Category: Housing Laws

Current California AB (Assembly Bills) and SB (Senate Bills) for Review🥸

Post author By ACE21
Post date August 8, 2021

**Read and select AB and SB of interest**

Find current AB and SB of California. The Bills cover WIFI, housing, homelessness, and many more. Review and Click the tab for direct information from the State legislature.

AB 14


AB 14 (Aguiar-Curry D) Communications: broadband services: California Advanced Services Fund.
Current law establishes the State Department of Education in state government, and vests the department with specified powers and duties relating to the state’s public school system. This bill would authorize local educational agencies to report to the department their pupils’ estimated needs for computing devices and internet connectivity adequate for at-home learning. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, to compile that information and to annually post that compiled information on the department’s internet website.


AB 17 (Cooper D) Peace officers: disqualification from employment.
Would disqualify a person from being a peace officer if the person has been discharged from the military for committing an offense that would have been a felony if committed in California or if the person has been certified as a peace officer and has had that certification revoked by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.

AB 34 (Muratsuchi D) Broadband for All Act of 2022.

Would enact the Broadband for All Act of 2022, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $10,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to support the 2022 Broadband for All Program that would be administered by the department for purposes of providing financial assistance for projects to deploy broadband infrastructure and broadband internet access services.

AB 215 (Chiu D) Housing element: regional housing need: relative progress determination.

the Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element. That law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine whether the housing element is in substantial compliance with specified provisions of that law. This bill, starting with the 6th housing element revision, would require the department to determine the relative progress toward meeting regional housing needs of each jurisdiction and council of governments, as specified. The bill would require the department to make this determination based on the information contained in the annual reports submitted by each jurisdiction, as specified. The bill would require the department to make this determination for all housing and for lower-income housing by dividing the applicable entity’s progress toward meeting its share of the regional housing need by its prorated share of the regional housing need, as specified.

AB 377 (Rivas, Robert D) Water quality: impaired waters.

Would require, by January 1, 2023, the State Water Resources Control Board and regional boards to prioritize enforcement of all water quality standard violations that are causing or contributing to an exceedance of a water quality standard in surface water of the state. The bill would require the state board and regional boards, by January 1, 2025, to evaluate impaired state surface waters and report to the Legislature a plan to bring all water segments into attainment by January 1, 2050. The bill would require the state board and regional boards to update the report with a progress summary to the Legislature every 5 years. The bill would create the Waterway Recovery Account in the Waste Discharge Permit Fund and would make money in the Waterway Recovery Account available for the state board to expend, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to bring impaired water segments into attainment in accordance with the plan.


AB 500 (Ward D) Local planning: coastal development: affordable housing.
Would require the California Coastal Commission to conduct and complete a study on or before January 1, 2023, that identifies recommendations for policy changes that advance affordable housing in the coastal zone. The bill would provide that the study may include recommendations regarding the commission’s authority related to the development of lower-income housing and recommendations regarding streamlining of local government and commission review of affordable housing projects.

AB 585 (Rivas, Luz D) Climate change: Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program.
Would establish the Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program for the purpose of coordinating state efforts and supporting local and regional efforts to mitigate the impacts of, and reduce the public health risks of, extreme heat and the urban heat island effect, and would require the Office of Planning and Research to administer the program through the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program.


AB 718 (Cunningham R) Peace officers: investigations of misconduct.
Would require a law enforcement agency or oversight agency to complete its investigation into an allegation of the use of force resulting in death or great bodily injury, sexual assault, discharge of a firearm, or dishonesty relating to the reporting, investigation, or prosecution of a crime or misconduct by another peace officer or custodial officer, despite the peace officer’s or custodial officer’s voluntary separation from the employing agency. The bill would require the investigation to result in a finding that the allegation is either sustained, not sustained, unfounded or exonerated, as defined. The bill would also require an agency other than an officer’s employing agency that conducts an investigation of these allegations to disclose its findings with the employing agency no later than the conclusion of the investigation.


