Bill Text: CA AB594 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Land use: housing element.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-02 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB594 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB594-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 594 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 4, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 20, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Harkey
FEBRUARY 25, 2009
An act to amend Section 65583.1 of the Government Code, relating
to land use.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 594, as amended, Harkey. Land use: housing element.
The Planning and Zoning Law requires each city, county, and city
and county to prepare and adopt a general plan that contains certain
mandatory elements, including a housing element that analyzes
existing and projected housing needs and includes a statement of
goals, quantified objectives, policies, financial resources, and
scheduled programs for the maintenance, preservation, improvement,
and development of housing. The housing element is required to
identify the existing and projected housing needs of all economic
segments of the community. The Department of Housing and Community
Development is authorized to allow a city , county,
or city and county to substitute the
provision of units for up to 25% of the community's obligation to
identify adequate sites for any income category in its housing
element, as specified, when the community includes in its housing
element a program committing the local government to provide units in
that income category within the city, county, or city and county
that will be made available through the provision of committed
assistance during the planning period covered by the housing element
to low- and very low income households at affordable housing costs or
affordable rents, as defined.
This bill would authorize the department to allow a city
, county, or city and county to
substitute the provision of units for up to 50% of its site
identification obligation if it includes in its housing element a
program to provide units within the city or county in any income
category that will be made available to low- and very low income
households through the provision of committed assistance, as defined.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 65583.1 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
65583.1. (a) The Department of Housing and Community Development,
in evaluating a proposed or adopted housing element for substantial
compliance with this article, may allow a city or county to identify
adequate sites, as required pursuant to Section 65583, by a variety
of methods, including, but not limited to, redesignation of property
to a more intense land use category and increasing the density
allowed within one or more categories. The department may also allow
a city or county to identify sites for second units based on the
number of second units developed in the prior housing element
planning period whether or not the units are permitted by right, the
need for these units in the community, the resources or incentives
available for their development, and any other relevant factors, as
determined by the department. Nothing in this section reduces the
responsibility of a city or county to identify, by income category,
the total number of sites for residential development as required by
this article.
(b) Sites that contain permanent housing units located on a
military base undergoing closure or conversion as a result of action
pursuant to the Defense Authorization Amendments and Base Closure and
Realignment Act (Public Law 100-526), the Defense Base Closure and
Realignment Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-510), or any subsequent act
requiring the closure or conversion of a military base may be
identified as an adequate site if the housing element demonstrates
that the housing units will be available for occupancy by households
within the planning period of the element. No sites containing
housing units scheduled or planned for demolition or conversion to
nonresidential uses shall qualify as an adequate site.
Any city, city and county, or county using this subdivision shall
address the progress in meeting this section in the reports provided
pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 65400.
(c) (1) The Department of Housing and Community Development may
allow a city or county to substitute the provision of units for up to
25 50 percent of the community's
obligation to identify adequate sites for any income category in its
housing element pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of
Section 65583 where the community includes in its housing element a
program committing the local government to provide units in that
income category within the city or county that will be made available
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 defined in
Sections 50052.5 and 50053 of the Health and Safety Code, and which
meet the requirements of paragraph (2). Except as otherwise provided
in this subdivision, the community may substitute one dwelling unit
for one dwelling unit site in the applicable income category. The
program shall do all of the following:
(A) Identify the specific, existing sources of committed
assistance and dedicate a specific portion of the funds from those
sources to the provision of housing pursuant to this subdivision.
(B) Indicate the number of units that will be provided to both
low- and very low income households and demonstrate that the amount
of dedicated funds is sufficient to develop the units at affordable
housing costs or affordable rents.
(C) Demonstrate that the units meet the requirements of paragraph
(2).
