SB 1094

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development, in consultation with each council of governments, to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region, and requires the share of a city or county of the regional housing need to include that share of the housing need of persons at all income levels within the area significantly affected by the general plan of the city or county. Existing law requires the housing element to identify adequate sites for housing, as specified. Existing law allows the department to permit a city or county to substitute up to 25% of its obligation to identify adequate sites for any income category in its housing element if the city or county includes a program that commits the local government to provide units in that income category through the provision of committed assistance during the planning period covered by the element to low- and very low income households at affordable housing costs or affordable rents, as specified. Existing law provides that this provision does not apply to any city or county that has not met its share of regional housing needs for low- and very low income households, as specified. This bill would provide that any city or county that has not met its share of regional housing needs for moderate-, low-, and very low income households is not authorized to substitute up to 25% of its obligation to identify adequate sites through a committed assistance program. (2) Existing law requires a city or county to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to, among other entities, the Department of Housing and Community Development. The law requires that the annual report include, among other specified information, the number of net new units of housing, including both rental housing and for-sale housing, that have been issued a completed entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy, and the income category, by area median income, that each unit of housing satisfies, as specified. This bill would authorize the planning agency to include in the portion of its report detailing the number of net new units of housing single-room occupancy units, permanent hotel and motel converted units, floating homes, as defined, and other nontraditional housing units, as those terms are defined, if those units are subject to authorization by the department. Existing law authorizes a planning agency to include in its annual report, for up to 25% of a jurisdiction's moderate-income regional housing need allocation, the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to deed-restricted rental housing for moderate-income households by the imposition of affordability covenants and restrictions for the unit, as specified. This authorization applies only to converted units that meet specified requirements, including that the rent for the unit prior to conversion was not affordable to very low, low-, or moderate-income households and the initial postconversion rent for the unit is at least 10% less than the average monthly rent charged over the 12 months prior to conversion. Existing law authorizes a city or county to reduce its share of regional housing need for the income category of the converted units on a unit-for-unit basis, as specified. This bill would expand these provisions to authorize a planning agency to include the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to deed-restricted rental housing for very low or low-income households. (3) Existing law, for award cycles commenced after July 1, 2021, awards a city, county, or city and county that has adopted a housing element determined by the department to be in substantial compliance with specified provisions of the Planning and Zoning Law and that has been designated by the department as prohousing based upon its adoption of prohousing local policies, as specified, additional points in the scoring of prescribed program applications for housing and infrastructure programs, including the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, the Infill Incentive Grant Program of 2007, and other state programs when already allowable under state law, pursuant to regulations adopted by the department. This bill would remove the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program from the prescribed programs for which the department may award additional points and would provide that additional points shall be awarded for the qualifying infill area portion of the Infill Incentive Grant Program of 2007. The bill would also permit additional bonus points to be awarded under other state programs for which local governments are the sole or primary applicants when already allowable under state law. (4) Existing law establishes the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program of 2019, which requires the Department of Housing and Community Development, upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature, to establish and administer a grant program to allocate those funds to capital improvement projects that are an integral part of, or necessary to facilitate the development of, a qualifying infill project or qualifying infill area, as those terms are defined, pursuant to specified requirements. Existing law prescribes conditions that the qualifying infill project or qualifying infill area shall meet in order to be awarded, including that the project or area be located in a city, county, or city and county that has submitted its annual progress reports and that has adopted a housing element that has been found to be in substantial compliance with specified law. This bill would require that only a qualifying infill area shall be located in a city, county, or city and county that has submitted its annual progress reports and that has adopted a housing element that has been found to be in substantial compliance with specified law. (5) Existing law establishes the Strategic Growth Council and sets forth its powers and duties relating to developing and administering a program for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions through projects that implement land use, housing, transportation, and agricultural land preservation practices to support infill and compact development and that support other related and coordinated public policy objectives, including, among others, preserving and developing affordable housing for lower income households. Existing law requires the council to develop guidelines and selection criteria for the implementation of the program, as specified. This bill would prohibit the guidelines from disqualifying a project applicant that is a nonprofit or for-profit housing developer if the jurisdiction the project is proposed to be located in has not been found by the Department of Housing and Community Development to be in substantial compliance with specified law.