AB 816 (Chiu D) Homelessness: Housing Trust Fund: housing projects.
Current federal law requires the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish a Housing Trust Fund to provide grants to states to increase the supply of rental housing for extremely low and very low-income families, including homeless families, and homeownership for extremely low and very low-income families. Current law requires the department to collaborate with the California Housing Finance Agency to develop an allocation plan to demonstrate how the funds will be distributed, based on the priority housing needs identified in the state’s consolidated plan, and to convene a stakeholder process to inform the development of the plan. Current law requires the allocation plan and program guidelines to prioritize projects based on enumerated factors such as the extent to which project rents are affordable. The department is required to submit this plan to the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development and the Senate Transportation and Housing Committees 30 days after receipt of the federal funds. This bill would require the department to prioritize funding for projects that serve people experiencing homelessness, to the extent that a sufficient number of projects exist.

SB
SB 28 (Caballero D) Rural Broadband and Digital Infrastructure Video Competition Reform Act of 2021.
Current law establishes in state government the Department of Technology and makes it responsible for approval and oversight of information technology projects. Current law requires the Director of General Services to compile and maintain an inventory of state-owned real property that may be available for lease to providers of wireless telecommunications services for location of wireless telecommunications facilities. This bill, the Rural Broadband and Digital Infrastructure Video Competition Reform Act of 2021, would similarly require the Department of Technology, in collaboration with other state agencies, to compile an inventory of state-owned resources, as defined, that may be available for use in the deployment of broadband networks in rural, unserved, and underserved communities, except as specified. The bill would require the department to collaborate on the development of standardized agreement provisions to enable those state-owned resources to be leased or licensed for that purpose.


SB 278 (Leyva D) Public Employees’ Retirement System: disallowed compensation: benefit adjustments.
The California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) generally requires a public retirement system, as defined, to modify its plan or plans to comply with the act. PEPRA, among other things, establishes new defined benefit formulas and caps on pensionable compensation. This bill would establish new procedures under PERL for cases in which PERS determines that the benefits of a member or annuitant are, or would be, based on disallowed compensation that conflicts with PEPRA and other specified laws and thus impermissible under PERL. The bill would also apply these procedures retroactively to determinations made on or after January 1, 2017, if an appeal has been filed and the employee member, survivor, or beneficiary has not exhausted their administrative or legal remedies. At the threshold, after determining that compensation for an employee member reported by the state, school employer, or a contracting agency is disallowed, the bill would require the applicable employer to discontinue the reporting of the disallowed compensation.


SB 344 (Hertzberg D) Homeless shelters grants: pets and veterinary services.
Would require the Department of Housing and Community Development subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, to develop and administer a program to award grants to qualified homeless shelters, as described, for the provision of shelter, food, and basic veterinary services for pets owned by people experiencing homelessness. The bill would authorize the department to use up to 5% of the funds appropriated in the annual Budget Act for those purposes for its costs in administering the program.


SB 556 (Dodd D) Street light poles, traffic signal poles: small wireless facilities attachments.
Would prohibit a local government or local publicly owned electric utility from unreasonably denying the leasing or licensing of its street light poles or traffic signal poles to communications service providers for the purpose of placing small wireless facilities on those poles. The bill would require that street light poles and traffic signal poles be made available for the placement of small wireless facilities under fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory fees, as provided. The bill would authorize a local government or local publicly owned electric utility to condition access to its street light poles or traffic signal poles on reasonable terms and conditions, including reasonable aesthetic and safety standards.

AB and SB Legislature for California.

Housing Laws RHNA

Cities Sues State Over RHNA

Post author By ACE21
Post date June 29, 2021

Housing Laws Opinion

AB 101

Post author By ACE21
Post date May 1, 2021

What is AB (Assembly Bill) 101? Do residents have a say in this building? When was this established?

A Brief Summary of AB 101

Housing Element
All residents must understand that there is a housing crisis in California. These housing laws were established years ago. Many Cities have ignored AB 101 and have not established a plan to address this crisis.

