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AB-2988 Planning and zoning: supportive housing: number of units: emergency shelter zones.(2019-2020)

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Date Published: 04/30/2020 09:00 PM
AB2988:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  May 04, 2020

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2988


Introduced by Assembly Members Chu and Chiu
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Ting)

February 21, 2020


An act to amend Section Sections 65650 and 65651 of the Government Code, relating to housing.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2988, as amended, Chu. Planning and zoning: supportive housing: number of units: emergency shelter zones.
The Planning and Zoning Law requires the legislative body of each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city that includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. Under that law, supportive housing, as defined, is a use by right in zones where multifamily and mixed uses are permitted if the developer provides the planning agency with a plan for providing supportive services and the proposed housing development meets specified criteria, including that the housing development consist of 50 units or fewer if it is located in an unincorporated area of a county or city that has a population of fewer than 200,000 and a population of persons experiencing homelessness of 1,500 or fewer.
This bill would, additionally, make supportive housing a use by right in zones where emergency shelters are permitted. The bill would increase the above-described limit on the number of units in a housing development located in a jurisdiction described above to 120. The bill would revise the above-described limit on the number of units in a housing development to 120 or fewer if it is located within a region served by a contimuum of care, as defined, and the most recently published total homeless point-in-time count for the region is 1,500 or fewer.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA does not apply to the ministerial approval of projects.
This bill, by expanding the locations in which, and sizes of, supportive housing that qualify as a use by right, would expand the exemption for the ministerial approval of projects under CEQA.
By adding to the duties of local planning officials, 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.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 65650 of the Government Code is amended to read:

65650.
 For purposes of this article, the following definitions shall apply:
(a) “Contiuum of care” shall have the same meaning as defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in Section 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(a)

(b) “Supportive housing” shall have the same meaning as defined in Section 50675.14 of the Health and Safety Code.

(b)

(c) “Supportive services” shall have the same meaning as defined in Section 65582.

(c)

(d) “Target population” shall have the same meaning as defined in Section 50675.14 of the Health and Safety Code.

(d)

(e) “Use by right” shall have the same meaning as defined in subdivision (i) of Section 65583.2.

SECTION 1.SEC. 2.

 Section 65651 of the Government Code is amended to read:

65651.
 (a) Supportive housing shall be a use by right in zones where multifamily and mixed uses are permitted, including nonresidential zones permitting multifamily uses, and in zones where emergency shelters are permitted, if the proposed housing development satisfies all of the following requirements:
(1) Units within the development are subject to a recorded affordability restriction for 55 years.
(2) One hundred percent of the units, excluding managers’ units, within the development are restricted to lower income households and are or will be receiving public funding to ensure affordability of the housing to lower income Californians. For purposes of this paragraph, “lower income households” has the same meaning as defined in Section 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code.
(3) At least 25 percent of the units in the development or 12 units, whichever is greater, are restricted to residents in supportive housing who meet criteria of the target population. If the development consists of fewer than 12 units, then 100 percent of the units, excluding managers’ units, in the development shall be restricted to residents in supportive housing.
(4) The developer provides the planning agency with the information required by Section 65652.
(5) Nonresidential floor area shall be used for onsite supportive services in the following amounts:
(A) For a development with 20 or fewer total units, at least 90 square feet shall be provided for onsite supportive services.
(B) For a development with more than 20 units, at least 3 percent of the total nonresidential floor area shall be provided for onsite supportive services that are limited to tenant use, including, but not limited to, community rooms, case management offices, computer rooms, and community kitchens.
(6) The developer replaces any dwelling units on the site of the supportive housing development in the manner provided in paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of Section 65915.
(7) Units within the development, excluding managers’ units, include at least one bathroom and a kitchen or other cooking facilities, including, at minimum, a stovetop, a sink, and a refrigerator.
(b) (1) The local government may require a supportive housing development subject to this article to comply with written, objective development standards and policies. However, the local government shall only require the development to comply with the objective development standards and policies that apply to other multifamily development within the same zone.
(2) The local government’s review of a supportive housing development to determine whether the development complies with objective development standards, including objective design review standards, pursuant to this subdivision shall be conducted consistent with the requirements of subdivision (f) of Section 65589.5, and shall not constitute a “project” for purposes of Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code.
(3) Any discretion exercised by a local government in determining whether a project qualifies as a use by right pursuant to this article or discretion otherwise exercised pursuant to this section does not affect that local government’s determination that a supportive housing development qualifies as a use by right pursuant to this article.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, the local government shall, at the request of the project owner, reduce the number of residents required to live in supportive housing if the project-based rental assistance or operating subsidy for a supportive housing project is terminated through no fault of the project owner, but only if all of the following conditions have been met:
(1) The owner demonstrates that it has made good faith efforts to find other sources of financial support.
(2) Any change in the number of supportive housing units is restricted to the minimum necessary to maintain the project’s financial feasibility.
(3) Any change to the occupancy of the supportive housing units is made in a manner that minimizes tenant disruption and only upon the vacancy of any supportive housing units.
(d) If the proposed housing development is located within a city with a population of fewer than 200,000 150,000 or the an unincorporated area of a county with a population of fewer than 200,000, and the city or the unincorporated area of the county has a population of persons experiencing homelessness of 1,500 or fewer, according to the most recently published homeless point-in-time-count, 150,000 and located within a region served by a contimuum of care and the most recently published total homeless point-in-time count for the region is 1,500 or fewer, the development, in addition to the requirements of subdivision (a), shall consist of 120 units or fewer to be a use by right pursuant to this article. A city or county described in this subdivision may develop a policy to approve as a use by right proposed housing developments with a limit higher than 120 units. A policy by a city or county to approve as a use by right proposed housing developments with a limit higher than 120 units does not constitute a “project” for purposes of Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code.
(e) This article does not prohibit a local government from imposing fees and other exactions otherwise authorized by law that are essential to provide necessary public services and facilities to housing developments. However, a local government shall not adopt any requirement, including, but not limited to, increased fees or other exactions, that applies to a project solely or partially on the basis that the project constitutes a permanent supportive housing development or based on the development’s eligibility to receive ministerial approval pursuant to this article.

SEC. 2.SEC. 3.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.