(2) Only units that comply with subparagraph (A), (B), or (C)
qualify for inclusion in the housing element program described in
paragraph (1), as follows:
(A) Units that are to be substantially rehabilitated with
committed assistance from the city or county and constitute a net
increase in the community's stock of housing affordable to low- and
very low income households. For purposes of this subparagraph, a unit
is not eligible to be "substantially rehabilitated" unless all of
the following requirements are met:
(i) At the time the unit is identified for substantial
rehabilitation, (I) the local government has determined that the unit
is at imminent risk of loss to the housing stock, (II) the local
government has committed to provide relocation assistance pursuant to
Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 7260) of Division 7 of Title 1
to any occupants temporarily or permanently displaced by the
rehabilitation or code enforcement activity, or the relocation is
otherwise provided prior to displacement either as a condition of
receivership, or provided by the property owner or the local
government pursuant to Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 17975) of
Chapter 5 of Part 1.5 of Division 13 of the Health and Safety Code,
or as otherwise provided by local ordinance; provided the assistance
includes not less than the equivalent of four months' rent and moving
expenses and comparable replacement housing consistent with the
moving expenses and comparable replacement housing required pursuant
to Section 7260, (III) the local government requires that any
displaced occupants will have the right to reoccupy the rehabilitated
units, and (IV) the unit has been found by the local government or a
court to be unfit for human habitation due to the existence of at
least four violations of the conditions listed in subdivisions (a) to
(g), inclusive, of Section 17995.3 of the Health and Safety Code.
(ii) The rehabilitated unit will have long-term affordability
covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available to,
and occupied by, persons or families of low- or very low income at
affordable housing costs for at least 20 years or the time period
required by any applicable federal or state law or regulation.
(iii) Prior to initial occupancy after rehabilitation, the local
code enforcement agency shall issue a certificate of occupancy
indicating compliance with all applicable state and local building
code and health and safety code requirements.
(B) Units that are located in a multifamily rental housing complex
of four or more units, are converted with committed assistance from
the city or county from nonaffordable to affordable by acquisition of
the unit or the purchase of affordability covenants and restrictions
for the unit, are not acquired by eminent domain, and constitute a
net increase in the community's stock of housing affordable to low-
and very low income households. For purposes of this subparagraph, a
unit is not converted by acquisition or the purchase of affordability
covenants unless all of the following occur:
(i) The unit is made available at a cost affordable to low- or
very low income households.
(ii) At the time the unit is identified for acquisition, the unit
is not available at an affordable housing cost to either of the
following:
(I) Low-income households, if the unit will be made affordable to
low-income households.
(II) Very low income households, if the unit will be made
affordable to very low income households.
(iii) At the time the unit is identified for acquisition the unit
is not occupied by low- or very low income households or if the
acquired unit is occupied, the local government has committed to
provide relocation assistance prior to displacement, if any, pursuant
to Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 7260) of Division 7 of Title
1 to any occupants displaced by the conversion, or the relocation is
otherwise provided prior to displacement; provided the assistance
includes not less than the equivalent of four months' rent and moving
expenses and comparable replacement housing consistent with the
moving expenses and comparable replacement housing required pursuant
to Section 7260.
(iv) The unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition at the
time of occupancy.
(v) The unit has long-term affordability covenants and
restrictions that require the unit to be affordable to persons of
low- or very low income for not less than 55 years.
(C) Units that will be preserved at affordable housing costs to
persons or families of low- or very low incomes with committed
assistance from the city or county by acquisition of the unit or the
purchase of affordability covenants for the unit. For purposes of
this subparagraph, a unit shall not be deemed preserved unless all of
the following occur:
(i) The unit has long-term affordability covenants and
restrictions that require the unit to be affordable to and reserved
for occupancy by persons of the same or lower income group as the
current occupants for a period of at least 40 years.
(ii) The unit is within an "assisted housing development," as
defined in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 65863.10.
(iii) The city or county finds, after a public hearing, that the
unit is eligible, and is reasonably expected, to change from housing
affordable to low- and very low income households to any other use
during the next five years due to termination of subsidy contracts,
mortgage prepayment, or expiration of restrictions on use.
(iv) The unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition at the
time of occupancy.
(v) At the time the unit is identified for preservation it is
available at affordable cost to persons or families of low- or very
low income.
