed policy completion schedule
Appendix 3: Project proposal scoring sheet
Appendix 4: Policies with enhancement factors
Appendix 5: Additional supporting documentation

Evaluation of the City's application will be based on enacted and proposed policies in the following categories: (1) Favorable Zoning and Land Use, (2) Acceleration of Housing Production Timeframes, (3) Reduction of Construction and Development Costs, and (4) Providing Financial Subsidies. Enhancement factors allow policies to accumulate more points in those categories if they align with state priorities such as preventing displacement, promoting fair housing, and mitigating climate change. To achieve Prohousing Designation, a jurisdiction must demonstrate that at least one policy has been enacted or proposed contributing to the acceleration of housing production in each of the four categories and acquire a minimum score of 30 points.

City of Placentia Prohousing Designation Application:

City of Placentia Prohousing Designation Application

City of Placentia Prohousing Designation Application Documentation

City of Placentia Prohousing Designation Application (Revised May 2025)