California Housing Laws 2020 Summary Santa Clara County

California Housing Laws 2020 Summary Santa Clara County Planning Collaborative

Themes • Opt-in in provisions and “you have to do it provisions” • Gentle densification of existing residential zones • Enabling institutions to build affordable housing (hospitals, colleges, and religious institutions or funded by school districts) • Homelessness and permanent supportive housing • Unlocking commercial zones for affordable housing • Mobile homes park protections • Leaning towards helpful to count for RHNA.

Notable Bills • Duplexes, Triplexes, 4 plexes (Chiu) Encourages cities to rezone single family houses to allow duplexes, triplexes, & fourplexes, by allowing it to count towards meeting part of their Regional Housing Needs Allocation goal. AB 3040 • Density Bonus Increases maximum affordable housing density bonus from 35% to 50%. Increases the maximum density bonus to 40% when units are set aside for households with income that is less than half the area median. SB 1085 AB 2345 • Faster Rezoning for up to 10 homes per lot (Wiener) Allows cities to rezone land near transit or jobs for up to 10 homes per parcel without going through CEQA process. SB 902

Notable Bills • CEQA Streamlining Extension and Expansion Continues CEQA streamlining for large projects (over $100 million) for 4 more years. Extends streamlining to smaller projects ($15 -100 million), including developments with more than 15% affordable housing. SB 995 • Duplexes & Lot Splits (Atkins, Caballero, Wiener) Allows duplexes or dividing a lot into 2 lots in non-rural single-family zones. Does not allow demolition of rent controlled homes or housing that has had a tenant in the last 3 years. SB 1120 • Legalizing Housing in Commercial Zones (Caballero, Rubio) Legalizes housing in commercial areas. Projects on sites that have a 50% or higher vacancy rate for the last 3 years get streamlined approvals. SB 1385 • California Local Rent Control Initiative (Ballot Measure) Repeals Costa-Hawkins to allow cities to implement rent control (exempts new housing after 1995, new renters moving in, and owners of two and less units).

Other Bills • Institutions: Building affordable housing on land owned by hospitals, colleges, and religious institutions or funded by school districts. AB 3308, SB 899 • Homelessness: Reducing barriers to new emergency shelters. SB 1138 • COVID: Rental assistance program due to COVID 19. SB 1410 • Mobile Homes: Rent control/caps, noticing, relocation plans/payments, COVID eviction pause. SB 915, AB 2895, SB 999, AB 2690, AB 2782 • Funding: $2 billion to reduce homelessness (shelters, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing) and $10 billion per year in funding for affordable housing for 5 years. AB 3300, SB 795

Appendix California Housing Laws (including bills not moving forward)

Preservation AB 1521 | Preserving Existing Affordable Rental Homes (Bloom & Chiu) Strengthens the existing Preservation Notice Law by requiring owners of expiring affordable rental properties to accept any market-rate purchase offer from a qualified preservation entity that intends to maintain the property’s affordability restrictions. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 377, Statutes of 2017. (09/29/17) AB 2058 | Affordable Housing Preservation Tax Credit for preservation of existing affordable apartment properties and mobile home parks (Grabiel) Creates an Affordable Housing Preservation Tax Credit (AHPTC) that would provide a 50% credit (up to $1 million per transaction) against the state and federal capital gains otherwise owed by the seller of an existing building or park if they sell to a nonprofit entity who will operate the property as affordable housing for low-income households for 55 years. In committee: Held under submission. (06/03/20)

Fees AB 3144 | Housing Cost Reduction Incentive Program (Grayson) Encourages cities and counties to waive or reduce impact fees for affordable rental housing developments by creating the Housing Cost Reduction Incentive Program to reimburse them 50% of the value of fee waivers or reductions granted. In committee: Hearing postponed by committee. (3/16/20)

School and Public Employee Housing AB 3308 | School Employee Housing (Gabriel, Mullin, and Quirk-Silva) Allows school districts to use affordable housing tax credit funding to build homes specifically for their own teachers and other employees. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/9/20) AB 2852 | Public Employee Housing (Mullin) Allows school districts to build housing on their land offer it to employees of other districts or government agencies in addition to their own. In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. (5/20/20)

Funding SB 795 | Housing funding (Beall, Mc. Guire, Portantino) $10 billion per year in funding for affordable housing for the 2020 -2021 fiscal year and following 4 years. Read second time. Ordered to third reading. (6/22/20)