(3) This subdivision does not apply to any city or county that,
during the current or immediately prior planning period, as defined
by Section 65588, has not met any of its share of the regional need
for affordable housing, as defined in Section 65584, for low- and
very low income households. A city or county shall document for any
housing unit that a building permit has been issued and all
development and permit fees have been paid or the unit is eligible to
be lawfully occupied.
(4) For purposes of this subdivision, "committed assistance" means
that the city or county enters into a legally enforceable agreement
during the period from the beginning of the projection period until
the end of the second year of the planning period that obligates
sufficient available funds to provide the assistance necessary to
make the identified units affordable and that requires that the units
be made available for occupancy within two years of the execution of
the agreement. "Committed assistance" does not include tenant-based
rental assistance.
(5) For purposes of this subdivision, "net increase" includes only
housing units provided committed assistance pursuant to subparagraph
(A) or (B) of paragraph (2) in the current planning period, as
defined in Section 65588, that were not provided committed assistance
in the immediately prior planning period.
(6) For purposes of this subdivision, "the time the unit is
identified" means the earliest time when any city or county agent,
acting on behalf of a public entity, has proposed in writing or has
proposed orally or in writing to the property owner, that the unit be
considered for substantial rehabilitation, acquisition, or
preservation.
(7) In the third year of the planning period, as defined by
Section 65588, in the report required pursuant to Section 65400, each
city or county that has included in its housing element a program to
provide units pursuant to subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph
(2) shall report in writing to the legislative body, and to the
department within 30 days of making its report to the legislative
body, on its progress in providing units pursuant to this
subdivision. The report shall identify the specific units for which
committed assistance has been provided or which have been made
available to low- and very low income households, and it shall
adequately document how each unit complies with this subdivision. If,
by July 1 of the third year of the planning period, the city or
county has not entered into an enforceable agreement of committed
assistance for all units specified in the programs adopted pursuant
to subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (2), the city or county
shall, not later than July 1 of the fourth year of the planning
period, adopt an amended housing element in accordance with Section
65585, identifying additional adequate sites pursuant to paragraph
(1) of subdivision (c) of Section 65583 sufficient to accommodate the
number of units for which committed assistance was not provided. If
a city or county does not amend its housing element to identify
adequate sites to address any shortfall, or fails to complete the
rehabilitation, acquisition, purchase of affordability covenants, or
the preservation of any housing unit within two years after committed
assistance was provided to that unit, it shall be prohibited from
identifying units pursuant to subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of
paragraph (2) in the housing element that it adopts for the next
planning period, as defined in Section 65588, above the number of
units actually provided or preserved due to committed assistance.
SECTION 1. Section 65583.1 of the Government
Code is amended to read:
65583.1. (a) The Department of Housing and Community Development,
in evaluating a proposed or adopted housing element for substantial
compliance with this article, may allow a city or county to identify
adequate sites, as required pursuant to Section 65583, by a variety
of methods, including, but not limited to, redesignation of property
to a more intense land use category and increasing the density
allowed within one or more categories. The department may also allow
a city or county to identify sites for second units based on the
number of second units developed in the prior housing element
planning period whether or not the units are permitted by right, the
need for these units in the community, the resources or incentives
available for their development, and any other relevant factors, as
determined by the department. Nothing in this section reduces the
responsibility of a city or county to identify, by income category,
the total number of sites for residential development as required by
this article.
(b) Sites that contain permanent housing units located on a
military base undergoing closure or conversion as a result of action
pursuant to the Defense Authorization Amendments and Base Closure and
Realignment Act (Public Law 100-526), the Defense Base Closure and
Realignment Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-510), or any subsequent act
requiring the closure or conversion of a military base may be
identified as an adequate site if the housing element demonstrates
that the housing units will be available for occupancy by households
within the planning period of the element. No sites containing
housing units scheduled or planned for demolition or conversion to
nonresidential uses shall qualify as an adequate site.
Any city, city and county, or county using this subdivision shall
address the progress in meeting this section in the reports provided
pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 65400.
