The Goleta Planning Commission on Monday refined its General Plan’s Housing Element, voting in a series of suggested document updates made by staff members.

The Housing Element, part of the city’s development blueprint, dictates where and how much different types of housing should go within the city limits. In the years since development of the General Plan, the document has been sent back several times by the Department of Housing and Community Development for revision before it could be certified, as the state has been skeptical of its ability to provide the required affordable housing quota levied on the city. While certification is not mandatory, it would provide a measure of protection against lawsuits over the city’s housing policies.

There is a version of the Housing Element up for review at the state level; that update was triggered by the cyclical Regional Housing Needs Assessment planning period started in 2007.

Among updates to the element was the city’s inclusionary rate — that is, the percentage of affordable housing required from developers in their projects, and the inclusion of families with extremely low incomes as part of the outreach for the inclusionary housing program, and added incentives for developers.

In the past, inclusionary rates were as high as 55 percent, in an attempt to satisfy the Regional Housing Needs Assessment quota, but recently have gone down to 20 percent. Inclusionary requirements for rental housing, already considered affordable, have been eliminated.

A main topic of discussion was the density proposed for residential developments — 20 units to the acre. While the density may not have been an issue in better times, in leaner times such as these, a minimum of 20 units to the acre proves onerous to developers such as Andrew Bermant, whose Village at Los Carneros project has stalled because of, among other things, the unwillingness of today’s lenders to finance more than 10 to 15 units at a time.

“They want to see absorption,” Bermant said to the commission.

It was later clarified between the commissioners and the developer that the 20 units was not a minimum.

Meanwhile, Harwood “Bendy” White, representing two clients, supported the staff’s effort to lift inclusionary rates from special-needs and assisted-living communities, as well as rentals.

Other additions to the Housing Element include plans for a homeless shelter.

The document will go before the City Council for review before the end of August.

— Noozhawk staff writer Sonia Fernandez can be reached at sfernandez@noozhawk.com.