Streamlining AB 1907 | Streamlining Homeless Housing in California (Santiago) AB 1907 exempts from CEQA shelters, permanent supportive housing, and affordable housing. In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. (5/13/20) AB 3155 | Streamlining Small Projects (Robert Rivas) Streamlines approvals for multifamily housing with up to 10 homes, or subdivisions with up to 10 lots. In committee: Held under submission. (6/3/20)

Streamlining SB 899 | Allow faith-based organizations and hospitals to build affordable housing through streamlined zoning (Wiener) Allows places of worship/hospitals to build 100% multifamily affordable housing units (80% of Area Median Income and below), regardless of local zoning restrictions and permits them to build between 40 to 150 new affordable homes without rezoning. Read second time. Ordered to third reading. (6/22/20) SB 902 | Faster Rezoning for up to 10 homes per lot (Wiener) Allows cities to rezone land near transit or jobs for up to 10 homes per parcel without going through CEQA process. In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. (6/22/20)

Streamlining SB 995 | CEQA Streamlining Extension and Expansion (Atkins, Wiener) Continues CEQA streamlining for large projects (over $100 million) for 4 more years. Extends streamlining to smaller projects ($15 -100 million). Read second time. Ordered to third reading. (6/22/20)

Homelessness and Permanent Supportive Housing AB 2329 | Homelessness Policy (Chiu, Gloria) Directs existing coordinating council to identify needs and gaps in state policy and funding to end homelessness. Report to go to Legislature in July 2021. In committee: Held under submission. (6/3/20) AB 2586 | Safe RV / Car Parking (Berman) Encourages local governments to establish Safe Parking Programs for people living in cars and RVs by waiving some liability and state laws. In committee: Hearing postponed by committee. (5/20/20)

Homelessness and Permanent Supportive Housing AB 2988 | Permanent Supportive Housing (Chu, Chiu) Allows more Permanent Supportive Housing in places zoned for emergency shelters in unincorporated areas & small cities. Max size of such a PSH project increases from 50 to 120 homes. In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. (5/20/20) AB 3269 | Reduce homelessness by 90% (Chiu) Directs state and local government to create plan to reduce homelessness by 90% by 2028. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/11/20)

Homelessness and Permanent Supportive Housing AB 3300 | $2 billion for shelters and housing (Santiago, Bloom, Bonta, Gipson, Quirk-Silva, & Wicks) Allocates $2 billion to reduce homelessness. Money would go to a continuum of care that includes shelters, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/16/20) SB 1138 | Shelters (Wiener) Reduces the number of restrictions or standards that cities can place on the opening of new emergency shelters. In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. (6/22/20)

Tenant Protections AB 2405 | Right to Housing (Burke, Chiu, Gonzalez) Declares that it is state policy that all children and families have a right to housing. Takes effect in 2026. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/11/20) SB 1157 | Optional credit reporting for tenants (Bradford) Allows tenants in certain buildings who want to build a credit history to request that their landlord report their rent payments to a credit agency. Referred to Com. on JUD. (6/18/20)

Tenant Protections SB 1410 | COVID rental assistance (Gonzalez) Creates a rental assistance program that would pay landlords 80% of the rent for up to 7 months if tenant is unable to pay due to COVID 19. Landlord is given the choice of whether to opt into this program. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on GOV. & F. (6/19/20) SB 1190 | Right to end lease early for victims of violent crime (Durazo) Allows tenants to end a lease early if they or an immediate family member is victim of a crime causing injury or death. Read second time. Ordered to third reading. (6/18/20)

Data AB 2406 | Rental Registry (Wicks) Creates a statewide rental registry. Landlords renting 5 or more homes would report data on ownership, length of tenancy, rents, unit size, etc. In committee: Held under submission. (6/3/20)

Land Use & Zoning AB 2345 | Density Bonus (Gonzalez) Increases maximum affordable housing density bonus from 35% to 50%. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/11/20) AB 2580 | Hotels to Housing (Eggman) Makes it easier to convert hotels and motels to housing. At least 20% of the homes would be affordable to low or moderate income families. In committee: Held under submission. (6/3/20)

Land Use & Zoning AB 2666 | Lot Subdivision (Boerner Horvath) Allows land in multifamily zones to be subdivided for small homes or townhouses of up to 1, 200 square feet interior space. In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. (5/20/20) AB 3040 | Duplexes, Triplexes, 4 plexes (Chiu) Encourages cities to rezone single family houses to allow duplexes, triplexes, & fourplexes, by allowing it to count towards meeting part of their Regional Housing Needs Allocation goal. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/11/20)