(c) (1) The Department of Housing and Community Development may
allow a city or county to substitute the provision of units for up to
50 percent of the community's obligation to identify adequate sites
for any income category in its housing element pursuant to paragraph
(1) of subdivision (c) of Section 65583 where the community includes
in its housing element a program committing the local government to
provide units in that income category within the city or county that
will be made available 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 defined in Sections 50052.5 and 50053 of the Health and
Safety Code, and which meet the requirements of paragraph (2). Except
as otherwise provided in this subdivision, the community may
substitute one dwelling unit for one dwelling unit site in the
applicable income category. The program shall do all of the
following:
(A) Identify the specific, existing sources of committed
assistance and dedicate a specific portion of the funds from those
sources to the provision of housing pursuant to this subdivision.
(B) Indicate the number of units that will be provided to both
low- and very low income households and demonstrate that the amount
of dedicated funds is sufficient to develop the units at affordable
housing costs or affordable rents.
(C) Demonstrate that the units meet the requirements of paragraph
(2).
(2) Only units that comply with subparagraph (A), (B), or (C)
qualify for inclusion in the housing element program described in
paragraph (1), as follows:
(A) Units that are to be substantially rehabilitated with
committed assistance from the city or county and constitute a net
increase in the community's stock of housing affordable to low- and
very low income households. For purposes of this subparagraph, a unit
is not eligible to be "substantially rehabilitated" unless all of
the following requirements are met:
(i) At the time the unit is identified for substantial
rehabilitation, (I) the local government has determined that the unit
is at imminent risk of loss to the housing stock, (II) the local
government has committed to provide relocation assistance pursuant to
Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 7260) of Division 7 of Title 1
to any occupants temporarily or permanently displaced by the
rehabilitation or code enforcement activity, or the relocation is
otherwise provided prior to displacement either as a condition of
receivership, or provided by the property owner or the local
government pursuant to Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 17975) of
Chapter 5 of Part 1.5 of Division 13 of the Health and Safety Code,
or as otherwise provided by local ordinance; provided the assistance
includes not less than the equivalent of four months' rent and moving
expenses and comparable replacement housing consistent with the
moving expenses and comparable replacement housing required pursuant
to Section 7260, (III) the local government requires that any
displaced occupants will have the right to reoccupy the rehabilitated
units, and (IV) the unit has been found by the local government or a
court to be unfit for human habitation due to the existence of at
least four violations of the conditions listed in subdivisions (a) to
(g), inclusive, of Section 17995.3 of the Health and Safety Code.
(ii) The rehabilitated unit will have long-term affordability
covenants and restrictions that require the unit to be available to,
and occupied by, persons or families of low- or very low income at
affordable housing costs for at least 20 years or the time period
required by any applicable federal or state law or regulation.
(iii) Prior to initial occupancy after rehabilitation, the local
code enforcement agency shall issue a certificate of occupancy
indicating compliance with all applicable state and local building
code and health and safety code requirements.
(B) Units that are located in a multifamily rental housing complex
of four or more units, are converted with committed assistance from
the city or county from nonaffordable to affordable by acquisition of
the unit or the purchase of affordability covenants and restrictions
for the unit, are not acquired by eminent domain, and constitute a
net increase in the community's stock of housing affordable to low-
and very low income households. For purposes of this subparagraph, a
unit is not converted by acquisition or the purchase of affordability
covenants unless all of the following occur:
(i) The unit is made available at a cost affordable to low- or
very low income households.
(ii) At the time the unit is identified for acquisition, the unit
is not available at an affordable housing cost to either of the
following:
(I) Low-income households, if the unit will be made affordable to
low-income households.
(II) Very low income households, if the unit will be made
affordable to very low income households.
(iii) At the time the unit is identified for acquisition the unit
is not occupied by low- or very low income households or if the
acquired unit is occupied, the local government has committed to
provide relocation assistance prior to displacement, if any, pursuant
to Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 7260) of Division 7 of Title
1 to any occupants displaced by the conversion, or the relocation is
otherwise provided prior to displacement; provided the assistance
includes not less than the equivalent of four months' rent and moving
expenses and comparable replacement housing consistent with the
moving expenses and comparable replacement housing required pursuant
to Section 7260.
