BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1198
Page 1
Date of Hearing: January 11, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Norma Torres, Chair
AB 1198 (Norby) - As Introduced: February 18, 2011
SUBJECT : Land use: housing element: regional housing needs
assessment.
SUMMARY : Eliminates the regional housing needs assessment
process.
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 all cities and counties to periodically revise their
housing elements. For most jurisdictions, the housing element
must be revised every eight years based on a staggered
statutory schedule (Government Code Section 65588).
4)Requires the housing element to plan for the following income
categories:
a) Very low-income (50% or less of area median income);
b) Lower-income (80% or less of area median income);
c) Moderate-income (between 80% and 120% of area median
income); and
d) Above moderate-income (exceeding 120% of area median
income).
5)Requires each council of governments (COG), in conjunction
AB 1198
Page 2
with the Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD), to prepare a regional housing needs assessment (RHNA)
and allocate to each jurisdiction in the region its fair share
of the housing need for all income categories prior to the
housing element planning period. Where a COG does not exist,
HCD determines the local share of the region's housing need
(Government Code Sections 65584-65584.09).
6)Requires every jurisdiction to receive an allocation of units
at the lower- and very low-income categories (Health and
Safety Code Section 65584).
7)Requires the regional housing needs allocation plan to be
consistent with all of the following objectives:
a) Increasing the housing supply and the mix of housing
types, tenure, and affordability in all cities and counties
within the region in an equitable manner, which shall
result in each jurisdiction receiving an allocation of
units for low- and very low income households;
b) Promoting infill development and socioeconomic equity,
the protection of environmental and agricultural resources,
and the encouragement of efficient development patterns;
and
c) Promoting an improved intraregional relationship between
jobs and housing.
8)Requires the COG to consider the following factors in
determining what share of the regional housing need to
allocate to each jurisdiction:
a) Each member jurisdiction's existing and projected jobs
and housing relationship;
b) The opportunities and constraints to development of
additional housing in each member jurisdiction;
c) The distribution of household growth assumed for
purposes of a comparable period of regional transportation
plans and opportunities to maximize the use of public
transportation and existing transportation infrastructure;
d) The market demand for housing;
AB 1198
Page 3
e) Agreements between a county and cities in a county to
direct growth toward incorporated areas of the county;
f) The loss of units contained in assisted housing
developments that changed to non-low-income use through
mortgage prepayment, subsidy contract expirations, or
termination of use restrictions;
g) High housing costs burdens;
h) The housing needs of farmworkers;
i) The housing needs generated by the presence of a private
university or a campus of the California State University
or the University of California within any member
jurisdiction; and
j) Any other factors adopted by the COG. (Health and
Safety Code Section 65584.04)
9)Requires the COG to consider the following in analyzing each
jurisdictions opportunities and constraints to the development
of additional housing:
a) Lack of capacity for sewer or water service due to a
variety of factors that preclude the jurisdiction from
providing necessary infrastructure for additional
development during the planning period.
b) The availability of land suitable for urban development
or for conversion to residential use, the availability of
underutilized land, and opportunities for infill
development and increased residential densities.
c) Lands preserved or protected from urban development
under existing federal or state programs, or both, designed
to protect open space, farmland, environmental habitats,
and natural resources on a long-term basis; and
d) County policies to preserve prime agricultural land
within an unincorporated area. (Government Code Section
65584.04)
10)Includes a process by which a jurisdiction can request that
AB 1198
Page 4
the COG revise its allocation and also allows for an appeal to
the COG in the event the jurisdiction is not satisfied with
the outcome of its revision request (Government Code Section
65584.05).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
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. Cities and counties
located within the territory of a metropolitan planning
organization (MPO) must revise their housing elements every
eight years following the adoption of every other regional
transportation plan. Cities and counties in rural non-MPO
regions must revise their housing elements every five years.
Before each housing element revision, every city and county is
assigned its fair share of housing for each income category
through the regional housing needs assessment (RHNA) process.
The RHNA process begins with HCD, in conjunction with COGs and
using data from the Department of Finance's Demographic Research
Unit, determining the number of new housing units a region is
projected to need at all income levels over the course of the
next housing element planning period to accommodate population
growth and overcome existing deficiencies in the housing supply.
The COG for the region, or HCD for areas with no COG, then
assigns a share of the RHNA 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. A housing
element must identify and analyze existing and projected housing
needs, identify adequate sites with appropriate zoning to meet
the jurisdiction's share of the RHNA, and ensure that regulatory
systems provide opportunities for, and do not unduly constrain,
housing development. HCD reviews both draft and adopted housing
elements to determine whether or not they are in substantial
compliance with the law.
AB 1198 eliminates the RHNA process but leaves intact the rest
of housing element law, including the requirement for every
local government to prepare a housing element that shows how it
plans to accommodate its share of the RHNA and the requirement
AB 1198
Page 5
that HCD review housing elements for compliance with the law.
According to the author, the purpose of AB 1198 is to free local
governments from a state-imposed unfunded mandate to eliminate
redundancies. However, it is not clear what savings local
governments would realize because the bulk of the
responsibilities, and thus the costs, of the RHNA process are
born by COGs and HCD. In addition, it is not clear to what the
RHNA process is redundant. Staff is not aware of any other
processes that examine housing needs on a regional level.
Finally, AB 1198 may create legal problems for local governments
because they would still be required to prepare a housing
element that shows how they plan to accommodate their share of
the RHNA even though there would no longer be a process to
determine the RHNA.
Double referred : The Assembly Committee on Rules referred AB
1198 to the Committee on Housing and Community Development and
Local Government. If AB 1198 passes this committee, the bill
must be referred to the Committee on Local Government.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / H. & C.D. / (916)
319-2085