BILL NUMBER: AB 1672 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 19, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 17, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Torres
FEBRUARY 14, 2012
An act to amend Sections 50700, 50701, 50702, 50703, and 50704 of
the Health and Safety Code, relating to housing.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1672, as amended, Torres. Housing-Related Parks Program.
Existing law establishes the Housing-Related Parks Program,
administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development,
which provides grants for the creation, development, or
rehabilitation of park and recreation facilities to cities, counties,
and cities and counties that meet certain criteria for housing
starts, as defined, for newly constructed units that are affordable
to very low or low-income households.
This bill would instead provide that the program provide the
grants to local entities based on the issuance of building permits
for new housing units , or housing units substantially
rehabilitated, acquired, or preserved with committed assistance from
the city, county, or city and county, that are affordable to
very low or low-income households. The bill would provide for
substantial and additional bonus funds to specified jurisdictions and
qualifying units.
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 50700 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
50700. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms have
the following meanings, unless the context clearly requires
otherwise:
(a) "Designated time period" means the time period designated in
the Notice of Funding Availability required under subdivision (b) of
Section 50702.
(b) "Disadvantaged community," for the purposes of this program,
means an area within a city, county, or city and county that is
composed solely of those census tracts designated by the United
States Department of Housing and Urban Development as having at least
51 percent of its residents of low- or moderate-income levels, using
the most recent United States Department of Census data available at
the time of the Notice of Funding Availability.
(c) "Infill project" means a residential or mixed-use residential
project located within an urbanized area on a site that has been
previously developed, or on a vacant site where at least 75 percent
of the perimeter of the site adjoins parcels that are developed with
urban uses. For these purposes, a property is adjoining the side of a
project site if the property is separated from the project site only
by an improved public right-of-way.
(d) "Park and recreation facility" means a facility that provides
benefits to the community and includes, but is not limited to, places
for organized team sports, outdoor recreation, and informal turf
play; nonmotorized recreational trails; permanent play structures;
landscaping; community gardens; places for passive recreation;
multipurpose structures designed to meet the special recreational,
educational, vocational, and social needs of youth, senior citizens,
and other population groups; recreation areas created by the redesign
and retrofit of urban freeways; community swim centers; regional
recreational trails; and infrastructure and other improvements that
support these facilities.
(e) "Parks deficient community" means a community that has less
than three acres of usable parkland per 1,000 residents.
(f) "Regional blueprint plan" means a regional plan that
implements statutory requirements intended to foster comprehensive
planning, as defined in Section 65041.1 of, Chapter 2.5 (commencing
with Section 65080) of Division 1 of Title 7 of, and Article 10.6
(commencing with Section 65580) of Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7
of, the Government Code. The regional blueprint plan articulates
regional consensus and performance outcomes on a more efficient land
use pattern that supports improved mobility and reduces dependency on
single-occupant vehicle trips; accommodates an adequate supply of
housing for all income levels; reduces impacts on valuable farmland,
natural resources, and air quality; includes the reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions; increases water and energy conservation and
efficiency; and promotes a prosperous economy and safe, healthy,
sustainable, and vibrant neighborhoods.
(g) "Urbanized area" means an incorporated city or an urbanized
area or urban cluster as defined by the United States Census Bureau.
For unincorporated areas outside of an urban area or urban cluster,
the area shall be within a designated urban service area that is
designated in the local general plan for urban development and is
served by public sewer and water.
(h) "Urban use" means any residential, commercial, industrial,
public institutional, transit, transportation passenger facility, or
retail use, or any combination of those uses.
SEC. 2. Section 50701 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
50701. There is hereby established in state government the
Housing-Related Parks Program, to be administered by the department,
using funds allocated, upon appropriation, under subdivision (d) of
Section 53545, for the purpose of providing grants for the creation,
development, or rehabilitation of park and recreation facilities to
cities, counties, and cities and counties based on the issuance of
building permits for new housing units , or housing units
substantially rehabilitated, acquired, or preserved with committed
assistance from the city, county, or city and county, that are
affordable to very low or low-income households.
SEC. 3. Section 50702 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
50702. (a) To the extent that funds are available for this
purpose, the department shall determine a base grant amount to be
provided under this chapter to any city, county, or city and county
that meets all of the following criteria:
(1) On or before the end of the period covered by the Notice of
Funding Availability required under subdivision (b), the jurisdiction
has adopted a housing element that the department, pursuant to
Section 65585 of the Government Code, has found to be in substantial
compliance with the requirements of Article 10.6 (commencing with
Section 65580) of Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the
Government Code, and the jurisdiction submitted to the department the
annual progress report required under Section 65400 of the
Government Code for the preceding 12-month calendar year.
