By Richard Halstead : marinij – excerpt

Marin critics of housing mandates handed down by the state say a new report by Cali- fornia’s auditor validates their objections.

“I applaud the audit,” said Mill Valley resident Susan Kirsch, founder of Catalysts for Local Control. “It is one of the greatest contributions we’ve had to try to get accurate numbers that jurisdictions can rely on.”

The auditor’s report, re- leased last month, supports analysis by the Palo Alto-based Embarcadero Institute that the state mandates are based on inflated estimates of future housing needs, Kirsch said.

“Overall, our audit determined that the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) does not en- sure that its needs assessments are accurate and adequately supported,” wrote Michael Tilden, acting California state au- ditor, in a letter to the governor and the Legislature accompanying the report.

“I firmly believe that the auditor’s report raises enough questions that the state Legislature should look into this and possibly consider eliminating the penalties for not achieving the Regional Housing Needs Assessment mandates, especially if we might need to go back and redo them,” said Novato Council- woman Pat Eklund, a member of the California Alliance of Local Electeds, which pushed for the audit… (attached)

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First of all the RHNA numbers have been proven wrong after a recent state audit. What are we doing about this?