BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2442|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2442
Author: Holden (D)
Amended: 8/19/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/21/16
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva,
McGuire, Mendoza, Roth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bates, Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 63-8, 5/19/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Density bonuses
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires local agencies to grant a density
bonus when a developer agrees to construct housing for
transitional foster youth, disabled veterans, or homeless
persons.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/19/16 resolve chaptering conflicts
with multiple bills.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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1)Defines "foster youth" to mean a person who is currently in
foster care, and "former foster youth" means a person who is
an emancipated foster youth and who is up to 24 years of age.
2)Defines "disabled veteran" to mean any veteran who is
currently declared by the United States Veterans
Administration to be 10% or more disabled as a result of
service in the armed forces. Proof of such disability shall
be deemed conclusive, if it is of record in the United States
Veterans Administration.
3)Requires all cities and counties to adopt an ordinance that
specifies how they will implement state density bonus law.
4)Requires cities and counties to grant a density bonus when an
applicant for a housing development of five or more units
seeks and agrees to construct a project that will contain at
least any one of the following:
a) 10% of the total units of a housing development for
lower income households.
b) 5% of the total units of a housing development for very
low-income households.
c) A senior citizen housing development or mobile home
park.
d) 10% of the units in a common interest development (CID)
for moderate-income households.
5)Requires the city or county to allow an increase in density of
20% over the otherwise maximum allowable residential density
under the applicable zoning ordinance and land use element of
the general plan for low-income, very low-income, or senior
housing, and by 5% for moderate-income housing in a CID.
This bill:
1)Requires a local agency to grant one density bonus when an
applicant for a housing development seeks and agrees to
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construct a housing development that contains 10% of the total
units for transitional foster youth, disabled veterans, or
homeless persons.
2)Requires the units to be subject to a recorded affordability
restriction of 55 years and to be provided at the same
affordability level as very low-income units.
3)Specifies, for housing developments meeting the criteria of 1)
above that the density bonus shall be 20% of the number of the
type of units giving rise to a density bonus, thus making the
density bonus for 1) above consistent with the density bonus
that a developer receives for senior housing units.
Comments
1)Purpose. According to the author, many at-risk populations,
especially in urban and suburban areas where affordable
housing is needed, can benefit from additional affordable
housing through partnerships within the community. Providing
affordable housing options to these populations can be paired
with available incentives to build more dense housing. This
bill seeks to remedy the problem by adding transitional
populations to ensure that none of these at-risk members of
society are left behind.
2)Density bonus law. Given California's high land and
construction costs for housing, it is extremely difficult for
the private market to provide housing units that are
affordable to low- and even moderate-income households.
Public subsidy is often required to fill the financial gap on
affordable units. Density bonus law allows public entities to
reduce or even eliminate subsidies for a particular project by
allowing a developer to include more total units in a project
than would otherwise be allowed by the local zoning in
exchange for affordable units. Allowing more total units
permits the developer to spread the cost of the affordable
units more broadly over the market-rate units. The idea of
density bonus law is to cover at least some of the financing
gap of affordable housing with regulatory incentives, rather
than additional subsidy.
Under existing law, if a developer proposes to construct a
housing development with a specified percentage of affordable
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units, the city or county must provide all of the following
benefits: a density bonus, incentives, or concessions
(hereafter referred to as incentives); waiver of any
development standards that prevent the developer from
utilizing the density bonus or incentives; and reduced parking
standards.
3)Projects eligible for density bonus. To qualify for the
benefits of this provision, a proposed housing development
must meet one of the following criteria:
a) Include at least 5% of the units affordable to very
low-income households
b) Include at least 10% of the units affordable to
low-income households
c) Include at least 10% of the units in a for-sale CID
affordable to moderate-income households
d) Be a senior housing development
e) Units affordable to lower income households must remain
affordable for 30 years, and for-sale units affordable to
moderate-income households must be subject to an equity
sharing agreement that returns a proportionate share of
appreciation to the local governments upon resale of the
home. If one of these four options is met, a developer is
entitled to a base increase in density for the project as a
whole (referred to as a density bonus) and one regulatory
incentive. At higher levels of affordability, the
developer is entitled to a sliding scale of density
bonuses, up to a maximum of 35% of the maximum zoning
density and up to three incentives
This bill additionally requires a local agency to grant one
density bonus when an applicant for a housing development seeks
and agrees to construct a housing development that contains 10%
of the total units for transitional foster youth, disabled
veterans, or homeless persons and requires the units to be
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subject to a recorded affordability restriction of 55 years and
provided the same affordability level as very low-income units.
Additionally, this bill specifies that the density bonus shall
be 20% of the number of the type of units giving rise to a
density bonus, making the density bonus for the bill consistent
with the density bonus that a developer would receive for senior
housing units.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
SUPPORT: (Verified8/19/16)
AARP
All Saints Church Foster Care Project
Bonita Unified School District
California Council of Community Behavioral Health Agencies
County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California
County of Los Angeles
David & Margaret Youth and Family Services
Foster Care Project
Hillsides Organization
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich
Mental Health of America
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
126 Individuals with All Saints Church
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/19/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 63-8, 5/19/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez,
Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman,
Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
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Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Waldron,
Weber, Wilk, Wood, Rendon
NOES: Travis Allen, Bigelow, Brough, Grove, Harper, Jones,
Mayes, Obernolte
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chang, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Mathis,
McCarty, Patterson, Wagner, Williams
Prepared by:Alison Dinmore / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
8/22/16 22:42:34
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