The California Legislature adopted, and Governor Newsom signed, over 30 housing-related bills in this year's legislative session. Most of these bills represent incremental changes or clarification of existing laws that are designed to address the state's ongoing housing crisis. This alert summarizes several key bills which will go into effect on January 1, 2025. For more information, please contact the authors of this client alert: Patricia Curtin, Amara Morrison and Todd Williams.
HOUSING ACCOUNTABILITY ACT
AB 1893 (Wicks) "Builder's Remedy" Revisions to Housing Accountability Act
The so-called Builder's Remedy is a provision within the Housing Accountability Act (HAA) that allows a developer to propose a housing development project (that meets certain affordability requirements) which can be inconsistent with the local agency's general plan or zoning for those local agencies that do not have a certified housing element. The Builder's Remedy prohibits the local agency from denying, or conditioning approval in a way that makes the project infeasible, in the absence of certain findings.
AB 1893 "modernizes" the Builder's Remedy in the following ways:
1) specifies that a local agency may not disapprove a "Builder's Remedy project" if the local agency's housing element was not in substantial compliance with the HAA on the date the Builder's Remedy project application was deemed complete;
2) expands the affordability categories and makes it easier for more mixed-use developments to be eligible under the Builder's Remedy;
3) clarifies that a local agency may only require a proposed project to comply with written objective standards and policies that would have applied to the project if it was proposed on a site that allowed the density and unit type proposed by the applicant; if the local agency does not have applicable standards for the project, the developer may apply written objective standards and policies associated with a general plan designation and zoning that facilitates the project's density and unit type;
4) confirms that a local agency may not require a rezoning or general plan amendment in order to process a Builder's Remedy application;
5) confirms that a local agency's actions may amount to a disapproval if they exceed the number of hearings/meetings allowed under the HAA or the local agency undertakes a course of action that essentially disapproves the project.
AB 1413 (Ting)
– Housing Accountability Act CEQA determination
challenge
AB 1413 revises the Housing Accountability Act's procedures when an applicant provides written notice of a challenge to a local agency's determination about the appropriate methodology to comply with CEQA during project processing.
HOUSING ELEMENTS
AB 1886 (Alvarez) – No Self-Certification of Housing Elements by Local Agencies
AB 1886 prohibits cities and counties from "self-certification" of their housing elements, thereby clarifying that only the California Office of Housing and Community Development can certify local housing elements as being in compliance with state law.
AB 2023 (Quirk-Silva) – Housing Element review
AB 2023 creates a rebuttable presumption of invalidity for housing elements deemed noncompliant by HCD. This change raises the standard for jurisdictions to challenge HCD's determination of noncompliance. The law also imposes more strict deadlines for local governments' housing element submittal. AB 2023 requires all local agencies to perform any necessary rezoning required by their housing elements within one year unless they meet specific standards to qualify for a three-year rezoning cycle. These new standards include submittal of a draft element to HCD 90 days before the statutory deadline for adoption, receive written findings from HCD by the statutory deadline that the draft housing element substantially complies with state law, and adopt the housing element within 120 days after the deadline.
AB 3093 (Ward) – Housing Element revisions
AB 3093 includes several revisions to the required contents of future housing elements and housing element progress reports, including, but not limited to, an assessment of a jurisdiction's historic preservation practices and their effect on the locality's ability to meets its share of housing need.
SB 1037 (Wiener) – Housing Element enforcement penalties
SB 1037 expands the remedies available in suits brought by the Attorney General or the State Office of Housing and Community Development against local agencies to include statutory monetary penalties of $10,000 to $50,000 per month for each violation, where the local agency's acts or omissions were found to be arbitrary, capricious, or entirely lacking in evidentiary support, contrary to established public policy, unlawful, or procedurally unfair.
IMPACT FEES
SB-937 (Wiener) – Delays Payment of Impact Fees for Residential Projects
SB 937 prohibits local agencies from requiring the payment of impacts fees for qualifying affordable housing projects until certificate of occupancy (including temporary certificates). There are limits on this prohibition – it excludes certain utility service fees related to connections and does not apply if construction of development does not begin within five years from the date the building permit is issued.
AB 1820 (Schiavo) – Good-faith estimates of fees and exactions
AB 1820 allows housing project applicants who have also submitted preliminary project applications to request a good-faith estimate of all fees and exactions.
SB 1210 (Skinner) – Transparency in utilities' fees and timelines for service connections
SB 1210 requires utility providers, as of January 1, 2026, to publicly post on websites the schedule of estimated fees for new construction and the estimated timelines for completing the service connections.
AB 2663 (Grayson) – Accounting for inclusionary housing fees
AB 2663 expands the Mitigation Fee Act and requires local jurisdictions, starting on January 1, 2026, and every five years thereafter, to publish online the amount of inclusionary housing in-lieu fees collected in the past five years and the projects those fees were spent on.
EXTENSIONS OF EXISTING HOUSING ENTITLEMENTS
AB 2729 (Patterson) – Extending Housing Entitlements by 18 Months
AB 2729 extends the life of entitlements for certain residential development projects by 18 months that were in effect on January 1, 2024, and will expire before December 31, 2025. The 18-month extension is further tolled during a legal challenge to a housing entitlement. "Housing entitlements" include legislative, adjudicative, administrative approvals or permits for a housing development project, ministerial approvals or permits for a housing development project, and tentative maps, vesting tentative maps, and parcel maps. "Housing entitlements" do not include a development agreement, an approved or conditionally approved tentative map that has already been extended, or a preliminary application. A "housing development project" is a residential or mixed-use development in which at least two-thirds of the square footage is designated for residential use.
