BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1500
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1500 (Maienschein)
As Amended January 13, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Housing |7-0 |Chau, Steinorth, | |
| | |Burke, Chiu, Beth | |
| | |Gaines, Lopez, Mullin | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Natural |9-0 |Williams, Dahle, | |
|Resources | |Bonta, Cristina | |
| | |Garcia, Hadley, | |
| | |Harper, McCarty, Mark | |
| | |Stone, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Provides that if a local government elects to identify
supportive or transitional housing developments in their housing
element the development is allowed as a permitted use without a
conditional use or other discretionary permit. Specifically,
this bill:
AB 1500
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1)Provides that if a local government elects to identify
supportive or transitional housing developments in their
housing element the development is allowed as a permitted use
without a conditional use or other discretionary permit.
2)Requires if a local government elects to participate, zone or
zones in the housing element must be sufficient to accommodate
the need for supportive or transitional housing.
3)Provides that if a local government cannot identify a zone or
zones with sufficient capacity to accommodate supportive or
transitional housing than the local government must include a
program to rezone adequate sites within one year.
4)Allows a local government to identify additional zones where a
supportive housing or transitional housing is permitted with a
conditional use permit.
5)Requires a local government to demonstrate that existing or
proposed permit processing, development, and management
standards are objective and encourage and facilitate the
development of or conversion to supportive housing or
transitional housing.
6)Provides that supportive or transitional housing may only be
subject to those development and management standards that
apply to residential or commercial development with in the
same zone except that a local government may apply written,
objective standards.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
AB 1500
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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 Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD) determines the number of new housing units a
region is projected to need at all income levels (very low-,
low-, 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 known as the regional housing
needs assessment (RHNA). The Council of Governments (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.
As part of the housing element, local governments must identify
sites for emergency shelters. Among other things, the housing
element must identify zones where emergency shelters are allowed
as a permitted use without a conditional use permit or other
discretionary permit, meaning they are not subject to California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review. In addition, any
residential project is exempt from CEQA review if it is
consistent with an adopted specific plan for which an
environmental impact report has been prepared.
Housing element law requires local governments to treat
transitional and supportive housing projects as a residential
use of property and prohibits restrictions that are not
applicable to other residential dwellings of the same type. The
intent of the law is that local governments treat supportive
AB 1500
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housing and transitional housing as they would any other
multifamily dwelling and not consider who will live in the
development when approving a project. Local governments are not
required to have separate zones for supportive or transitional
housing because the intent is to treat those uses as all other
uses. It appears that the intent of this bill is to assist in
the development of supportive and transitional housing by
applying the CEQA exemption that applies in current law to
emergency shelters to supportive and transitional housing. This
bill allows a local government to apply additional written,
objective standards to a supportive housing development which
could inadvertently undermine the current prohibition on
treating supportive housing and transitional housing differently
than other residential uses.
Analysis Prepared by:
Lisa Engel / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085 FN:
0002564