BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2308
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Date of Hearing: May 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Norma Torres, Chair
AB 2308 (Torres) - As Amended: March 29, 2012
SUBJECT : Land use: housing element: regional housing need.
SUMMARY : Allows a city or county to reduce its share of the
regional housing need by the number of units built between the
start of the projection period and the deadline for adoption of
the housing element, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows a city or county to reduce its share of the regional
housing need by the number of units built between the start of
the projection period and the deadline for adoption of the
housing element.
2)Provides that a city or county must include in its housing
element a description of the methodology for assigning any
housing units used to reduce its share of the regional housing
need to an income category based on actual or projected sales
price, rent levels, or other mechanisms establishing
affordability.
EXISTING LAW
1)Requires every city and county to prepare and adopt a general
plan containing seven mandatory elements, including a housing
element (Government Code Sections 65300 and 65302).
2)Requires a jurisdiction's housing element to identify and
analyze existing and projected housing needs, identify
adequate sites with appropriate zoning to meet the housing
needs of all income segments of the community, and ensure that
regulatory systems provide opportunities for, and do not
unduly constrain, housing development (Government Code Section
65583).
3)Requires cities and counties within a metropolitan planning
organization in a region classified as a nonattainment area
for one or more pollutants regulated by the federal Clean Air
Act to revise their housing elements every eight years based
on a staggered statutory schedule, and requires all other
local governments to revise their housing elements every five
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years based on a staggered statutory schedule (Government Code
Section 65588).
4)Requires, prior to each housing element revision, that each
council of governments (COG), in conjunction with the
Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), prepare
a regional housing needs assessment (RHNA) and allocate to
each jurisdiction in the region its fair share of the housing
need for all income categories. Where a COG does not exist,
HCD determines the local share of the region's housing need.
(Government Code Sections 65584-65584.09)
5)Divides the RHNA into the following income categories:
a) Very low-income (50% or lower of area median income),
including extremely low-income (30% or lower of area median
income);
b) Low-income (80% or lower of area median income);
c) Moderate-income (between 80% and 120% of area median
income); and
d) Above moderate-income (exceeding 120% area median
income).
6)Requires housing elements to include an inventory of land
suitable for residential development that identifies enough
sites that can be developed for housing within the planning
period to accommodate the jurisdiction's share of the regional
housing need (Government Code Sections 65583 and 65583.2).
7)Allows a city or county to meet up to 25% of its share of the
regional housing need through a program committing the local
government to provide financial assistance to make certain
existing housing units affordable to low- and very low-income
households during the planning period (Government Code Section
65583.1).
FISCAL EFFECT : None
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COMMENTS :
Every local government is required to prepare a housing element
as part of its general plan. The housing element process starts
when HCD determines the number of new housing units a region is
projected to need at all income levels (very low-, lower-,
moderate-, and above-moderate income) over the course of the
next housing element planning period to accommodate population
growth and overcome existing deficiencies in the housing supply.
This number is often referred to as the "RHNA" number (short
for regional housing needs assessment). The COG for the region,
or HCD for areas with no COG, then assigns a share of the RHNA
number to every city and county in the region based on a variety
of factors.
In preparing its housing element, a city or county must show how
it plans to accommodate its share of the RHNA. The housing
element must include an inventory of sites already zoned for
housing. If a jurisdiction does not have enough sites within
its existing inventory of residentially zoned land to
accommodate its entire RHNA, then it must rezone additional land
within the first three years of the planning period. With
respect to sites rezoned to accommodate the need for very low-
and low-income housing, the new zoning must allow multifamily
residential use by right and be zoned at minimum densities of 16
to 50 units per acre depending on the jurisdiction.
Existing law allows jurisdictions to meet up to 25% of their
zoning obligation by instead adopting a program to make certain
existing housing units affordable to low- and very low-income
households during the planning period. Eligible units include
units that are to be substantially rehabilitated, units in
multifamily rental complexes that are to be converted from
unaffordable to affordable, and units in an assisted housing
development (such as public housing) that are at risk of
conversion to market rate or to another use. In all cases, the
units must have affordability covenants and restrictions that
will keep them affordable to low- and very-low income households
for 20 to 55 years depending on the type of unit.
In reviewing housing elements for compliance with the law, HCD
has long allowed local governments to subtract from their RHNA
share any units constructed after the beginning of the
projection period but before the housing element due date. For
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most areas of the state, the projection period for RHNA numbers
covers a period of time that is longer than the housing element
planning period. In other words, in most areas of the state the
RHNA number reflects the number of housing units a jurisdiction
is projected to need not just during the period of time covered
by the housing element but also for some period of time prior to
the housing element due date. If some of those needed units
already have been constructed by the time the housing element is
due, HCD recognizes that there is no longer a need for the
jurisdiction to plan for them. AB 2308 places this long-standing
and common-sense HCD policy into law.
Double referred : The bill passed the Committee on Local
Government on May 2, 2012, by a vote of 9 to 0.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
League of California Cities
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / H. & C.D. / (916)
319-2085