AB 2117 (Patterson) – Permit extension for land use approvals facing legal challenge
AB 2117 provides an extension of time for land use approvals that are subject to a legal challenge. Existing law generally requires that an action or proceeding challenging a public agency's decision on a variance, conditional use permit, or any other permit be commenced, and service made on the legislative body of the agency, within 90 days after the legislative body's decision. AB 2117, for purposes of determining the expiration date for such an approval, would exclude the period of time during which an action or proceeding involving the approval is or was pending.
SMALL PROJECT STREAMLINING
SB-1123 (Caballero) – Small multifamily project streamlining
This bill modifies SB 684 (the Starter Home Revitalization Act of 2021), which allows for the construction of up to 10 units on vacant lots in multi-family zones and requires a local agency to ministerially approve, without discretionary review or a hearing, a parcel map or tentative and final map on parcels of 5 acres and less. SB 1123 prohibits local agencies from counting accessory dwelling units (ADUs) or junior ADUs as residential units for purposes of SB 684's requirements. SB 1123 revises the requirement that the lot be zoned for multifamily residential development and now requires the lot either be zoned for multifamily residential dwelling use or be vacant and zoned for single-family residential development (so long as the vacant lot is no larger than 112 acres). Also, the newly created parcels can be no smaller than 1,200 square feet in the single-family residential zone. SB 1123 permits a local agency to impose a specified height limit on a lot that is vacant and zoned for single-family residential development. This bill becomes effective on July 1, 2025, and amends Government Code sections 65852.28 and 66499.41.
SB 450 (Atkins) – Protection for SB 9 Applications
SB 450 clarifies certain provisions of SB 9 which was adopted in 2021 and allows, in certain situations, a ministerial urban lot split and/or construction of up to two units per single-family residential zone lot. SB 450 provides that a local agency may not impose objective zoning, subdivision and design standards in such applications that do not apply uniformly to development within the underlying zone (i.e., treat SB 9 applications more restrictively than non-SB 9 applications).
AB 2199 (Berman) – Extension of CEQA Statutory Exemption for small housing/mixed use projects
AB 2199 extends from 2025 until 2032 the CEQA statutory exemption for qualifying multifamily residential and mixed-use projects on infill sites in unincorporated urban areas. AB 2199 also excludes from the exemption projects that may cause a substantial adverse impact to tribal cultural resources.
SB-1211 (Skinner/Carillo) – Accessory Dwelling Unit modifications
This bill modifies existing Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) law by doing the following: 1) prohibits a local agency from requiring the replacement of off-street parking spaces if a surface parking space is demolished and converted into an ADU; 2) prohibits a local agency from imposing any objective development or design standard that is not authorized by these provisions upon any ADU that meets the requirements for ministerial approval of the ADU; 3) authorize up to 8 detached ADUs to be created on a lot with an existing multifamily dwelling, so long as the number of ADUs does not exceed the number of existing units on the lot, and up to 2 detached ADUs on a lot with a proposed multifamily dwelling.
DENSITY BONUS
AB-2694 (Ward) – Density Bonus Clarifications
This bill clarifies State Density Bonus Law (Government Code section 65915) by including Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE) (also referred to as "assisted living") in the definition of shared housing. Density bonus law provides one density bonus for senior housing, but does not require a minimum level of affordability to qualify for the density bonus. Senior citizen housing development is defined as housing for seniors who are 55 years or older. This bill makes clear that a senior development can also qualify as shared housing, which includes one or more habitable rooms (not within another dwelling unit) that includes a bathroom, sink, refrigerator and microwave, used as a permanent residence and is shared by unrelated individuals.
MISCELLANEOUS
AB 2243 (Wicks) – Expansion of housing in commercial zones
Existing law (created by SB 6) allows housing in certain commercial zones that do not exceed 20 acres. AB 2243 provides an exception for "regional malls" of less than 100 acres. These larger sites will have the same protections under SB 6 which allows the housing project to proceed as a "use by right" (no discretionary review allowed). These projects must still meet specified affordability requirements. AB 2243 also clarifies the applicable streamlined, ministerial review process for these projects.
AB 2553 (Friedman) – "Major transit stop" definition expanded
AB 2553 expands the definition of "major transit stop" for purposes of impact fee collection and CEQA to include major bus route service intervals of 20 minutes or less (up from 15 minutes), during morning and afternoon peak commute periods. This change would allow more housing projects to qualify for lower traffic mitigation fees. The law also allows a major transit stop to be completed before or within one year from the scheduled completion and occupancy of the housing development (rather than completed before occupancy). More housing projects will now qualify for CEQA exemptions available for infill sites and transit priority projects within one-half mile of a major transit stop. The law also extends the area that a local agency is prohibited from imposing minimum parking requirements on projects.
SB 312 (Wiener) – Modification to CEQA Exemption for public university housing projects
SB 312 extends the existing CEQA exemption for a public university housing development project from 2030 to 2032. The law further requires that for a university housing development project carried out by the University of California to qualify, it must be located on a campus site identified for housing in the most recent long-range development plan EIR or an EIR prepared for any subsequent amendment to that plan relating to housing.
AB 2488 (Ting) – Creation of San Francisco Downtown Revitalization and Economic Recovery Financing District
AB 2488 incentivizes conversion of qualifying downtown San Francisco commercial buildings to residential use. The law allows the City and County of San Francisco to create a new Downtown Revitalization and Economic Recovery Financing District to finance commercial to residential conversion (reuse or replacement) projects with tax increment financing.
SB 393 (Glazer) – Litigation on Housing Development Projects
SB 393 modifies the considerations that a court may make where a defendant asks a court to require a plaintiff to furnish an undertaking in an action challenging certain housing development projects that has the effect of preventing or delaying the project from being carried out.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.