City councils have the authority and are obligated to make plans for affordable housing. People cannot afford buying and renting housing. This affects students, Seniors, single parents, veterans, and the homeless.

Without affordable housing, there will be an increase of homelessness from all walks of life.

Yes, and cities that do not comply with the mandated laws will be fined anywhere from $10,000 to $600,000 a month. With this fine, many cities will go bankrupt very quickly.

The old days of large lots are over, too costly. How many people can afford large lots?

AB 101 requires HCD to publish an annual list of cities that have failed to adopt a HCD certified housing element. If HCD puts a city on the list, the city has an opportunity for two meetings to discuss its housing element and HCD must provide city written findings supporting its determination. A city may also request de novo review of its last element. HCD must issue written findings in response to the de novo review. A city may challenge HCD’s findings in a court to determine whether a city’s housing element substantially complies with the law and that determination carries the same weight as HCD certification.

If the Attorney General sues a city, a court finds that its housing element does not substantially comply with state law, and the city fails to bring the housing element into compliance, a court may impose fines ranging from $10,000 to $600,000 per month with the generated revenue deposited into the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund. The State Controller may intercept state and local funds if the fines are not paid. Additionally, extra points and other preferences will be awarded for certain state funding programs for cities that have adopted undetermined “pro-housing” policies.

Local Government Planning Support Grants Program

AB 101 makes available $250 million to regions, cities, and counties for planning activities to accelerate housing production and facilitate implementation of Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA). $125 million will be available to councils of governments and other regional entities, with the remaining $125 million available to cities and counties. These dollars may be used for:

Rezoning and updating planning documents.
Completing environmental clearance to eliminate need for project-specific review.
Infrastructure planning; and
Developing or improving accessory dwelling unit ordinance.

Infill Infrastructure Grant Program of 2019

AB 101 makes available $500 million for competitive funding for a “qualifying infill project” or “qualifying infill area.” A qualifying infill project is a residential or mixed-use project located in an urbanized area in a city with an HCD-compliant housing element. Grant funds can be used for “capital improvement projects” to facilitate the development of a qualifying infill project or area such as:

Water, sewer, or other utility improvements.
Streets, roads, transit.
Project site preparation; and
Sidewalk or streetscape improvement.

Homelessness: Funding and Programs

AB 101 makes $650 million available for one-time grants to cities, counties, and continuums of care to support regional coordination, expand or develop local capacity, and address immediate homelessness challenges. All awards will be based on the applicant’s proportionate share of the state’s total homeless population.

$275 million will be available to cities or a city and county that has a population of more than 300,000.

$175 million will be available to counties.

$190 million will be available to continuums of care.

Low Barrier Navigation Centers

AB 101 would require a low barrier navigation center be permitted as a “use by right” if it meets specified requirements. Within 30 days of receiving an application for a center, a city must notify the applicant whether the application is complete. Within 60 days of a completed application, the city must act on the application.

State Low Income Housing Tax Credit

AB 101 also increases the state low-income housing tax credit to $500 million for the 2020 calendar year.

Housing Laws

Exploring New Housing Laws & Ordinances

Post author By ACE21
Post date April 28, 2021

What does this all mean? Sit down, listen and have a bag of popcorn

Housing Laws RHNA

RHNA

Post author By ACE21
Post date April 21, 2021

What does RHNA mean for all Cities? What are the plans for the City of Chino to implement RHNA and positive change for all the residents?

The Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) is mandated by California State Housing Law as part of the periodic process of updating local housing elements of the General Plan. RHNA quantifies the need for housing within each jurisdiction during specified planning periods. SCAG adopted the 6th cycle RHNA allocation plan which covers the planning period October 2021 through October 2029.

The City of Chino is required to use RHNA in land use planning, prioritizing local resource allocation, and in deciding how to address identified existing and future housing needs resulting from population, employment, and household growth. RHNA has the collective objective for the region and subregion to grow in ways that enhances quality of life, improves access to jobs, promotes transportation mobility, and addresses social equity and fair share housing needs.

