BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 725
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: lieber
VERSION: 3/4/08
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: March 11, 2008
SUBJECT:
Universal housing rental application
DESCRIPTION:
This bill requires that the Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD) create, and that affordable rental housing
providers use, a universal rental housing application.
ANALYSIS:
HCD is the state's principal housing agency. HCD administers
over 15 different state housing programs, including several that
support the provision of affordable rental housing.
The California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC)
administers the federal and state Low Income Housing Tax Credit
Programs, both of which provide tax credits to support the
development, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable
rental housing.
The California Debt Limit Allocation Committee (CDLAC) allocates
tax-exempt, private activity bonds for various purposes,
including single and multi-family affordable housing.
The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) serves as the
state's mortgage bank to provide below market rate mortgage
financing to meet the housing needs of low to moderate income
families, including rental housing.
This bill :
1)Requires HCD, by April 1, 2009 and as needed after that, to
develop and adopt a universal rental housing application. HCD
shall do this in coordination with TCAC, CDLAC, and CalHFA.
The universal application shall request, among other things,
the name and age of each person living in the household and
AB 725 (LIEBER) Page 2
the applicant's contact information, housing history, and
detailed asset and income information.
2)Requires HCD to make the universal application available in
formats accessible to persons with diverse disabilities. The
bill prohibits HCD from accepting a bid of more than $5,000 to
develop these accessible formats, and if HCD does not receive
a bid of $5,000 or less, then HCD is not required to develop
accessible formats.
3)Requires HCD to post on its Web site the universal application
and its accessible formats.
4)Requires that on or after July 1, 2009, a rental housing
provider use the universal application and provide the
accessible formats if the housing provider received and its
rental units are still subject to rent restrictions pursuant
to:
i) Loans or grants from HCD or CalHFA,
ii) State or federal tax low-income housing tax credits
allocated by TCAC, or
iii) Tax-exempt bond authority allocated by CDLAC.
5)Permits a rental housing provider to request other reasonable
information from prospective tenants that is not requested by
the universal application.
6)Requires HCD, TCAC, CDLAC, and CalHFA to notify affected
rental housing providers of their duties under the bill each
time a new or revised universal application is published and
when making awards of loans, grants, and tax credits.
7)Prohibits HCD from adopting regulations to implement the bill.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose . Because there is such an acute shortage of affordable
housing in California and waiting lists are long, low-income
renters seeking housing assistance often must apply to
several providers simultaneously. Proponents note that it can
be challenging to determine whether vacancies exist or even to
locate an application. When there are vacancies, applicants
AB 725 (LIEBER) Page 3
must fill out a different application for each development,
even though nearly identical information is requested for each
unit. This lack of uniformity increases the amount of time and
inconvenience that prospective renters face. A standardized
application, argues the author, would streamline the process
of finding affordable housing.
2)Arguments in support . The California Apartment Association
notes that many years ago it designed a standard rental
application and related forms in order to provide uniformity,
which the Association points out is the goal of this bill. Its
letter of support states, "We believe our forms have not only
helped rental property owners comply with the law, but these
forms have helped prospective renters understand the basic
information that is required when they apply for rental
housing."
3)Suggested amendments .
i) Effective date . This bill requires that HCD develop the
universal rental application by April 1, 2009. HCD staff
have indicated that this date may be too soon for them to
complete their work. The author or committee may wish to
amend the bill to change this date to July 1, 2009, and
then delay required use of the application by landlords
until October 1, 2009.
ii) Clarification on contract for accessible formats .
The bill should be amended to clarify that HCD's contractor
shall fulfill the requirement that of convening a focus
group to test the accessible formats of the universal
application.
iii) Exemption from the Administrative Procedures Act .
This bill states that it does not authorize HCD to write
new regulations to create and implement the universal
application. The author may wish to clarify that the
provisions of this bill are exempt from the Administrative
Procedures Act, which prescribes the process for adopting
regulations.
4)Double referral . The Rules Committee referred this bill to
both the Transportation and Housing Committee and to the
Judiciary Committee. Therefore, if this bill passes this
committee, it will be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
AB 725 (LIEBER) Page 4
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 52 - 20
Appr: 11 - 5
Trans: 6 - 0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday, March
5, 2008)
SUPPORT: Aging Services of California
California Alliance for Retired Americans
California Apartment Association
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
League of California Cities
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Western Center on Law and Poverty
OPPOSED: None received.