Land Use & Zoning AB 3107 | Commercial Zones (Bloom) Legalizes housing in commercial areas. To be eligible, at least 20% of the homes in a project would have to be affordable to lower income households. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/11/20) SB 899 | Affordable housing at land owned by hospitals, colleges, and religious institutions (Wiener) Allows these types of institutions to build affordable housing on their land. Read second time. Ordered to third reading. (6/22/20)

Land Use & Zoning SB 1085 | Inclusionary Housing Density Bonus - Very Low Income Units (Skinner, Caballero) Increases the maximum density bonus to 40% when units are set aside for households with income that is less than half the area median. Also makes it easier to get zoning concessions. Read second time. Ordered to third reading. (6/22/20) SB 1120 | Duplexes & Lot Splits (Atkins, Caballero, Wiener) Allows duplexes or dividing a lot into 2 lots in non-rural single-family zones. Does not allow demolition of rent controlled homes or housing that has had a tenant in the last 3 years. Read second time. Ordered to third reading. (6/22/20)

Land Use & Zoning SB 1299 | Commercial Zones Incentives for Rezoning (Portantino) Creates incentive grants for cities to rezone commercial land for housing. The grants would make up for the loss of sales tax revenue. Read second time. Ordered to third reading. (6/22/20) SB 1385 | Legalizing Housing in Commercial Zones (Caballero, Rubio) Legalizes housing in commercial areas. Projects on sites that have a 50% or higher vacancy rate for the last 3 years get streamlined approvals. Read second time. Ordered to third reading. (6/22/20)

Opportunity to Purchase SB 1079 | Priority for owner-occupants, public, and nonprofits in foreclosure sales (Skinner) Requires a seller to receive offers from public agencies, nonprofits, and potential owner-occupiers. Also sets a 3 -property limit that any buyer can purchase at an auction. Read second time. Ordered to third reading. (6/22/20)

Mobile Homes AB 2690 | Mobile Home Rent Control (Low) Allows cities and counties to apply Rent Control laws to mobile home parks built on or after 1990. Currently only pre-1990 mobile home parks can be rent controlled. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/11/20) AB 2782 | Mobile Home Park Closure (Mark Stone) Requires 60 days notice, government approval, relocation plan/payments when a mobile home park is closed. Also requires impact mitigation to subdivide a mobile home park or floating home marina. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/11/20)

Mobile Homes AB 2895 | Rent Cap for Mobile Homes (Quirk-Silva) Extends the AB 1482 Rent Cap to mobile homes. (Maximum annual rent increase of 5% plus inflation, or 10%, whichever is lower). In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/11/20) SB 915 | COVID eviction pause for mobile homes (Leyva) Bans evicting mobile home owners or tenants affected by COVID 19 during astate of emergency and for 120 days after end of emergency. Read second time. Ordered to third reading. (6/22/20)

Mobile Homes SB 999 | Mobile home rent control (Umberg) Allows local rent control ordinances to apply to mobile homes. Applies to rental agreements started on Feb 13, 2020 or after. In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. (6/22/20)

Homeownership AB 1905 | Mortgage Tax Deduction (Chiu) Ends mortgage interest tax break for second homes, reduces tax break for mortgages between $750 k & $1 million. Brings in $400 million/year to reduce homelessness. In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. (05/20/20) AB 3182 | Renting homes in a HOA (Ting) Homeowner associations would no longer be allowed to ban owners from renting out a house or condo. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/11/20)

Farmworker Housing AB 2778 | Farmworker Housing (Eduardo Garcia) Allows larger Polanco communities (nonprofit farmworker housing) in agricultural zones. Current limit is 12 homes or 36 beds, this bill would allow up to 50 homes or 36 beds. In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. (5/20/20)

Other AB 3352 | Lead Hazard Inspections (Friedman) Requires cities and counties to inspect housing if residents complain about a lead poisoning hazard. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/11/20) AB 3088 | Minor correction to AB 1482 (Chiu) Corrects a cross-referencing error in last year’s AB 1482 rent cap and tenant protection bill. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. (6/9/20) SB 1030 | Omnibus bill of multiple minor changes (Entire Senate Housing Committee) Several minor changes to miscellaneous state housing laws. Referred to Com. on H. & C. D. (6/18/20)