(iv) The unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition at the
time of occupancy.
(v) The unit has long-term affordability covenants and
restrictions that require the unit to be affordable to persons of
low- or very low income for not less than 55 years.
(C) Units that will be preserved at affordable housing costs to
persons or families of low- or very low incomes with committed
assistance from the city or county by acquisition of the unit or the
purchase of affordability covenants for the unit. For purposes of
this subparagraph, a unit shall not be deemed preserved unless all of
the following occur:
(i) The unit has long-term affordability covenants and
restrictions that require the unit to be affordable to and reserved
for occupancy by persons of the same or lower income group as the
current occupants for a period of at least 40 years.
(ii) The unit is within an "assisted housing development," as
defined in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 65863.10.
(iii) The city or county finds, after a public hearing, that the
unit is eligible, and is reasonably expected, to change from housing
affordable to low- and very low income households to any other use
during the next five years due to termination of subsidy contracts,
mortgage prepayment, or expiration of restrictions on use.
(iv) The unit is in decent, safe, and sanitary condition at the
time of occupancy.
(v) At the time the unit is identified for preservation it is
available at affordable cost to persons or families of low- or very
low income.
(3) This subdivision does not apply to any city or county that,
during the current or immediately prior planning period, as defined
by Section 65588, has not met any of its share of the regional need
for affordable housing, as defined in Section 65584, for low- and
very low income households. A city or county shall document for any
housing unit that a building permit has been issued and all
development and permit fees have been paid or the unit is eligible to
be lawfully occupied.
(4) For purposes of this subdivision, "committed assistance" means
that the city or county enters into a legally enforceable agreement
during the first two years of the housing element planning period
that obligates sufficient available funds to provide the assistance
necessary to make the identified units affordable and that requires
that the units be made available for occupancy within two years of
the execution of the agreement. "Committed assistance" does not
include tenant-based rental assistance.
(5) For purposes of this subdivision, "net increase" includes only
housing units provided committed assistance pursuant to subparagraph
(A) or (B) of paragraph (2) in the current planning period, as
defined in Section 65588, that were not provided committed assistance
in the immediately prior planning period.
(6) For purposes of this subdivision, "the time the unit is
identified" means the earliest time when any city or county agent,
acting on behalf of a public entity, has proposed in writing or has
proposed orally or in writing to the property owner, that the unit be
considered for substantial rehabilitation, acquisition, or
preservation.
(7) On July 1 of the third year of the planning period, as defined
by Section 65588, in the report required pursuant to Section 65400,
each city or county that has included in its housing element a
program to provide units pursuant to subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of
paragraph (2) shall report in writing to the legislative body, and
to the department within 30 days of making its report to the
legislative body, on its progress in providing units pursuant to this
subdivision. The report shall identify the specific units for which
committed assistance has been provided or which have been made
available to low- and very low income households, and it shall
adequately document how each unit complies with this subdivision. If,
by July 1 of the third year of the planning period, the city or
county has not entered into an enforceable agreement of committed
assistance for all units specified in the programs adopted pursuant
to subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (2), the city or county
shall, not later than July 1 of the fourth year of the planning
period, adopt an amended
housing element in accordance with Section 65585, identifying
additional adequate sites pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision
(c) of Section 65583 sufficient to accommodate the number of units
for which committed assistance was not provided. If a city or county
does not amend its housing element to identify adequate sites to
address any shortfall, or fails to complete the rehabilitation,
acquisition, purchase of affordability covenants, or the preservation
of any housing unit within two years after committed assistance was
provided to that unit, it shall be prohibited from identifying units
pursuant to subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (2) in the
housing element that it adopts for the next planning period, as
defined in Section 65588, above the number of units actually provided
or preserved due to committed assistance.
