th Senator , 11 Senate District

Senate Bill 35 – Housing Accountability & Affordability Act

SUMMARY communities refuse to approve enough Senate Bill 35 ensures that all communities in housing — instead punting housing creation to create the housing we desperately other communities — then the State needs to need to address our statewide housing shortage, ensure that all communities are equitably and spur the creation of housing in California contributing to regional housing needs. Local by streamlining the approval process. control must be about how a community meets

its housing goals, not whether it meets those BACKGROUND/EXISTING LAW goals. Too many communities either ignore California is in the depths of a housing their housing goals or set up processes designed shortage. Our State’s housing production has to impede housing creation. Allowing local not kept pace with population growth, communities to ignore their responsibility to particularly for low and middle income create housing has led to a housing disaster — residents. California households in the bottom triggering huge economic, environmental, and quarter of the income distribution—the poorest social problems. 25 percent of households—report spending four times more of their income (67 percent, on average) than households in the top quarter of SOLUTION the income distribution (16 percent, on Under SB 35, as amended, cities that are on average). track to meet their RHNA housing production goals at all income levels will retain full local Every 8 years, each California city receives a control over how they approve housing. When Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) cities do not meet their housing obligations, goal from the Department of Housing and approval of qualified housing projects will be Community Development (HCD) for how many streamlined until cities do meet their goals. future units of housing the city must include in its zoning plan. However, HCD cannot require For streamlining to apply, a project must cities to follow through with producing the include housing for certain income levels where housing in their own zoning plan, and too many there is a shortage of production, rigorous communities either ignore RHNA or make standards for construction labor, and meet all inadequate efforts to comply with it. HCD does objective affordability, density, zoning, historic, not comprehensively track housing production and environmental standards outlined in the data. bill. Additionally, it is voluntary for a developer to use streamlining for their project approval. If PROBLEM a developer prefers to use the traditional The negative impacts of California’s housing approval process offered by the local shortage threaten our state’s economic growth, jurisdiction instead of the streamlined process environmental well-being, and diversity. It is far offered in SB 35, they may do so. too expensive to rent or buy a home in California, which results in displacement, The new, streamlined approval process will evictions, and families being pushed out as they require localities to approve projects only on the grow. Teachers, retail workers, first responders, basis of whether the project complies with the and other middle-income professionals often objective SB 35 qualifying criteria. The have crushing commutes as they increasingly streamlined process applies only when unmet cannot afford to live near their jobs. income-based categories are addressed. For example, if a city is issuing enough approvals to California has a long tradition of broad local meet its above moderate-income housing control, and in many areas, local communities RHNA goals but not its low-income housing are in the best position to judge what makes goals, streamlining will apply only to those sense for their residents. However, when local projects that add a majority low-income units.

SB 35 Fact Sheet – Updated 8.16.2017 Over This bill also requires all charter cities to report  Council of Infill Builders their annual housing approvals and production  County of Napa to HCD, and will require HCD to ensure  East Bay Forward thorough housing production data is up-to-date  Facebook and publicly accessible on the internet in order  Greenbelt Alliance to ensure accountability to the public,  Grow the Richmond thoroughly enforce the various provisions of  Jewish Family Service of San Diego SB35, and collect data that will inform future state and local housing policies. Currently,  LeadingAge California general law cities must report their housing  League of California Community production annually, but charter cities and Foundations chater counties are not required by law to do so.  Local Government Commission  Los Angeles Business Council STATUS  Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce  Passed out of Senate Transportation &  Mayor Darrell Steinberg, City of Sacramento Housing  Mayor Edwin Lee, City & County of  Passed out of Senate Governance & Finance  Mayor Libby Schaaf, City of Oakland  Passed out of Senate Appropriations  Mayor Sam Liccardo, City of San Jose  Passed off the Senate Floor  Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez, City of  Passed out of Assembly Local Government Santa Ana; Former President of Southern  Passed out of Assembly Housing & California Association of Governments Community Development (SCAG)  Mercy Housing  Pending vote on Assembly Floor  Mission Housing Development Corporation CO-AUTHORS  Natural Resources Defense Council  Senator (Principal)  NextGen  Senator Ben Allen  Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California  Senator Andy Vidak  Progress Noe Valley  Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula  Sacramento Bee  Assemblymember Rob Bonta  San Francisco Chamber of Commerce  Assemblymember  San Francisco Chronicle  Assemblymember  San Francisco Housing Action Coalition  Assemblymember Mike Gipson  San Francisco Planning & Urban Research (SPUR)  Assemblymember Todd Gloria  San Francisco Yes-In-My-Back-Yard Party  Assemblymember Timothy Grayson  Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce  Assemblymember  Santa Barbara Rental Property Association SUPPORT  Silicon Valley At Home (SV@Home)  Silicon Valley Community Foundation  Abundant Housing LA  Silicon Valley Leadership Group  Apartment Association of Greater Los  Supervisor Leticia Perez, Kern County Angeles (AAGLA)  Supervisor Zach Friend, Santa Cruz County  Bridge Housing  State Building & Construction Trades  California Apartment Association Council  California Asian Chamber of Commerce  U.S. Green Building Council  California Association of Realtors  YIMBY Action  California Council for Affordable Housing  California League of Conservation Voters  California Renters Legal Advocacy & FOR MORE INFORMATION Education Fund Ann Fryman, Legislative Aide  California State Council of Laborers [email protected]  Center for Sustainable Neighborhoods (916) 651-4011

SB 35 Fact Sheet – Updated 8.16.2017 Over