BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1867
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Norma Torres, Chair
AB 1867 (Harkey) - As Amended: April 26, 2010
SUBJECT : Land use: local planning: housing element program.
SUMMARY : Makes minor changes to the statute that allows a
local government to meet up to 25 percent of its regional
housing needs obligation through the conversion of certain
existing market-rate units to low- and very low-income units.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows the existing market-rate units to be either rental or
ownership housing prior to conversion.
2)Reduces from four units to three units the minimum size of a
multifamily complex that is eligible for conversion.
3)Specifies that converted units must be rental housing.
EXISTING LAW
1)Requires every city and county to prepare and adopt a general
plan containing seven mandatory elements, including a housing
element (Government Code Sections 65300 and 65302).
2)Requires a jurisdiction's housing element to identify and
analyze existing and projected housing needs, identify
adequate sites with appropriate zoning to meet the housing
needs of all income segments of the community, and ensure that
regulatory systems provide opportunities for, and do not
unduly constrain, housing development (Government Code Section
65583).
3)Requires most cities and counties to revise their housing
elements every eight years based on a staggered statutory
schedule (Government Code Section 65588).
4)Requires, prior to each housing element revision, that each
council of governments (COG), in conjunction with the
Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), prepare
a regional housing needs assessment (RHNA) and allocate to
each jurisdiction in the region its fair share of the housing
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need for all income categories (Government Code Sections
65584-65584.09).
5)Requires each local government to make sites available during
the first three years of the housing element planning period
with appropriate zoning and development standards and with
services and facilities to accommodate the city's or county's
share of the regional housing need (Government Code Section
65583).
6)Allows a city or county to meet up to 25% of its share of the
regional housing need through a program committing the local
government to make certain existing housing units affordable
to low- and very low-income households. The program is
limited to the following categories of units:
a) Units that are to be substantially rehabilitated and
that will have long-term affordability covenants and
restriction that require them to be available to, and
occupied by, a person of low- or very low income at
affordable housing costs for at least 20 years;
b) Units that are located in a multifamily rental housing
complex of four or more units, will be converted from
nonaffordable to affordable, and will have long-term
affordability covenants and restrictions that require the
unit to be affordable to persons of low- or very low-income
for at least 55 years; and
c) Units in an assisted housing development at risk of
conversion to market rate housing or another use that will
be preserved at an affordable housing cost to persons or
families of low or very low incomes for at least 40 years.
(Government Code Section 65583.1)
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
Every local government is required to prepare a housing element
as part of its general plan. The housing element process starts
when HCD determines the number of new housing units a region is
projected to need at all income levels (very low-, lower-,
moderate-, and above-moderate income) over the course of the
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next housing element planning period to accommodate population
growth and overcome existing deficiencies in the housing supply.
This number is often referred to as the "RHNA" number (short
for regional housing needs assessment). The 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. If the existing inventory of residentially zoned land
cannot accommodate the jurisdiction's entire RHNA share, the
city or county must rezone enough sites during the first three
years of the housing element planning period.
Existing law allows jurisdictions to meet up to 25% of their
zoning obligation by instead adopting a program to make certain
existing housing units affordable to low- and very low-income
households during the planning period. Eligible units include
units that are to be substantially rehabilitated, units in
multifamily rental complexes that are to be converted from
market-rate to low- and very-low income housing, and units in an
assisted housing development (such as public housing) that are
at risk of conversion to market rate or to another use. In all
cases, the units must have affordability covenants and
restrictions that will keep them affordable to low- and very-low
income households for 20 to 55 years depending on the type of
unit.
The City of San Juan Capistrano would like to make use of the
provision that allows a city to convert existing market-rate
units to low- and very low-income units, but current law
requires such units to currently be rental housing and be in
complexes with four or more units. The units the city wants to
use are currently not rentals and are in triplexes. AB 1867
makes minor changes to the law to allow a city to count towards
its RHNA market-rate units that are currently not rentals that
are converted into affordable rental housing and units located
in triplexes.
Double referred : The Assembly Committee on Rules referred AB
1867 to the Committee on Local Government and Housing Community
and Development. The bill passed the Committee on Local
Government on April 21, 2010 by a vote of 6 to 2.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
City of San Juan Capistrano (sponsor)
California State Association of Counties
Cities of Buena Park, Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo, and San
Clemente
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / H. & C.D. / (916)
319-2085