To meet the RHNA requirements the City of Chino needs to update their Housing Elements and local zoning to show how they will accommodate their share of the RHNA allocation over the 2021-29-time frame.

Responsibility of the City of Chino with respect to RHNA are:

Specify goals, policies, quantified objectives, financial resources, and constraints for the preservation, improvement, and development of housing for all income levels.
Identify sites for housing and provide an inventory of land suitable and available for residential development, including vacant sites and sites having potential for redevelopment.
Analyze special housing needs, such as those of the elderly; persons with disabilities, including a developmental disability; large families; farmworkers; families with female heads of households; and families and persons in need of emergency shelter.
Demonstrate local efforts to remove governmental and nongovernmental constraints that hinder locality from meeting the need for housing for persons with disabilities, supportive housing, transitional housing, and emergency shelters.
Analyze existing affordable units at risk of converting to market-rate due to expiring subsidies or affordability contracts.
Assess existing fair housing issues and strategies for affirmatively furthering fair housing.

So, what are the consequences of a community not meeting RHNA requirements:

State Housing Element Law requires that jurisdictions plan for all types of housing based on the allocations they receive from the RHNA process by planning, in the form of having a compliant housing element, and submitting housing element annual progress reports, as a threshold or points-related requirement for certain funding programs (SB 1 Sustainable Community Planning Grants, SB 2 Planning Grants and Permanent Local Housing Allocation, etc.). Late submission of a housing element can result in a jurisdiction being required to submit a four-year update to their housing element.
HCD may refer jurisdictions to the Attorney General if they do not have a compliant housing element, fail to comply with their HCD-approved housing element, or violate housing element law, the housing accountability act, density bonus law, no net loss law, or land use discrimination law. The consequences of those cases brought by the Attorney General are up to the courts but can include financial penalties.
In addition, as the housing element is one of the required components of the general plan, a jurisdiction without a compliant housing element, may risk legal challenges to their general plan from interested parties outside of HCD.
Local governments must also implement their commitments from the housing element, and the statute has several consequences for the lack of implementation. For example, failure to rezone in a timely manner may impact a local government’s land use authority and result in a carryover of RHNA to the next cycle. Failure to implement programs can also influence future housing element updates and requirements, such as program timing. HCD may investigate any action or lack of action in the housing element.
For jurisdictions that did not issue permits for enough housing to keep pace consistent with RHNA building goals, a developer can elect to use a ministerial process to get project approval for residential projects that meet certain conditions. This, in effect, makes it easier to build housing in places that are not on target to meet their building goals.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=GOV&division=1.&title=7.&part=&chapter=3.&article=10.6.

GOVERNMENT CODE – GOV

TITLE 7. PLANNING AND LAND USE [65000 – 66499.58] (Heading of Title 7 amended by Stats. 1974, Ch. 1536.)

DIVISION 1. PLANNING AND ZONING [65000 – 66301] (Heading of Division 1 added by Stats. 1974, Ch. 1536.)

CHAPTER 3. Local Planning [65100 – 65763] (Chapter 3 repealed and added by Stats. 1965, Ch. 1880.)

ARTICLE 10.6. Housing Elements [65580 – 65589.11] (Article 10.6 added by Stats. 1980, Ch. 1143.)

Early attainment of goals

time is of the essence
Is there a shortage of housing in California?
Special attention to low- and moderate-income households

Availability of housing:

decent housing,
suitable living environment,
for all economic levels

Local government focus:

Local and state governments have a responsibility to use the powers vested in them to facilitate the improvement and development of housing to make adequate provision for the housing needs of all economic segments of the community

each local government also has the responsibility to consider economic, environmental, and fiscal factors and community goals set forth in the general plan and to cooperate with other local governments and the state in addressing regional housing needs

Designating and maintaining a supply of land and adequate sites suitable, feasible, and available for the development of housing sufficient to meet the locality’s housing need for all income levels is essential to achieving the state’s housing goals and the purposes of this blog.

