Riverside Tests New Unit-Bank Housing Strategy

Riverside will spend the next year testing a new rule that lets housing developers move unused apartment capacity from one site to another on University Avenue. (riversiderecord.org) The City Council approved the pilot unanimously on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. City staff said developers could pull extra units either from a city-run “development bank” or through a direct transfer from another parcel in the same corridor. (riversiderecord.org) The pilot covers the stretch between downtown Riverside and the University of California, Riverside. Staff said parcels that build below their allowed residential limit would deposit those unused units into the bank, and projects seeking more density could withdraw them on a first-come, first-served basis. (riversiderecord.org) The idea starts with a basic zoning problem: each parcel gets a cap on how many homes it can hold, but some sites never use all of that allowance. Riverside says other lots on University Avenue are too constrained at their current limits to make housing projects financeable. (riversiderecord.org) Assistant planner Clarissa Manges told the council that 133 of the 138 parcels in the University Avenue specific plan corridor already allow residential development, but most still do not have housing on them. Deputy community and economic development director Miranda Evans said developers have told the city that projects “pencil” only at higher density. (riversiderecord.org) Riverside is trying this on a corridor where it has pushed multiple housing efforts in the past two years, including a June 2024 council vote to sell 1.7 acres near the Main Library for a $78 million student-housing project. The city also sought $35 million in state Homekey+ funding in May 2025 to convert the Quality Inn at 1590 University Avenue into 114 studio apartments, including 94 permanent supportive housing units. (riversideca.gov, riversideca.gov) The state pressure behind the pilot is not abstract. Riverside’s current housing element covers 2021 through 2029, and city planning documents say Riverside must show capacity for at least 18,458 homes under its Regional Housing Needs Allocation. (riversideca.gov, hcd.ca.gov) California’s Department of Housing and Community Development certified Riverside’s housing element after the city submitted technical changes in 2022. State guidance says housing elements are the main way cities keep local control over zoning while proving they can accommodate required housing growth. (hcd.ca.gov, hcd.ca.gov) Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes said at the April 21 meeting that she had spent five years watching sites on University Avenue struggle to move forward. The city will now use the one-year pilot to see whether shifting unused unit capacity can turn more of those vacant or underbuilt parcels into actual housing. (riversiderecord.org)