SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) The lack of adequate housing and affordable housing available in this state is a matter of statewide concern.
(2) California is experiencing a housing supply crisis, with housing demand far outstripping supply. In 2018, California ranked 49th out of the 50 states in housing units per capita.
(3) Consequently, existing housing in this state, especially in its largest cities, has become very expensive. Seven of the 10 most expensive real estate markets in the United States are in California. In San Francisco, the median home price is $1.6 million.
(4) California is also experiencing rapid year-over-year rent growth with three cities in the state having had overall rent growth of 10 percent or more year-over-year, and of the 50 United States cities with the highest United States rents, 33 are cities in California.
(5) California needs an estimated 180,000 additional homes annually to keep up with population growth, and the Governor has called for 3.5 million new homes to be built over the next seven years.
(6) The housing crisis has particularly exacerbated the need for affordable homes at prices below market rates.
(7) The housing crisis harms families across California and has resulted in all of the following:
(A) Increasing poverty and homelessness, especially first-time homelessness.
(B) Forcing lower income residents into crowded and unsafe housing in urban areas.
(C) Forcing families into lower cost new housing in greenfields at the urban-rural interface with longer commute times and a higher exposure to fire hazard.
(D) Forcing public employees, health care providers, teachers, and others, including critical safety personnel, into more affordable housing farther from the communities they serve, which will exacerbate future disaster response challenges in high-cost, high-congestion areas and increase risk to life.
(E) Driving families out of the state or into communities away from good schools and services, making the ZIP Code where one grew up the largest determinate of later access to opportunities and social mobility, disrupting family life, and increasing health problems due to long commutes that may exceed three hours per day.
(8) The housing crisis has been exacerbated by the additional loss of units due to wildfires in 2017 and 2018, which impacts all regions of
the state. The Carr Fire in 2017 alone burned over 1,000 homes, and over 50,000 people have been displaced by the Camp Fire and the Woolsey Fire in 2018. This temporary and permanent displacement has placed additional demand on the housing market and has resulted in fewer housing units available for rent by low-income individuals.
(9) Individuals who lose their housing due to fire or the sale of the property cannot find affordable homes or rental units and are pushed into cars and tents.
(10) Costs for construction of new housing continue to increase. According to the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley, the cost of building a 100-unit affordable housing project in the state was almost $425,000 per unit in 2016, up from $265,000 per unit in 2000.
(11) Lengthy permitting processes and approval times, fees and costs for parking, and other requirements further exacerbate cost of
residential construction.
(12) The housing crisis is severely impacting the state’s economy as follows:
(A) Employers face increasing difficulty in securing and retaining a workforce.
(B) Schools, universities, nonprofits, and governments have difficulty attracting and retaining teachers, students, and employees, and our schools and critical services are suffering.
(C) According to analysts at McKinsey and Company, the housing crisis is costing California $140 billion a year in lost economic output.
(13) The housing crisis also harms the environment by doing both of the following:
(A) Increasing pressure to develop the state’s farmlands, open space, and rural interface areas to build affordable housing, and increasing fire hazards that generate massive greenhouse gas emissions.
(B) Increasing greenhouse gas
emissions from longer commutes to affordable homes far from growing job centers.
(14) Homes, lots, and structures near good jobs, schools, and transportation remain underutilized throughout the state and could be rapidly remodeled or developed to add affordable homes without subsidy where they are needed with state assistance.
(15) Reusing existing infrastructure and developed properties, and building more smaller homes with good access to schools, parks, and services, will provide the most immediate help with the lowest greenhouse gas footprint to state residents.
(16) In light of the foregoing, the Legislature in 2020 declared a statewide housing emergency, to be in effect until January 1, 2025.
(b) Thus, for the purposes of furthering fair housing goals, it is the intent of the Legislature to prohibit, commencing January 1, 2022, enforcement of single-family zoning provisions in a charter city’s
charter if more than 90 percent of the residentially zoned land in the city is zoned for single-family housing or if the city is characterized by a high degree of zoning that results in excluding persons based on their rate of poverty, their race, or both.