(2) The jurisdiction can document either of the following:
(2)
(A) The jurisdiction can document the
issuance of building permits for new housing units that are
affordable to very low or low-income households within the
designated time period and that meet either of the following
criteria:
(A)
(i) In the case of rental units, the development is
subject to a regulatory agreement recorded against the property that
obligates the owner to maintain rents on the restricted units at
levels affordable to very low or low-income households for at least
55 years.
(B)
(ii) In the case of ownership housing, units in the
development are initially sold to households of very low or low
income at an affordable housing cost. If public funds are used to
achieve an affordable housing cost, then upon the sale of an assisted
unit to a very low or low-income household, the public entity shall
ensure the repayment of the public funds and reuse of those funds for
affordable housing for a period of at least 20 years. The proposed
mechanism for restrictions of ownership units shall be consistent
with criteria established by the department and specified in the
Notice of Funding Availability.
(B) The issuance of a certificate of occupancy or other evidence
of readiness for occupancy within the designated time period for
units that meet the requirements of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c)
of Section 65583.1 of the Government Code, except that the city,
county, or city and county may have committed assistance at any time
during the projection period.
(b) For each year that funds are available, the department shall
issue a Notice of Funding Availability for building permits issued
during the designated time period. The department shall accept
applications at the close of the designated period. Grant amounts
shall be based on a per-bedroom incentive for each unit restricted
for very low and low-income households. For the purposes of this
section, single-room occupancies and studio apartments shall be
considered one-bedroom units.
(c) If eligibility for funds exceeds the amount of funding
available for the program, the department shall reduce all grants
proportionally.
SEC. 4. Section 50703 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
50703. (a) The department shall award bonus funds in addition to
the base grant award for applicants that meet the requirements under
Section 50702. The department shall determine the amount of the bonus
funds to be awarded pursuant to this chapter.
(b) The amount of the bonus funds to be awarded shall be
established in the Notice of Funding Availability.
(c) Substantial bonus funds shall be awarded for any of the
following:
(1) Jurisdictions that demonstrate that grant funds will be spent
to improve a park or community recreational facility that will serve
a disadvantaged community, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section
50700.
(2) Jurisdictions that demonstrate that grant funds will be spent
to create a new park or community recreational facility that will
serve a disadvantaged community, as defined in subdivision (b) of
Section 50700.
(3) Jurisdictions that meet the definition of a park deficient
community, as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 50700.
(4) Qualifying new housing units.
(d) Additional bonus funds shall be awarded for any of the
following:
(1) Qualifying units that are affordable to extremely low income
households.
(2) Qualifying units that are developed in infill projects.
(3) Jurisdictions that have met or exceeded housing production
thresholds established by the department, in consultation with the
Department of Finance.
(4) Those jurisdictions that can demonstrate that grant funds will
be spent to create or improve a park or community recreational
facility to support infill development, or development within a
jurisdiction that has conformed its general plan to the regional
blueprint, as determined by the council of governments.
SEC. 5. Section 50704 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
50704. (a) (1) Except as authorized under paragraph (2), a city,
county, or city and county shall not receive a grant unless it
qualifies, based on building permits issued during the period
designated in the Notice of Funding Availability, for a grant in an
amount of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) or more.
(2) If a city, county, or city and county is not able to meet the
minimum qualification amount under paragraph (1), it may delay
application, combine the number of building permits issued during the
designated period described in paragraph (1) with the number of
building permits issued during one or more subsequent Notice of
Funding Availability periods, and apply once it is able to meet the
minimum qualification amount by using the combined amount of building
permits issued.
(b) Grants provided pursuant to this chapter shall be used for the
costs of park and recreation facility creation, development, or
rehabilitation, including, but not limited to, the acquisition of
land for the purposes of those activities, consistent with the
requirements set forth in Section 16727 of the Government Code.
(c) Funds awarded pursuant to this chapter shall supplement, not
supplant, other available funding.
(d) A city, county, or city and county that receives funds under
this chapter may subcontract through a recreation and park district
formed under Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 5780) of Division 5
of the Public Resources Code, or a district formed pursuant to
Section 5500 or 35100 of the Public Resources Code, for the creation
or improvement of a park or recreational facility, or any nonprofit
organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue
Code (26 U.S.C. Sec. 501(c)(3)), that is exempt from taxation under
Section 501(a) of that code (26 U.S.C. Sec. 501(a)), and that has
among its purposes the conservation of natural or cultural resources.