BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1537
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Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian, Chair
AB 1537 (Levine) - As Amended: April 21, 2014
SUBJECT : General plan housing element: regional housing need.
SUMMARY : Creates an exception from existing law for Marin
County, and cities within Marin County, for purposes of
determining a jurisdiction's "default density" for accommodating
affordable housing. Specifically, this bill :
1)Creates an exception, for purposes of determining a
jurisdiction's "default density" for accommodating affordable
housing, as follows:
a) Requires a county that is in the San
Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, California Metropolitan
Statistical Area (MSA) that has a population of less than
400,000, to be considered suburban; and,
b) Requires, if this county includes an incorporated city
that has a population of less than 10,000, this city to be
considered suburban.
2)Allows the exceptions specified in 1), above, to apply to a
housing element revision cycle that is in effect from July 1,
2014, to December 31, 2023.
3)Requires a jurisdiction that is classified as suburban
pursuant to 1), above, to report to the Assembly Committee on
Housing and Community Development, the Senate Committee on
Transportation and Housing, and the Department of Housing and
Community Development (HCD) regarding its progress in
developing low- and very low-income housing consistent with
the requirements of existing law.
4)Requires the report to be provided twice, once, on or before
December 31, 2019, which shall address the initial four years
of the housing element cycle, and a second time, on or before
December 31, 2023, to address the subsequent four years of the
housing element cycle and the cycle as a whole.
5)Requires the report to be consistent with the requirements of
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existing law related to reports submitted to the Legislature.
6)Repeals, on December 31, 2023, items 1), above, through 5),
above, inclusive.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires every city and county to prepare and adopt a general
plan containing seven mandatory elements, including a housing
element.
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.
3)Requires cities and counties located within the territory of a
metropolitan planning organization (MPO) to 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.
4)Requires, prior to each housing element revision, that each
council of governments (COG), in conjunction with HCD, 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. Where a COG does not exist,
HCD determines the local share of the region's housing need.
5)Divides the RHNA into the following income categories:
a) Very low-income (50% or lower of area median income);
b) Low-income (80% or lower of area median income);
c) Moderate-income (between 80% and 120% of area median
income); and,
d) Above moderate-income (exceeding 120% area median
income).
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6)Requires housing elements to include an inventory of land
suitable for residential development that identifies enough
sites that can be developed for housing within the planning
period to accommodate the jurisdiction's entire share of the
RHNA.
7)Allows a jurisdiction to do either of the following in order
to show that a site is adequate to accommodate some portion of
its share of the RHNA for lower-income households:
a) Provide an analysis demonstrating that the site is
adequate to support lower-income housing development at its
zoned density level, and requires the analysis to include,
but not be limited to, factors such as market demand,
financial feasibility, or information based on development
project experience within a zone or zones that provide
housing for lower-income households; or
b) Zone the site at the jurisdiction's "default" density
level.
8)Establishes the following "default" density levels for
purposes of establishing a site's adequacy for supporting
lower-income housing development:
a) 30 units per acre for metropolitan jurisdictions,
generally defined as any city or county (except for
jurisdictions of less than 25,000 persons) in a
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) with a population of
two million persons or greater and any city or county
over 100,000 persons in any size MSA.
b) 20 units per acre for suburban jurisdictions,
generally defined as cities and counties in an MSA of
less than two million persons (except for jurisdictions
over 100,000 persons) and jurisdictions under 25,000
persons in larger MSAs.
c) 15 units per acre for incorporated cities within
non-metropolitan counties and for non-metropolitan
counties that have micropolitan areas (i.e., Del Norte,
Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada, Tehama, and Tuolumne
Counties).
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d) 10 units per acre for unincorporated areas in all
non-metropolitan counties.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed fiscal.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of this bill . This bill would require, until December
31, 2023, a county that is in the San
Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, California MSA that has a
population of less than 400,000 to be considered suburban for
purposes of determining the densities appropriate to
accommodate housing for lower-income households. The bill
also requires a city that has a population of less than
100,000 and is incorporated within that county to be
considered suburban, for the same purposes of determining the
densities appropriate to accommodate housing for lower-income
households. The practical application of this bill would
affect the unincorporated area of Marin County, as well as two
cities in Marin - Novato and San Rafael.
This bill is author-sponsored.
2)Housing element requirements . 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-, low-, moderate-, and
above-moderate income) over the course of the next housing
element planning period to accommodate population growth and
overcome existing deficiencies in the housing supply. This
number is known as the 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 a community does not have enough sites
within its existing inventory of residentially zoned land to
accommodate its entire RHNA, then the community must adopt a
program to rezone land within the first three years of the
planning period.
