A wrap-up of new legislation targeting homelessness, housing

Today is National Roof Over Your Head Day, so Follow Our Courts is taking a look at all of the new legislation going into effect in 2022 (mostly) that takes aim at homelessness in California.

Here is the list:

• SB 8 by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) – Requires a housing development project be subject only to the ordinances, policies and standards in effect when the preliminary application was submitted.
• SB 9 by Sen. Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) – Requires a proposed housing development containing no more than two residential units within a single-family residential zone to be considered without discretionary review if the proposed housing development meets certain requirements.
• SB 10 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) – Authorizes a local government to adopt an ordinance to zone any parcel for up to 10 units of residential density per parcel if the parcel is in a transit-rich area or an urban infill site.
• AB 27 by Assemblymember Luz Rivas (D-Arleta) – Requires a local educational agency to ensure that each school within the local educational agency identifies all homeless children enrolled at the school.
• AB 68 by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton) – Prohibits the imposition of limitations on accessory dwelling units if they do not permit at least an 800-square foot accessory unit that is at least 16 feet in height with 4-foot side and rear yard setbacks to be constructed.
• AB 215 by Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco) – Requires a local government to make the first draft revision of a housing element available for public comment for at least 30 days before submitting it to the Department of Housing and Community Development.
• SB 263 by Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) – Revises the real estate practice course for a real estate broker or salesperson license to include a component on implicit bias, and on state and federal fair housing laws.
• SB 290 by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) – Requires a city or county to grant one incentive or concession for a student-housing development project that will include at least 20% of the total units for lower-income students.
• AB 345 by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton) – Prohibits the sale or conveyance of an accessory dwelling unit separately from the primary residence.
• AB 362 by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton) – Requires a city or county that receives a complaint from an occupant of a homeless shelter alleging that the facility is substandard to respond with an inspection and possible emergency order to rectify.
• SB 381 by Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) – Requires that surplus residential property in South Pasadena be offered at fair market value to present tenants who have occupied the property for 5 years or more.
• SB 400 by Sen. Brian W. Jones (R-Santee) – Requires the State Department of Education to develop and implement a system to verify that local educational agencies are providing federally required annual training to school personnel providing services to homeless youth.
• AB 447 by Assemblymember Tim Grayson (D-Concord) – Makes projects that include the retrofitting and repurposing of existing nonresidential structures converted to residential use eligible for state tax credit.
• SB 478 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) – Authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to notify the Attorney General if a city or county does not comply with the law as it pertains to housing elements or if any local government has taken an action in violation of certain housing laws.
• AB 491 by Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D-San Diego) – Requires mixed-income multifamily structures to provide the same access to common entrances, common areas and amenities to occupants of the affordable housing units in the structure as is provided to occupants of the market-rate housing units..
• AB 571 by Assemblymember Chad Mayes (I-Rancho Mirage) – Prohibits affordable housing impact fees, including inclusionary zoning fees and in-lieu fees, from being imposed on a housing development’s affordable units.
• SB 591 by Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park) –  Authorizes the establishment of intergenerational housing developments that include senior citizens along with caregivers and transition-age youth.
• AB 602 by Assemblymember Tim Grayson (D-Concord) – Requires the creation of an impact fee nexus study template that may be used by local jurisdictions. The template must include a method of calculating the feasibility of housing being built with a given fee level.
• AB 634 by Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles) – Specifies that the Density Bonus Law may not prohibit a city or county from requiring an affordability period longer than 55 years.
• AB 721 by Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) – Makes any regulation that restricts the number, size or location of residences that may be built on a property, or the number of people who may reside on the property, unenforceable against the owner of an affordable housing development.
• SB 728 by Sen. Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) – Requires a unit that has a specified density bonus be offered at an affordable rate or purchased by a nonprofit housing organization receiving a property tax welfare exemption.
• AB 787 by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) – Authorizes a planning agency to include in its annual report, for up to 25% of a jurisdiction’s moderate-income regional housing need allocation, the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to rental housing for moderate-income households.
• SB 791 by Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) – Establishes the California Surplus Land Unit within the Department of Housing and Community Development with the primary purpose of facilitating the development and construction of residential housing on local surplus land.
• AB 816 by Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco) – Requires the department to prioritize funding for projects that serve people experiencing homelessness, to the extent that a sufficient number of projects exist.
• AB 838 by Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) – (effective July 1) Requires a city or county that receives a complaint from a building’s occupant to investigate and address any issues.
• AB 948 by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) – The Fair Appraisal Act requires the Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers to place on an existing complaint form a check box asking if the complainant believes that the opinion of the value of the real estate is below market value and also to collect demographic information.
• AB 977 by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) – (effective Jan. 1, 2023) Requires that a grantee operating a state homelessness program must report data into the Homeless Data Integration System.
• AB 1029 by Assemblymember Kevin Mullin (D-South San Francisco) – (Took effect in September under the urgency statute) Adds the preservation of affordable housing units through the extension of existing project-based rental assistance covenants to avoid the displacement of affected tenants and a reduction in available affordable housing.
• AB 1043 by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) – Prohibits “affordable rent” for certain rental housing developments that receive assistance from exceeding the product of 30% times 15% of the area’s median income adjusted for family size appropriate for the unit if the household is an “acutely low-income household.”
• AB 1095 by Assemblymember Ken Cooley (D-Rancho Cordova) – States the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to the equitable treatment of home ownership in state and local affordable housing programs
• AB 1174 by Assemblymember Tim Grayson (D-Concord) – (took effect in September under the urgency statute) Authorizes a development proponent to submit an application for a multifamily housing development that is subject to a streamlined approval process and not subject to a conditional use permit, if the development satisfies specified objective planning standards.
• AB 1220 by Assemblymember Luz Rivas (D-Arleta) – Renames the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to the California Interagency Council on Homelessness and requires a state agency that administers a state homelessness program to provide to the council any relevant information regarding those state homelessness programs.
• AB 1297 by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) – Authorizes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank to provide financial support for projects that qualify as public development, including housing.
• AB 1304 by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) – Requires that zoning and planning agents take meaningful actions, in addition to combating discrimination, that overcome patterns of segregation and foster inclusive communities free from barriers that restrict access to opportunity based on protected characteristics, address significant disparities in housing needs, and transform racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty into areas of opportunity in compliance with civil rights and fair housing laws.
• AB 1398 by Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) – Requires a local government that fails to adopt a housing element that the Department of Housing and Community Development has found to be in substantial compliance with state law within 120 days of the statutory deadline to complete this rezoning no later than one year from the statutory deadline for the adoption of the housing element.
• AB 1443 by Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) – Authorizes a county to develop training relating to the involuntary detention and treatment of people with specified mental health disorders.
• AB 1466 by Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) – Requires any agent that delivers a copy of a deed to a new property owner to also provide a Restrictive Covenant Modification form with specified procedural information regarding discrimination.
• AB 1584 by the Committee on Housing and Community Development – Housing omnibus (elements take effect on different dates) Voids regulations relating to development that unreasonably limit or prohibit accessory dwelling unit construction.