AB 3093

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development that includes, among other things, a housing element. That law defines various terms for purposes of requirements applicable to the housing element. Under existing law, a housing element is required to include specified information, including an analysis of special housing needs, such as those of the elderly, and quantification of the locality's existing and projected housing needs for all income levels, including extremely low income households, calculated as provided. This bill would define acutely low, extremely low, very low, lower, moderate, and above moderate income for purposes of requirements applicable to the housing element, and would make related changes. The bill would modify the specified information required to be included in the housing element, including by removing the calculation method for extremely low income households and by specifying acutely and extremely low income households as a special housing need for the 7th and subsequent revisions of the housing element. This bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to publish, by December 31, 2026, advisory guidance, including, but not limited to, sample analyses and programs, pertaining to special housing needs for acutely low and extremely low income households, as specified. (2) Existing law requires the housing element to include an inventory of land suitable and available for residential development, as specified. Existing law also requires the element to include a program that sets forth a schedule of actions during the planning period that the local government is undertaking or intends to undertake to implement the policies and achieve the goals and objectives of the housing element, as described, and requires the program to identify actions that will be taken to make sites available during the planning period to accommodate the city's or county's share of the regional housing need for each income level that could not be accommodated on sites on the inventory, as described. Existing law requires the program to assist in the development of adequate housing to meet the needs of extremely low, very low, low-, and moderate-income households. This bill would also require, for the 7th and subsequent revisions of the housing element, the program to assist in the development of adequate housing to meet the needs of acutely low income households. Existing law requires sites to be rezoned, among other things, if the inventory of sites does not identify adequate sites to accommodate the need for groups of all household income levels, as specified, in a manner that accommodates 100% of the need for housing for very low and low-income households, as described. This bill would also require, for the 7th and subsequent revisions of the housing element, the 100% accommodation of acutely low and extremely low income households in that program. (3) Existing law requires, for the 4th and subsequent revision of the housing element, the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region in a specified manner. That law provides that household income levels are to be determined by the department pursuant to specified law relating to very low, low-, moderate-, and above moderate-income households. This bill would, for purposes of the above-described determination with respect to the 7th and subsequent revisions of the housing element, include acutely low and extremely low incomes, and direct the determination to be made in accordance with the definitions for those income levels as set forth in the bill. Existing law also requires, for the 4th and subsequent revision of the housing element, the department to meet and consult with the council of governments regarding the assumptions and methodologies to be used by the department in determining the region's housing needs and requires the council of governments to provide data assumptions from the council's projections, including, if available, specified data for the region. This bill would require the council to provide data regarding the housing needs of individuals and families experiencing homelessness, as specified. (4) Existing law requires, at least 2 years before a scheduled revision, each council of governments, or delegate subregion as applicable, to develop a proposed methodology for distributing the existing and projected regional housing need to cities, counties, and cities and counties within the region or subregion, as specified. Existing law requires the final allocation plan to ensure that the total regional housing need is maintained and that each jurisdiction in the region receives an allocation of units for low- and very low income households. This bill would require, for the 7th and subsequent revisions of the housing element, the allocation to each region to also include an allocation of units for acutely low and extremely low income households. (5) Existing law, during a specified timeline, requires the entity that assigned the county's share of regional housing needs to reduce the share of the regional housing needs of a county if certain conditions are met. Existing law, however, reduces the county's share of low-income and very low income housing only in proportion to the amount by which the county's share of moderate- and above moderate-income housing is reduced. This bill would also include, for the 7th and subsequent revisions of the housing element, extremely low and acutely low income housing in this proportional reduction. (6) Existing law authorizes a development proponent to submit an application for a development subject to a streamlined, ministerial approval process if the development complies with certain objective planning standards, among other things. As part of those objective planning standard requirements, existing law requires a development to be located in a specified locality determined by the department and subject to a requirement mandating a minimum percentage of below market rate housing based on certain parameters, depending on whether the locality submitted its latest production report or the conclusions of the report. If the locality submitted its latest production report and the report reflects that there were fewer units of housing issued building permits affordable to either very low income or low-income households by income category than were required for the regional housing needs assessment cycle for that reporting period, existing law requires the development to dedicate 50% of the total number of units, before calculating any density bonus, to housing affordable to certain households. This bill would include units affordable to acutely low income and extremely low income households, as those terms are defined, as units affordable to very low income households. (7) The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. (8) By imposing additional requirements on local governments with regard to streamlined housing approvals and their housing element, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.