People Post is a space for opinion pieces, letters to the editor and guest submissions from members of the Long Beach community. The following is an op-ed submitted by 9th District Councilman Rex Richardson, first vice president of the Southern California Association of Governments, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Long Beach Post.

The housing crisis is real, and no community is immune. Across California, the average home price is nearly two and a half  times above the national average, while the average rent is nearly 50% higher than the rest of the country, causing more than 50% of households to spend more than 30% of their paychecks on housing costs.

Let’s be clear. This is about more than simply having an affordable roof over our heads. The cost burden doesn’t simply impact individual families but has far reaching impacts on the quality of life in our communities. Higher housing costs limit what families can spend on food, clothing, healthcare and other essentials, which, in turn, hurts sales tax revenues and the ability of local governments to fund essential services, such as public safety, code enforcement, and the maintenance of city streets and infrastructure. Even our schools feel the strain when housing demand overpowers supplies. Access to housing also impacts a community’s ability to attract businesses and create jobs.

Here in Greater Los Angeles, fewer than one-third of all households (32%) can afford to purchase a median-priced home, according to the California Association of Realtors. That compares to a U.S. average of 55%, as the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in L.A. County now stands at $1,755, and a two-bedroom apartment will cost, on average, $2,235.

All of which brings us to RHNA – the Regional Housing Needs Assessment – the process by which the state determines immediate and future housing needs. California requires that every city and county adequately plan to ensure that housing is available at every income level, using RHNA as the mechanism to make this happen. The RHNA process is our means to acknowledge how big the housing crisis is across the region, determine what individual cities need to do about it, and how we are all going to work together to address the need for housing.

The process starts with public outreach and, eventually, a regional needs assessment determined by the California Department of Housing and Community Development. Later this month, HCD will provide the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and other regional planning organizations across the state with an assigned total for their jurisdictions as part of the next eight-year RHNA cycle, which runs from October 2021 through October 2029.

At this point, we don’t know what that number will be for the six counties that comprise SCAG.  We do know that housing need is substantial, and every jurisdiction will have to contribute to address this regional need.

Whatever that number winds up being, it is SCAG’s legal responsibility to then allocate need on an individual community basis to cities and unincorporated areas within its jurisdiction. Those local allocations can be based on a variety of factors, including population, access to transit, income levels, fair housing and equity, and so on.

Over the past several months, SCAG has come up with three different options for determining local need, and is asking for your help in determining which makes the most sense. It is important that our local voices are included to ensure that the allocation of housing need is both fair and equitable to communities, both large and small. A series of public hearings is scheduled this month, including one in Los Angeles on Tuesday, August 20, at SCAG’s headquarters, 900 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1700. The hearing will be held from 1-3 p.m.

In addition to the hearings, SCAG is encouraging residents and stakeholders to submit written comments to [email protected], or by U.S. mail to: Southern California Association of Governments, Attention: RHNA, 900 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1700, Los Angeles, CA 90017. Comments will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. on September 13.

Your input is extremely important, as SCAG is committed to settling on the fairest methodology possible and doing so in an open and transparent process. More importantly, we are taking the lead in addressing a housing crisis that stands as the single biggest threat to our quality of life throughout Southern California.

You can find out more about the three options by visiting http://www.scag.ca.gov/housing. For questions about the public hearings, please email [email protected].