BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 720|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 720
Author: Caballero (D)
Amended: 7/15/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 10-0, 7/7/09
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Harman,
Hollingsworth, Kehoe, Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/26/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Housing elements: rehabilitation, acquisition,
and
preservation.
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill allows a city or county to meet up to
25 percent of its housing need allocation through the
acquisition, preservation, or substantial rehabilitation of
affordable housing units for which the city or county has
committed financial assistance in the two years prior to
the beginning of the housing element planning period, in
addition to during the first two years of the planning
period.
ANALYSIS : The Planning and Zoning Law requires cities
and counties to prepare and adopt a general plan, including
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a housing element, to guide the future growth of a
community. Following a staggered statutory schedule,
cities and counties located within the territory of a
metropolitan planning organization (MPO) must revise their
housing elements every eight years, and cities and counties
in rural non-MPO regions must revise their housing elements
every five years. Before each revision, each community is
assigned its fair share of housing for each income category
through the regional housing needs assessment (RHNA)
process. Because the RHNA is developed two years before a
planning period starts (i.e., the five- or eight-year
period starting when a city's or county's housing element
is due), the RHNA allocation covers a time period (the
projection period) that starts generally two years before
the planning period.
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. The
Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD)
reviews both draft and adopted housing elements to
determine whether or not they are in substantial compliance
with the law.
In general, in order for a city or county to show that it
can accommodate its RHNA allocation, it must identify sites
on which new housing may be built. Current law also allows
a city or county, however, to meet up to 25 percent of its
RHNA allocation through the acquisition (converting
non-affordable units to affordable units), preservation
(extending the term of affordability on existing affordable
housing units), or substantial rehabilitation of affordable
housing units under specified conditions, including among
others:
1. The city or county must have met (i.e., housing units
were built) at least some portion of its RHNA allocation
for very low- and low-income housing in the previous
planning period.
2. The city or county must identify the specific, existing
sources of available funding in the housing element and
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commit assistance to individual developments (i.e.,
enter into a legally binding agreement to provide the
necessary financial assistance) within the first two
years of the housing element planning period.
3. With respect to acquired units, the units must be in
multifamily rental complexes of four or more units, must
not be affordable to or occupied by very low- or
low-income residents, and must represent a net increase
in the city or county's supply of affordable housing.
4. With respect to preservation, the units must be subject
to affordability restrictions, and the city or county
must make a finding that the units are eligible and
reasonably expected to change from affordable housing to
any other use during the next five years.
6. With respect to substantially rehabilitated units, the
local government or a court must have found the units to
be unfit for human habitation due to the existence of at
least four conditions on a list of serious code
violations, and the local government must have
determined that the units are at imminent risk of loss
to the housing stock.
7. The acquired, preserved, or rehabilitated units must be
made available for occupancy within two years of the
execution of the agreement committing assistance.
8. The acquired, preserved, or rehabilitated units must be
subject to long-term affordability covenants for at
least 20 years (rehabilitation), 40 years
(preservation), or 55 years (acquisition).
9. For purposes of counting units against the city's or
county's RHNA allocation, the acquired, preserved, or
rehabilitated units must be counted in the appropriate
income category.
10.The city or county must include in its annual housing
element progress report it submits to HCD for the third
year of the planning period an update on its progress in
providing the units counted.
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This bill:
1. For purposes of utilizing the authority to meet up to 25
percent of its RHNA allocation through acquisition,
preservation, or substantial rehabilitation, allows a
city or county to count units for which it executed the
agreement to commit financial assistance between the
beginning of the projection period and the beginning of
the planning period, in addition to during the first two
years of the planning period.
2. Allows a city or county to include in the annual housing
element progress report it submits to HCD in any year of
the planning period data on the number of acquired,
preserved, or substantially rehabilitated units for the
planning period to date, provided that the city or
county documents how the units meet the conditions
described above.
3. Allows a city or county to include weatherization and
energy efficiency improvements in the substantial
rehabilitation of units, and encourages cities and
counties, as part of their housing needs assessment, to
include weatherization and energy improvements as part
of publicly subsidized housing rehabilitation projects.
4. Contains double-jointing language with SB 575
(Steinberg).
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/13/09)
California Foundation for Independent Living Centers
California Redevelopment Association
City of Sacramento
League of California Cities
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
this bill will facilitate usage of the 25 percent allowance
for acquisition, preservation, and rehabilitation, focus
the law on real, funded projects in addition to
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contemplated projects, and generally create incentives for
local governments to provide affordability within the
existing housing stock.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning,
Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada
NO VOTE RECORDED: Duvall, Bass
JJA:do 7/14/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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