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Cities and counties are required to demonstrate that sites are
adequate to accommodate housing for each income group based on
the zoning after taking into consideration individual site
factors such as property size, existing uses, environmental
constraints, and economic constraints. With respect to the
zoning, density can be used as a proxy for affordability.
Jurisdictions may establish the adequacy of a site for very
low- or low-income housing by showing that it is zoned at the
"default" density (also referred to as the Mullin density).
These densities range from 10 to 30 units per acre depending
on the type of jurisdiction. Jurisdictions may also include
sites zoned at lower densities by providing an analysis of how
the lower density can accommodate the need for affordable
housing.
3)Default density in statute . In 2003, HCD convened a Housing
Element Working Group (HEWG), after several lengthy and
divisive legislative battles over changes to housing element
law. The broad-based group included representatives from
local government, COGs, the for-profit and non-profit
development community, and affordable housing advocacy groups.
The HEWG met from June through November of 2003, and reached
consensus on reform proposals in three major areas: the
regional housing needs allocation process, increasing housing
development certainty, and the identification of adequate
sites. The bills that implemented the reform proposals
represented a consensus agreement and received broad
bi-partisan support throughout the legislative process. One of
these bills, AB 2348 (Mullin), Chapter 724, Statutes of 2004,
amended housing element law by clarifying the land inventory
requirements to provide local governments more certainty about
the statutory requirements. Amongst other things, AB 2348
established the default densities, also known as "Mullin"
densities, for affordable housing sites.
4)Author's statement . According to the author, "AB 1537 seeks
to designate Marin as suburban for purposes of its housing
element default density in the next housing element cycle.
With a population of 250,000 it is an anomaly that Marin is
designated as metropolitan. This designation will be a more
appropriate reflection of the existing character of the county
and will help focus the discussions over affordable housing
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development to the most relevant issues. It is important to
note that affordable housing developers and the Association of
Bay Area Governments (ABAG) support AB 1537. The bill would
not change in any way the number of units the county must zone
for, would only apply for the next housing element cycle, and
there will be reporting to the Legislature as well as the
Department of Housing and Community Development."
5)Marin designations . Marin County is rural and suburban in
nature with an aggregate population of about 252,000, and is
separated from San Francisco by a body of water and includes
thousands of acres of land in open space preserves. It is
included in the San Francisco MSA and is considered
metropolitan with a default density of 30 dwelling units per
acre. In addition, unlike cities in suburban counties that
are also considered suburban if under 100,000 in population,
cities in metropolitan counties are only considered suburban
if under 25,000 in population. Marin County and its cities
with a population greater than 25,000 have the same default
density as downtown San Francisco or Sacramento.
The nine incorporated cities with a population of less than
25,000 have a default density of 20 dwelling units per acre,
but the unincorporated county areas around these incorporated
cities are designated metropolitan with a default density of
30 dwelling units per acre.
6)Related legislation . The introduced version of AB 2508
(Caballero), Chapter 390, Statutes of 2010, allowed a local
agency to petition HCD for a jurisdiction reclassification if
its classification under Housing Element Law jeopardizes the
agency's ability to meet threshold requirements for funding
programs promoting infill development. AB 2508 was sponsored
by the City of Salinas, which at the time had a population
just under 150,000, and was classified as a metropolitan
jurisdiction under the Mullin Densities formula. As such, an
infill project in Salinas would have to be built at 30 units
per acre or more in order to be eligible under the infill
program. The author and sponsor argued that Salinas lacked
the overall infrastructure to develop at a density above 30
units per acre, and that Salinas should not be designated as a
metropolitan jurisdiction because it was not a central city or
an urban
core. Salinas was unable to compete in the first two funding
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rounds under Infill Incentive Grants Program because it did
not have any projects that met the density requirements.
The introduced version of AB 745 (Levine, 2013) would have
authorized a city or county to request the appropriate council
of governments to adjust a density to be deemed appropriate if
it is inconsistent with the city's or county's existing
density. The bill was subsequently amended to deal with a
different topic.
7)Arguments in support . Supporters argue that this bill allows
these suburban and rural communities in Marin the flexibility
to zone land suitable for housing in a way that fits within
the communities' individual circumstances while still
promoting affordable development.
8)Arguments in opposition . Opponents argue that reduction of
the default density without mitigation that will help ensure
that affordable housing will be developed at the lower
densities will make it difficult or impossible to build
housing for lower-income families in need.
9)Double-referral . This bill is double-referred to the
Committees on Housing and Community Development Committee and
will be heard in that Committee on April 30, 2014.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Association of Bay Area Governments
BRIDGE Housing Corporation
California State Association of Counties
Center for Sustainable Neighborhoods
Eden Housing
Marin County Board of Supervisors
Marin County Council of Mayors and Council Members
Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California
Domus Development
EAH Housing
Opposition
Western Center on Law and Poverty
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
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Analysis Prepared by : Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958