Housing Laws RHNA

Housing/RHNA

Post author By ACE21
Post date April 18, 2021
Sticky post

What are the mandated housing laws? What is the cost to cities that do not follow the mandated housing laws?

Only 3% of California’s cities and counties are fully on track to meet state goals to build sufficient housing —and 30% are failing to issue permits at all for affordable housing.

The Southern California News Group used that data to create its second annual housing permit report card for all 539 cities and counties in the state. Only 33 were doing well enough to earn an A, while 96 got an F. The average grade was a C-. Of the more than 116,000 permits that jurisdictions reported issuing in 2019, the year cover by the most recent state data, 78% were for above-moderate income housing. A mere 13% were for moderate-income housing and 9% for low and very-low-income housing. Chino needs to build 6974 affordable dwellings.

Here are the RHNA numbers for Chino and Chino Hills:

Total: 6974

Very Low-Income, Low-Income, Moderate-Income, Above-Moderate Income

Chino 2113 1284 1203 2378

Chino Hills 3729 1388 821 789 731

Each jurisdiction’s total is divided into four categories:

–Very-low-income housing that would be affordable for people making less than half of the area’s median income

–Low-income housing for people making 51-80% of median income

–Moderate-income housing for people making 81-120% of median income

–Above-moderate-income housing for people making more than 120%of median income

The low and very low categories are what the state considers “affordable housing”

All Cities and Counties are required by law to adopt land use plans and zone enough land to accommodate their RHNA goals, but not to ensure homes are built—that’s up to developers.

Many cities lack the political motivation to build affordable housing, and residents like the way their hometowns are already like. The residents argue, “We do not want those kinds of people in our city. Or we do not want our city to look like South Chicago. Some residents go on to say, “The character of our city will change if we let Asians, Blacks, and more illegals into our city, we need to stop allowing those people from moving into our city, we need to close our city border”. City councilmembers, likewise, openly state that their city does not want those people moving into the city”. This is clearly against the law and un-American.

The lack of requirements to ensure affordable housing is built makes it easy for city councilmembers “to take the easy way out and deny development that might cause community concerns and their seat on the council, votes. Just pass the Buck and Blame, Blame, Blame!

Affordable housing, as part of a full spectrum of housing opportunities, helps support the local economics and workers—there’s no city that shouldn’t be concerned with nurturing their local economy, especially after COVID-19, and housing should be a part of that.

The city of Chino received a C- in fulfilling its RHNA obligations. And still with no plan. The entire city council seems to blame everyone including Santa Claus. The City Councilmember of Chino needs to work with the State and developers and look at their outdated zoning for the City to make changes. Chino is planning to build affordable housing on the borderlines of the City limits, like the saying goes, “Out of sight…Out of Mind”. The question arises, “Where will our children live?” Many individuals, between 18 and 41, young and old cannot afford rent and are living with their parents. I believe the city of Chino needs to embrace the 21^st century and collaborate with the experts. The housing crisis is real according to the NLC (National League of Cities), LOCC (League of California Cities, National Core, and other organizations.

In a recent SOI (Sphere of Influence) meeting residents were given facts and figures from the city’s consultant and planning division. But not once did the city council mention any of the mandated affordable housing laws.

Now let us look at the San Bernardino County RHNA numbers:

What do the numbers tell us? If the City of Chino cannot annex county land, what happens to the SOI (Sphere of Influence), and Protect Chino group? Will the SOI and Protect Chino group tell the county what to do? Will the city of Chino tell the county what to build or what not to build?

Yes, the county of San Bernardino has its own obligation to meet RHNA. In my next blog, I will discuss these questions. Stay tuned.

SCAG 6TH CYCLE DRAFT RHNA ALLOCATION BASED ON FINAL RHNA METHODOLOGY & FINAL CONNECT SOCAL
9/3/20
County Total Very-low Low income Moderate Above
income income moderate
income
San Bernardino 137,786 35,575 21,855 24,087 56,269
Unincorporated 8,813 2,174 1,357 1,520 3,762