Regional Early Action Planning Program Update 

News

Since 2019, SCAG has been partnering with local jurisdictions to support the planning and development of housing through the Regional Early Action Planning program. With two unprecedented waves of funding, in 2019 and again in 2021, SCAG quickly allocated money to local and sub-regional partners, successfully advocated for maintaining the funding through the budget uncertainty of the past year, and negotiated administrative flexibility from the state to support local project delivery.  

To highlight work completed with $47 million in funding from by the 2019 Regional Early Action Planning program (REAP 1.0), SCAG recently published a REAP 1.0 project list that details investments by county in the SCAG region. Successes in the first phase of REAP laid a strong foundation for additional housing dollars across the state.  

The staff report presented to the Regional Council on Nov. 7 highlights SCAG’s efforts to swiftly restart work under the 2021 Regional Early Action Planning program (REAP 2.0), including:  

  • SCAG successfully negotiated an administrative extension with the California Department of Housing and Community Development, giving grantees an additional seven months to expend grant resources. The new expenditure deadline is June 30, 2026. 
  • This extension supports project delivery after work was paused amid proposed budget cuts of $123 million, which, after collective advocacy efforts, were reduced to $14.5 million in the final adopted budget. Despite the budget reduction, SCAG prioritized fully funding all competitive and formula-based grant awards as approved by the SCAG Regional Council, which include $192 million for 100 projects. 
  • The revised budget reflects a reduction in the SCAG-led regional programs and services originally planned under REAP 2.0 to account for the budget cut, as well as the abridged timeframe for program delivery.     

Dhakshike Wickrema, deputy secretary of homelessness at the California Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, presented to the Regional Council on Nov. 7 to supplement a staff report highlighting how the SCAG Housing Program accelerates housing production through technical assistance and funding programs to support local jurisdictions, subregional partners, and community-based organizations.