Mayor's Corner

By: Mayor Will O’Neill

When I became Mayor in December 2019, I thought that the most difficult issue we would face as a City would be how to respond to Sacramento’s housing mandates.  

 I was wrong.

That said, the state’s housing mandates have proven to be one of the thorniest issues facing our city and cities throughout the state.  As a quick refresher, our state has mandated that every city and county plan for millions of housing units across varying affordability levels in the next eight years.  This is done through a process called the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA).

Here in Newport Beach, we have around 45,000 housing units built over our 120+ years.  Sacramento has mandated that we plan for 4,845 more housing units, or a 12% increase, in the next eight-year period.  Failure to comply has real downside effects, as the City of Beverly Hills discovered in December last year when a trial judge issued a halt to all permits in their city that don’t increase housing.

Over the past few years, we in Newport Beach have taken a measured, nuanced, and intelligent approach to these mandates.  Generally speaking, we expect the vast majority of the housing to be permitted in the airport area, Coyote Canyon, the industrial area, and Newport Center.  Our approach has allowed us to obtain a compliant Housing Element, thus avoiding the Beverly Hills downside.

In November, our residents will have the choice whether to approve that approach when the land use element of our city’s general plan (implementing the housing element) is in front of them.  More information will be ready and available by then, so stay tuned!

 Mayor Will O’Neill is serving his second term as Mayor of Newport Beach, having previously served in 2020.

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