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AB-1501 Planning and zoning: housing development: very low and lower income households.(2021-2022)

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Date Published: 03/26/2021 04:00 AM
AB1501:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 25, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1501

Introduced by Assembly Member Santiago

February 19, 2021

An act to add Sections 65583.5 and 65589.10 to the Government Code, relating to housing.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1501, as amended, Santiago. Housing. Planning and zoning: housing development: very low and lower income households.
(1) Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city, and specified land outside boundaries, that includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. Existing law requires that the housing element include, among other things, an inventory of land suitable and available for residential development.
Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development, in consultation with each council of governments, to determine each region’s existing and projected housing need, and requires each council of governments, or the department for cities and counties without a council of governments, to adopt a final regional housing need plan that allocates a share of the regional housing need to each city, county, or city and county, as provided. If the inventory of sites included in a housing element as described above does not identify adequate sites to accommodate the need for groups of all household income levels pursuant to the allocation of regional housing need, existing law requires that the local government rezone sites within specified deadlines, as provided.
This bill, if specified local governments within the Counties of Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura fail to complete this rezoning to accommodate 100% of the need for housing for very low and lower income households allocated pursuant to Section 65584 within one year of the statutory deadline for that rezoning, would require the department to complete that rezoning on behalf of the local government within one year after the local government becomes subject to these provisions. The bill would prohibit any rezoning by the department under these provisions from requiring or causing displacement of residential tenants or the demolition or alteration of any occupied residential property. The bill would require a local government for which the department completes a rezoning under the bill’s provisions to amend its housing element and zoning ordinances as necessary to accommodate that rezoning.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura.
(2) Existing law provides various reforms and incentives to facilitate and expedite the construction of affordable housing, as provided. 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 of Housing and Community Development 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 their adoption of prohousing local policies, as specified, additional points in the scoring of program applications for housing and infrastructure programs pursuant to guidelines adopted by the department, as provided.
This bill would require that local governments use all necessary incentives and streamlining benefits made available under any other law to ensure that the local government meets its share of the regional housing need for extremely low, very low, and lower income households, allocated as described above. The bill would prohibit the use of incentives and streamlining benefits under these provisions from requiring or causing displacement of residential tenants or the demolition or alteration of any occupied residential property.
(3) This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to amend its provisions to include labor-related requirements.
(4) This bill would include findings that changes proposed by the bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
(5) 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.

Under existing law, there are programs providing assistance for, among other things, emergency housing, multifamily housing, farmworker housing, home ownership for very low and low-income households, and downpayment assistance for first-time home buyers.

This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to housing.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NOYES  

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


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) California’s housing needs have far outpaced existing stock as well as planned development and construction, which has only worsened the state’s affordability and homelessness crises.
(b) The overcrowding rate within the area represented by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is 10.11 percent, 6.76 percent higher than the national average. SCAG’s cost burden rate is 69.88 percent for lower income households, and 18.65 percent for higher income households, 10.88 percent and 8.70 percent higher than the national average respectively. Further, the regional housing need allocation (RHNA) for the fifth revision of the housing element for the SCAG region was impacted by the recession and was significantly lower than SCAG’s RHNA for the fourth cycle.
(c) The County of Los Angeles, for example, has produced less than 3,000 affordable units annually on average, far below its goals. This has led to over half a million low­income renters in the County of Los Angeles not having access to an affordable home. Given these conditions, it is not surprising that the homeless count in the County of Los Angeles went from 58,936 in 2019 to 66,436 in 2020, a 13 percent increase.
(d) On October 15, 2019, the Department of Housing and Community Development issued its final regional housing need assessment determination to SCAG, concluding that the region needs to construct 1,341,827 housing units over the next decade.
(e) The final determination further called for 558,603 units, or 41.6 percent of the total number of units, to be extremely low, very low, or low­income housing. This is more than triple the RHNA for the SCAG region during the 2014–2021 compliance period.
(f) The RHNA process is ultimately a requirement that each region in this state, including the SCAG region, zone sufficiently in order for these homes to have the potential to be built, but it is not a requirement or guarantee that these homes will be built.
(g) Local governments make plans to accommodate their affordable housing units, but too often fail to rezone and follow through with building much needed housing that accommodates low income households, leading to the shortage of affordable housing we see in California today.
(h) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that the determination made by the Department of Housing and Community Development to build sufficient housing units that serve extremely low­, very low­, and low­income households is successfully accomplished in the SCAG region.
(i) It is further the intent of the Legislature that the southern California region provide more affordable housing units to people who are low­income to ensure we prevent further homelessness.

SEC. 2.

 Section 65583.5 is added to the Government Code, to read:

65583.5.
 (a) Notwithstanding any other law, if a local government described in subdivision (b) fails to complete the rezoning required by subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 65583 to accommodate 100 percent of the need for housing for very low and lower income households allocated pursuant to Section 65584 within one year of the statutory deadline for that rezoning, the department shall complete that rezoning on behalf of the local government within one year after the local government becomes subject to this section.
(b) This section shall only apply with respect to the following local governments:
(1) The following counties:
(A) The County of Imperial.
(B) The County of Los Angeles.
(C) The County of Orange.
(D) The County of Riverside.
(E) The County of San Bernardino.
(F) The County of Ventura.
(2) Any city located within the geographic area of the counties described in paragraph (1).
(c) Any rezoning by the department pursuant to this section shall not require or cause displacement of residential tenants or the demolition or alteration of any occupied residential property.
(d) A local government for which the department completes rezoning pursuant to this section shall amend its housing element and zoning ordinances as necessary to accommodate the department’s rezoning. Amendment of a housing element or zoning ordinances pursuant to this subdivision shall be a ministerial duty of the local government.

SEC. 3.

 Section 65589.10 is added to the Government Code, to read:

65589.10.
 (a) All local governments shall use all necessary incentives and streamlining benefits made available under any other law, including, but not limited to, the streamlined, ministerial approval process provided in Section 65913.4, the Density Bonus Law (Section 65915), and the Housing Accountability Act (Section 65589.5), to ensure that the local government meets its share of the regional housing need for extremely low, very low, and lower income households allocated pursuant to Section 65584.
(b) The use of incentives and streamlining benefits pursuant to this section shall not require or cause displacement of residential tenants or the demolition or alteration of any occupied residential property.

SEC. 4.

 It is the intent of the Legislature to amend this act to include necessary labor-related requirements to ensure adequate worker protections.

SEC. 5.

 The Legislature finds and declares that ensuring the adequate production of affordable housing is a matter of statewide concern and is not a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution. Therefore, Sections 2 and 3 of this act adding Sections 65583.5 and 65589.10 of the Government Code apply to all cities, including charter cities.

SEC. 6.

 The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances within the Counties of Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura relating to the development of affordable housing, as described in Section 1 of this act.

SEC. 7.

 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.
SECTION 1.

It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to housing.