BILL ANALYSIS
AB 720
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Date of Hearing: May 6, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Anna Marie Caballero, Chair
AB 720 (Caballero) - As Amended: April 20, 2009
SUBJECT : Land use: housing element.
SUMMARY : Provides for changes in housing element law specific
to rehabilitation of units and counting of those units toward
meeting the local government's Regional Housing Needs Assessment
(RHNA). Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that a city, county, or city and county may include
weatherization and energy efficiency improvements as part of
its efforts to substantially rehabilitate a unit.
2)Specifies that weatherization and energy efficiency
improvements may include measures that encompass the building
envelope, its heating and cooling systems, and its electrical
system.
3)Revises timing requirements for local governments to provide
"committed assistance," which would allow for the city or
county to enter into a legally enforceable agreement at any
point during the planning period in order to provide the
assistance necessary to make the identified units affordable.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that the housing element shall consist of an
identification and analysis of existing and projected housing
needs and a statement of goals, policies, quantified
objectives, financial resources, and scheduled programs for
the preservation, improvement and development of housing.
2)Allows local jurisdictions to fulfill up to 25% of the
regional housing need through substantial rehabilitation of
units, pursuant to specified conditions, and those units will
be made available through the provision of committed
assistance during the planning period covered by the housing
element.
3)Provides that those rehabilitated units shall have long-term
affordability covenants and restriction that require the unit
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to be available to, and occupied by a person of low- or very
low income at affordable housing costs for at least 20 years.
4)Defines "committed assistance" as legally enforceable
agreements entered into by the city or county during the first
two years of the housing element planning period that
obligates sufficient available funds to provide the assistance
necessary to make the identified units affordable and that
requires that the units be made available for occupancy within
two years of execution of the agreement.
5)Specifies that "committed assistance" does not include
tenant-based rental assistance.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)AB 720 removes the two-year time limitation for when a city or
county would have to enter into a legally enforceable contract
in order to provide assistance, and instead, provides that a
legally enforceable agreement can be entered into during any
part of the housing element planning period. Additionally, AB
720 also contains provisions that authorize a city or county
to include weatherization and energy efficiency improvements
as part of the local government's efforts to substantially
rehabilitate a unit. The bill encourages active
rehabilitation and preservation, which is extremely important
in many jurisdictions that have little to no capacity to grow.
2)The Planning and Zoning Law requires cities and counties to
prepare and adopt a general plan, including a housing element
to guide the future growth of a community. Before the housing
element revision, each community is assigned its fair share of
housing for each income category through the RHNA process. A
housing element must identify and analyze existing and
projected housing needs, identify adequate sites with
appropriate zoning to meet its share of the RHNA, and ensure
that regulatory systems provide opportunities for, and do not
unduly constrain, housing development. To the extent that a
city or county does not have adequate sites within its
existing inventory of residentially zoned land, then it must
adopt a program to rezone land at appropriate densities to
accommodate the jurisdiction's housing need for all income
groups.
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3)AB 438 (Torlakson), Chapter 796, Statutes of 1998, added to
the Government Code provisions that allow local jurisdictions
to fulfill a portion of their region's affordable housing
needs by providing substantially rehabilitated units whose
long-term affordability is assured through covenants and
restrictions, through the provision of "committed assistance"
as provided by the city or county. AB 720 builds on these
provisions of law by amending the definition of "committed
assistance" to ensure that local agencies have an adequate
amount of time to secure public funding for these
rehabilitation projects.
4)Current law allows jurisdictions, under certain conditions, to
meet up to 25% of their land obligation for each income
category with preserved, substantially rehabilitated or
converted multi-family units. One of the requirements for
counting units within this 25% cap is that the units have
received "committed assistance" from the local jurisdiction.
The definition for "committed assistance" requires that a city
or county enter into a legally enforceable agreement during
the first two years of the housing element planning period
that obligates sufficient available funds to provide the
assistance necessary to make the identified units affordable.
The author notes that the issue with localities being limited
in timeframe on top of the 25% threshold is that it
essentially dis-incentivizes rehabilitation and preservation
projects.
5)Last year, SB 375 (Steinberg), Chapter 728, Statutes of 2998,
extended the RHNA planning period from five to eight years.
Given this change, the author believes that cities and
counties should be provided with more of an opportunity to
offer financial assistance to rehabilitation projects.
6)The League of California Cities, in their support letter,
writes:
Local agencies that do not create a new unit within the
constrained two year window do not get credit for the unit -
in the current planning or in the next planning period. Under
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SB 375, most local agencies will have two years to count
rehabilitated units, and six years when they don't count.
That does not make sense. The system should allow local
agencies to count every new livable unit they create.
Moreover, this bill is timely. California's building industry
is at historic lows. According to the California Building
Industry Association, approximately 65,000 building permits
were issued in 2008, almost a 70 percent reduction from the
number issued in 2005. And if current trends hold, the number
of permits in 2009 will be less than 50,000. Accordingly,
California should take every opportunity to encourage local
agencies to rehabilitate units to create more livable units -
an outcome that is more likely when local agencies know they
will get full credit for their efforts.
7)This bill is double-referred to the Committee on Housing and
Community Development.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
City of Sacramento
League of CA Cities
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958